Munger's Lessons for CEOs

Last month, Charlie Munger passed away at the age of 99. Charlie was a legend for a reason—a momentous influence on Warren Buffett’s investing philosophy and a humble sage in his own right. I believe he has a great deal to teach modern CEOs.

Here are a few persistent themes in Munger’s thought that I find especially valuable:

• “Be consistently not stupid.” Munger believed that most mistakes in business are avoidable if you simply pay attention. He never aimed to be super intelligent; the goal was rather to not be stupid. “We try,” he said, referring to himself and Buffett, “more to profit from always remembering the obvious than from grasping the esoteric.”

  To this end, Munger recommended studying the failures of your predecessors to avoid their missteps: “I sought good judgment mostly by collecting instances of bad judgment, then pondering ways to avoid such outcomes.”

• “A latticework of mental models.” Munger was an avid and early advocate of mental models, the conceptual frameworks that …