Warren Buffett, Melinda Gates and Sheryl Sandberg Agree This Advice Is Essential For a Lasting Relationship
Some of the richest, most powerful people in the world don’t
credit money and fame among the greatest value in life – but the moment they
found their true love, and held onto them.
Warren Buffett has seen a lot of success in his life, but to him, there’s only one moment that truly mattered.
In the HBO documentary, "Becoming Warren Buffett,"
he says of the "two turning points" in his life: "One when I
came out of the womb and one when I met Susie."
"What happened with me would not have happened without
her," Buffett
said of his first wife, who died in 2004.
Love is important, and in fact, Buffett said the biggest decision in life will be who you choose to marry.
"You want to associate with people who are the kind of
person you'd like to be. You'll move in that direction," Buffett
said in a conversation with Bill Gates at Columbia University in 2017.
"And the most important person by far in that respect is your spouse. I
can't overemphasize how important that is."
Bill Gates’ wife Melinda agrees.
“If you choose to have a partner in life, whoever you choose
is probably the most important decision you make," she said during a
conversation with Bill at a recent event. It's "even more important
than what career you have, where you go to college, where you go to high
school."
That doesn’t mean you are doomed if it takes you a while to
make that decision. "You can have a do-over. People do have a do-over with
partners in life, but it's easier to have a do-over in your job and to change
careers a lot than it is to change partners," she said. "So I say,
try to pick very carefully and wisely."
Facebook COO and author Sheryl Sandberg, whose late husband, Dave Goldberg, was the CEO of SurveyMonkey,also agrees. "I truly believe that the single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is," she writes in her best-seller "Lean In."
"I don't know of one woman in a leadership position
whose life partner is not fully — and I mean fully — supportive of her
career."
As Gates put it at his recent New York City appearance: "You will affect a partner greatly in life and they will affect you."
