Warren Buffett embodies everything Make-A-Wish does: Richard Davis

Make-A-Wish CEO Richard Davis joins Influencers with Andy Serwer to discuss what he's learned from investing legend Warren Buffett.

Video transcript

ANDY SERWER: Richard, I know that Warren Buffett bought your stock when you were CEO and you had some conversations with him. What makes Warren Buffett so special?

RICHARD DAVIS: Wow. So he was one of the largest shareholders, and Andy, the entire time that I was CEO. What makes him special is two things. I want to-- one is, keep it simple. This guy is so brilliant. And you know, if you want to do it the hard way, keep it simple.

It's hard to keep complicated things simple, and he taught me that. We always did that with the bank, as complicated as it could be. I'm trying to do that with Make-A-Wish, which is to keep a set of money [INAUDIBLE] down to its core elements.

The other thing about Warren Buffett is loyalty. He was loyal, not to a fault because we earned it, but he was loyal, and he knew why he liked the bank. He did his homework. He interviewed me for things, not like financial prowess, but character, and ethics, and long-term commitments.

And a guy like Warren Buffett embodies everything that Make-A-Wish does, giving back and doing it for a lifetime with intent. And so I learned a lot of things from him, but both in the for profit world, I can translate all those to the nonprofit world because loyalty matters and so does long-term views of things because you do smarter decisions when you think about the long view.

ANDY SERWER: Has any kid wanted to be Warren Buffett yet?

RICHARD DAVIS: Yes, and they have before, and not for a million dollars or whatever that typical auction has been created over the years. Warren Buffett is a very supportive member of our Make-A-Wish, as are a number of our celebrities. You didn't ask this, but I want us to shout this out as well. You mentioned one celebrity, we have others, John Cena is over six-- almost 700 wishes now, independent-- 700 independent moments. But-- and he didn't ask for this, I just took the liberty there.