I recently read the book, “The Tao of Warren Buffett,” by Mary Buffett & David Clark.

This book contained some great lessons for business leaders.

Below is a summary of my top lessons learnt from reading this book:

1. Rule No 1: Never lose money. Rule No 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.
2. It is impossible to un-sign a contract, so do all your thinking before you sign.
3. It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to lose it. If you think about that you will do things differently.
4. In looking for someone to hire you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. But the most important is integrity, because if they don’t have that, the other two qualities, intelligence and energy are going to kill you.
5. Warren never degrades his managers when they make mistakes rather he encourages them to get on with business.
6. People who are passionate about their jobs will come to rule their trade of profession because they love the process more than the money.
7. If you hit a hole in one on every hole, you would not play golf for very long. A job with challenges keeps things interesting, promotes creativity and attracts high quality people.
8. Never ask a barber if you need a haircut. An adviser will find a problem even if there is not one.
9. If you let yourself be undisciplined on the small things, you will probably be undisciplined on the large things as well.
10. A pin lies in wait for every bubble and when the two eventually meet, a new wave of investors learn some very old lessons.