What Warren Buffett and I have in Common

Over the last month or so, I’ve been meandering my way through Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. One quote, from early on in her book, caught my eye. It’s about Warren Buffett, the uber-wealthy “Oracle of Omaha.” Here’s Sandberg on Buffett:

“Legendary investor Warren Buffett has stated generously that one of the reasons for his great success was that he was competing with only half of the population.”

Now, Mr. Buffett and I don’t have a lot in common. He’s wealthy…we live simply. He’s got business acumen…I can pray, do some pastoring and I’m decent with email. He’s widely known and respected around the world…I’m widely known and respected…in my own home. You get the picture. We’re apples and oranges Warren and I.

But Warren Buffett and I on the same page when it comes to women in the workforce.

Intrigued by Sandberg’s quote, I recently came across this article that demonstrates that Warren Buffett is a man who is aware of his privilege. Check this out:

“The moment I emerged from my mother’s womb, however, my possibilities dwarfed those of my siblings, for I was a boy! And my brainy, personable, and good-looking siblings were not. My parents would love us equally, and our teachers would give us similar grades. But at every turn my sisters would be told — more through signals than words — that success for them would be “marrying well.” I was meanwhile hearing that the world’s opportunities were there for me to seize. So my floor became my sisters’ ceiling — and nobody thought much about ripping up that pattern until a few decades ago.”

Friends, that’s male privilege right there. And here’s Buffett’s call to action:

“Fellow males, get onboard. The closer that America comes to fully employing the talents of all its citizens, the greater its output of goods and services will be. We’ve seen what can be accomplished when we use 50% of our human capacity. If you visualize what 100% can do, you’ll join me as an unbridled optimist about America’s future.”

In one sense, Warren Buffett and are making the same argument, just from different perspectives.

Where Buffett argues from the perspective of economic resources, I’ve been challenging Tertullian from the perspective of spiritual resources.

So, allow me to paraphrase Mr. Buffet:

“Fellow males, get onboard. The closer the Church comes to fully employing the talents of all its members, the greater its spiritual output will be. We’ve seen what can be accomplished when we use 50% of our human capacity. If you visualize what 100% can do, you’ll join me as an unbridled optimist about Kingdom’s future.”

See? Who cares if we’re in different tax brackets, Mr. Buffett and I have more in common than I thought.