What Warren Buffett Does Better Than the Rest of Us

Next week, billionaire Warren Buffett is going to stump for Hillary Clinton. 

Nebraska Democrats are likely going to come out for some Cherry Cokes and Dairy Queen Blizzards to hear what Clinton has to say about closing the income gap and accelerating jobs growth. For $500 you get to attend the fundraiser. For up to $2700, you might even get a chance to take a selfie with Clinton and Buffett together. 

Can you imagine any other CEO drawing this much attention? For someone worth an estimated $67 billion, Buffett is the classic "everyman" billionaire. His climb to immense fortune is legendary in investing circles and it's uniquely Buffett.

Buffett said to me once that money doesn't really change you. It just makes you more of who you are. If you're a jerk, with money you're a bigger jerk. If you're a kind person, with money you're a kinder person. I have not been able to test this theory to a Buffettesque-level myself, but my gut tells me he's right. (He's right about most things.)

There is another thing that's uniquely Buffett. Despite his folksy demeanor, Buffett exercises what I call the Basic Instinct Ninja move. In other words, he's able to surprise people in ways nobody expected. And that has helped lead him to incredible success. 

Remember this photo earlier this year? 

There's Buffett in shoulder pads and Dolphins Jersey, rooting for his mentee, Ndamukong Suh. Only he could pull this off and not be laughed off the field. It's exactly the kind of thing Buffett does so well, whether it's showing up at a football game in essentially a costume, playing a ukelele at the annual meeting, or explaining how he'd gotten his investment idea by sitting naked in a bathtub. He is so unlike anyone else that the shock value of what he says or does keeps you enamored and enlarges his persona.

Others do this well, too. Elon Musk is another Basic Instinct Ninja personality. Just when you think you've got him pegged, he comes out with some slick move like the Hyperloop idea. Donald Trump epitomizes this concept too. He comes out and buries the Republican presidential candidate competition, right when it seemed everybody had dismissed him as a flamboyant reality-TV star. 

Trevor Burgess, the chief executive of a Florida bank, C1 Financial, launched his own Basic Instinct Ninja move several years ago when he began giving away new Mercedes Benz to wealthy clients who opened up a bank account. On the latest episode of my podcast, Radiate, Burgess - who became the first gay public bank CEO - said he borrowed the idea from a Midwest Bank that was giving away guns. 

"They said it was very successful because the hunters didn't have to tell their wives that they bought a gun. They could just say, `Oh, look, the bank gave it to me,'" Burgess joked. 

So what's the lesson to be learned here? Rather than always try to fit yourself into a set of expectations that are, let's face it, pretty boring, chart your own path. Be true to yourself. Do unexpected things not because you solely want to surprise people but because they're in line with your true north.

Those things can be as simple as raising your hand when nobody else wants to do a project. Dropping out of law school to pursue your dream of being a magician. Or taking on an assignment or job nobody would ever expect you to do. You get the picture. Do something different, and don't be afraid to break the mold. We're a country that values individualism, and yet we put so much pressure on people to live the "2.5 kids in a suburban family home" stereotype.

The next time you start feeling pressure to conform, think of your next Basic Instinct Ninja move. Just make sure it's appropriate for all audiences.

If you like this article, you'll love my new podcast, Radiate, featuring interviews with CEOs, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. You can click on new episodes on iTunes, SoundCloud or on my website. www.betty-liu.com. Here is the RSS feed too. And please don't forget to REVIEW the podcast or contact me at [email protected].