Commentary: If you want to succeed like Warren Buffett, find a ‘second banana’ like Charlie Munger

NEW YORK: Charlie Munger, the longtime vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who died on Tuesday (Nov 28) at the age of 99, will be exalted for many things in the coming days – his business acumen, his aphorisms on both investing and life, his constant presence as Warren Buffett’s sidekick and right-hand man as they built Berkshire into a hugely successful and powerful conglomerate.

But that last one is not quite right. He was more than a Number 2; he was the ultimate “second banana”. These are far from the same thing.

Let me explain. In 1991, the great John Huey wrote an article for my former employer, Fortune Magazine, called “Secrets of Great Second Bananas”. I joined the magazine long after the article was published, but it was required reading for young reporters and writers.

In it, Huey lays out what it means to be one of the “Great Second Bananas of US Business”: “Strong-willed, independent operating executives who passed up the glories of the top job – each has turned down other offers to be CEO somewhere else – and instead pursued the hands-on running of some of the best-performing, most challenging big companies around.”

When it comes down to it, second bananas are a CEO’s equal partner rather than a lackey. They don’t want – or are at least willing to cede – the spotlight and have no real aspirations for the top job. Barring some sort of disaster, Munger was never going to have that title at Berkshire.

For one thing, he was seven years older than Buffett, who had made it clear he never planned to retire. “I will keep working until about five years after I die,” he joked, “and I’ve given the directors a Ouija board so they can keep in touch.”