Yahoo Finance Billionaire Suggests This Valuable Skill as Indicative of Success: ‘Pattern Recognition Is Everything’
If you want to be more financially successful, you can learn by taking note of the skills billionaires possess and how they act. Michael Rubin, billionaire CEO of retailer Fanatics, recently told author and motivational speaker Jay Shetty, “Pattern recognition is everything. I use it in everything that I do.”
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He used the example of hiring a new employee. “If I like them, as soon as they leave, I go out and start calling people that I knew that we have in common to recognize patterns. To me, 50% is the interview and 50% is what I learn behind the scenes,” Rubin told Shetty. “And that’s probably the more important 50%.”
Rubin confessed he also uses his pattern recognition skills when he’s playing cards. If he’s on a streak, he can play more aggressively than when he’s cold. “You’ve got to recognize patterns in whatever you do,” he said.
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Warren Buffett on Pattern Recognition for Investing
Billionaire Warren Buffett, known for his words of wisdom about wealth and life, explained the role of pattern recognition in investments. At the annual meeting for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders in April 2016, Buffett explained a decision he made to avoid investing in Valeant Pharmaceuticals stock. He told shareholders that he noticed patterns in the company’s business model that didn’t turn out well for other companies. “Patterns that frequently come to a bad end, but look extremely good in the short run,” Buffett elaborated.
A month before the Berkshire Hathaway meeting, Valeant was accused of price gouging, improper financial reporting, and other unethical practices. CEO Mike Pearson was ousted, and the company stock dropped 85%. The company is now known as Bausch Health.
It wasn’t just intuition that led Buffett to avoid the company. “I spent a lifetime looking at businesses and why some work and why some don’t work,” Buffett said, citing the importance of pattern recognition.
Quoting Yogi Berra, Buffett told shareholders, “You can see a lot just by observing.”
Once you learn how to recognize the patterns in what you see, you can make smarter choices that can help grow your wealth.
How To Become Better at Pattern Recognition
Even if pattern recognition doesn’t come naturally to you, you can practice to get better, experts say. Via Les McKeown’s blog “Predictable Success,” the consultant and author explained that you can start by looking for patterns in everyday life.
“Patterns occur most overtly (and most perfectly) in nature, art and math — think of the Fibonacci Sequence, the circuits of the planets, the tides and the seasons, the shape of a snowflake,” he wrote.
You can also hone your skill by playing games where patterns lead to success, from Sudoku to Candy Crush. It doesn’t matter what game it is, according to McKeown, as long as your brain receives a reward for recognizing patterns.
Once you start recognizing patterns easily, you can apply the skill to every area of life.
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