Warren Buffett Has An Investing Superpower

I learned about it in this forgotten interview from 2012.

There are nuggets of investing gold in this interview. Charlie Rose asks the questions. Warren Buffett and his close friend Carol Loomis (of Fortune Magazine fame) answer.

Context: This interview happened because of Tap Dancing to Work. This is the book Loomis wrote about Buffett.

The Nugget: Warren Buffett has a very unique talent (or superpower). He can find the truth in accounting statements.

I assumed Buffett was good at reading financial statements. I never knew it was one of his secret weapons.

See part of the exchange with Charlie Rose and Carol Loomis below. Buffett is there to confirm the validity of the revelation.

ROSE: What interests me is, why does [Warren] have the record he does? And you have said in a conversation with me that [Warren] understands how to look at accounting statements and find the telling point, and it may be in a footnote. And so that he'll see opportunity and see the future…

LOOMIS: He will. He has a an ability to do that that I think is matched by very…