Warren Buffett Says This 1 Skill Will Multiply Your Success. In The AI Age, It’s More Valuable Than Ever

This article by Marcel Schwantes was originally published on Inc.com.

Warren Buffett has spent decades dispensing simple advice that tends to age remarkably well. One quote has become even more relevant in 2026 than when Buffett first shared it.

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) can write emails, summarize meetings, draft business plans, and generate presentations in seconds, the ability to communicate as a human has become a genuine competitive advantage.

Speaking to a Stanford graduate many years ago, Buffett offered this advice:

"At your age, the best way you can improve yourself is to learn to communicate better. Your results in life will be magnified if you can communicate them better. The only diploma I hang in my office is the communications diploma I got from Dale Carnegie in 1952."

Buffett added that “without good communication skills, you won’t be able to convince people to follow you, even though you see over the mountain and they don’t.”

The Value Of Human Communication

While Buffett’s advice sounds obvious, its value has skyrocketed in the AI era.

AI can generate business plans, write marketing copy, analyze spreadsheets, summarize research, and even produce software code in seconds. What it can’t do is earn trust, inspire commitment, navigate conflict, or make another human feel understood.

That’s why communication has become a force multiplier. The leaders who will thrive over the next decade won’t necessarily be the ones with the best prompts. They’ll be the ones who can translate complexity into clarity, rally people around a vision, ask thoughtful questions, and build relationships that AI simply can’t replicate.

In fact, communication has evolved from being a “soft skill” into a strategic business skill. Every entrepreneur eventually discovers that customers don’t buy products—they buy confidence. Investors don’t fund ideas—they fund founders they believe can execute. Employees don’t stay because of perks alone—they stay because they trust the people leading them.

Buffett understood this long before generative AI arrived.

When he says your results in life will be “magnified” by learning to communicate, he’s describing, in classic Buffett fashion, a principle that compounds over time. Every conversation, presentation, sales pitch, interview, difficult feedback session, podcast appearance, or keynote becomes an opportunity to create influence—or lose it.

So what does exceptional communication look like today? Here are three habits that separate leaders people choose to follow.

1. Replace Assumptions With Curiosity

The fastest way to derail communication is to assume you already know what someone thinks or why they acted a certain way.

Curiosity changes the conversation. Instead of preparing your rebuttal, ask another question. Instead of defending your position, seek to understand theirs. Research consistently shows that people who demonstrate genuine curiosity build stronger relationships, collaborate more effectively, and are viewed as more trustworthy.

Before jumping to conclusions, ask yourself:

• What information am I missing?
• Am I trying to be right, or am I trying to understand?

Those two questions alone can prevent countless misunderstandings.

2. Make Feedback An Everyday Conversation

The strongest leaders don’t save feedback for performance reviews. They offer it consistently, specifically, and with the person’s success in mind.

What’s the end goal here? It’s clarity. People want to know what’s working, where they can improve, and how to move forward. Clarity builds confidence because it removes uncertainty.

The best feedback answers three questions:

• What should I keep doing?
• What should I change?
• Why does it matter?

3. Listen To Understand, Not To Respond

With all the notifications and daily distractions we face, attention and active listening are among the rarest gifts you can give another person. Active listening means resisting the urge to formulate your response while someone else is still speaking. It means putting away your phone, asking follow-up questions, and reflecting back what you’ve heard before offering advice.

People rarely remember every word you said. They almost always remember how you made them feel. Feeling heard is one of the fastest ways to build trust

Buffett earned his Dale Carnegie certificate more than 70 years ago, but the principle behind it has never been more timely. Technology will continue to transform how we work. It won’t change what people need from the leaders they trust.

If anything, the more AI fills our screens, the more valuable authentic human communication becomes.