Warren Buffett is a bull

In an exclusive essay, Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO and CEO, women are key to the prosperity of the United States.

In the flood of recently written words about women and work, I find it neglected a related and very significant point. It has to do with the future of the United States, on which it is a family opinion of me, I am an unskilled optimistic. Now entertain another opinion: women are one of the main reasons that we will do well.

Start with the fact that the progress of our country since 1776 has been bewildering, like nothing in the world that has never seen. Our secret sauce has been a political and economic system that triggers human potential to an extraordinary degree. As a result, the North -Americans enjoy a large number of goods and services that no one could have dreamed several centuries ago today.

But it is not half, or rather, it is almost half. America has forged this success, largely using only half of the country’s talent. For most of our history, women, whatever it is, have been relegated outside. In recent years we have begun to correct this problem.

Despite the inspirational “all men are created equal” in the declaration of independence, male supremacy was quickly consecrated in the Constitution. In article II, dealing with the presidency, the 39 delegates who signed the document, all men, naturally, used male pronouns. In Poker, they call a “tell”.

Finally, 133 years later, in 1920, the United States softened their discrimination against women through the 19th amendment, which gave them the right to vote. But this law barely began attitudes and behaviors. In turn, 33 men went to the Supreme Court before Sandra Day O’Connor did the degree, 61 years after the ratification of the amendment. For those who like numbers, the odds against this procession of men that occur by chance are more than 8 billion to one.

Look at an interview with Warren Buffett about women, work and another wisdom

When people questioned the absence of nominated women, the standard response over these 61 years was simply “there were no qualified candidates.” The electorate took a similar position. When my father was elected to Congress in 1942, only eight of his 434 colleagues were women. A lonely woman, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, sat in the Senate.

The resistance between the powerful is natural when the change clashes with their own interest. Companies, politics and, yes, religions provide many examples of this defensive behavior. After all, who wants to double the number of competitors for the highest positions?

But an even greater enemy of change may be that the rooted attitudes of those who simply cannot imagine a different world than they have lived. What happened to my own family gives an example. I have two sisters. The three and our teachers were considered, as an approximate intelligence, and the IQ tests in fact confirmed our equality. For a long time, to boot, my sisters had a “social” IQ much greater than me (no, we did not try it for it, but you believe -me, the tests were overwhelming.)

The moment I came out of my mother’s womb, but my possibilities nanted those of my brothers, because I was a boy! And my brain, personal and good appearance brothers were not. My parents would love the same and our teachers would give us similar notes. But at every step, my sisters would be told, more through signs than words, this success for them would be “marrying well”. In the meantime, I felt that the opportunities in the world were there to take -to me.

So my flat became the roof of my sisters, and no one thought much about dragging this pattern until a few decades ago. Now, thanks to the sky, the structural barriers of women fall.

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There is still an obstacle: too many women continue to impose limitations on themselves, speaking to achieve their potential. Here I also had a first -hand experience.

Among the brilliant and interesting women’s scores I have known is the missing Katharine Graham, the shareholder and CEO of The Washington Post Co. (WPO) Kay knew he was smart. But she had been washed in the brain, I do not like this word, but it is adequate, for her mother, her husband and who knows who most to believe that men were superior, especially in business.

When her husband died, it was in the own interest of some of the men around Kay to convince her that her feelings of inadequacy were justified. The pressures they made on her tortured. Fortunately, Kay, as well as being smart, had an inner strength. Analyzing, he managed to ignore the voices of the baritone who urged her to turn her heritage.

I met Kay in 1973 and quickly saw that he was a person of unusual capacity and character. But the self -doubt of the genre was there too. His brain knew better, but he could never still say that he said, “Men know more about the execution of a business than ever.”

I told Kay that I had to rule out the fun mirror that others had put in front of them, and instead they are seen in a mirror that reflected reality. “Then,” I said, “you will see a woman who is a match for anyone, male or female.”

Hopefully he could say that he was successful in this campaign. The test was certainly by my side: Washington Post shares increased more than 4,000%, which is 40 for 1, who made the 18 years of Kay as head. After retiring, he won a Pulitzer Award for his excellent autobiography. But his doubt was maintained, a testament to the depth that a message of discomfort can be implanted even in a bright mind.

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I am pleased to say that Funhouse’s mirrors are becoming less common among the women I know. Try to put one in front of my daughter. She only laughs and will break her. Women should never forget that it is common for powerful and seemingly safe men to have more than a bit of the Oz assistant. Pull the curtain on the side and you will often discover that they are not superior to the end. (Just ask your wives!)

So, my companions men, what’s there for us? Why should we care if the remaining barriers that women have are dismantling and the mirrors of the fun house climb? It does not matter that I think the ethical case itself is convincing. We look at your own interest instead.

No manager operates their plants with 80% efficiency when steps could be taken to increase production. And no CEO wants male employees to be underused when improved training or working conditions would increase productivity. So take a step further: If the obvious benefits flow to help the male component of the workforce to achieve its potential, why would you not want to include your counterpart in the world?

Companys men, go on board. The closer the talent of all its citizens is fully used, the greater its production of goods and services. We have seen what can be achieved when we use 50% of our human capacity. If you visualize what can do 100%, you will join as a rampant optimistic about the future of the United States.

This story is of the number of May 20, 2013 Fortune.

This story originally presented to Fortune.com

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