Warren Buffett has spent decades making the case that if you can't write clearly about an investment, you probably don't understand it. The blank page, he argues, is often the most honest test of whether an investor actually knows what they're talking about.

When Writer's Block Reveals Fuzzy Thinking

Back in 1995, during an appearance at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) chairman told students something revealing: "There is nothing like writing to force you to think and get your thoughts straight."

Here's where it gets interesting. Buffett explained that when he sits down to write Berkshire's famous annual shareholder letter, he regularly hits writing blocks. But these aren't the "I can't find the right word" kind of blocks. "The block isn't because I ran out of words in the dictionary," he said. "The block is because I haven't got it straight in my own mind yet."

In other words, the act of writing exposes when his thinking is still muddled. You can't fake clarity on paper.

Writing to His Sisters, Not Wall Street

Buffett has a specific technique for keeping his prose accessible. In a 2019 CNBC interview, he explained that he imagines writing directly to his sisters, Doris and Bertie. His aim is plain English instead of the jargon-heavy language that dominates most corporate communications. His goal, as he's written before, is to give them the same information he would want if their positions were reversed. This mindset has helped make his annual letters some of the most widely read documents in finance, appreciated well beyond the investing community.

Communication as Economic Value

Buffett connects this directly to career success. "The one easy way to become worth 50% more than you are now… is to hone your written and verbal communication skills," he's told students. His reasoning? Even brilliant analytical ability doesn't matter if people "can't transmit it." You might have the best investment thesis in the world, but if you can't explain it clearly, it's essentially worthless.

Bezos and the Six-Page Memo

Buffett isn't alone in this thinking. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos famously replaced most internal PowerPoint presentations with dense six-page narrative memos. His reasoning echoes Buffett's: writing "forces better clarity and rigor in thinking." Bezos has said that good documents get written and rewritten multiple times until the logic actually holds up under scrutiny. PowerPoint lets you hide behind bullet points and flashy graphics; a memo forces you to connect your thoughts coherently.

The lesson from both leaders is surprisingly simple: if you want to think more clearly about investments or business decisions, try writing about them. The page won't let you get away with hand-waving or vague ideas the way a conversation might.