Legendary investor and billionaire Warren Buffett has a tip for young people: Focus on learning how to write and speak clearly.
"The one easy way to become worth 50 percent more than you are now — at least — is to hone your communication skills — both written and verbal," says Buffett in a video posted on LinkedIn on Monday.
The video was posted by Michael Hood, the co-founder of the Toronto based start-up Voiceflow, which enables users to design, build and launch skills for Amazon's smart speaker, Alexa, without needing to know how to code.
"If you can't communicate, it's like winking at a girl in the dark — nothing happens. You can have all the brainpower in the world, but you have to be able to transmit it," Buffett continues.
"And the transmission is communication," says Buffett, who is currently worth more than $86 billion, according to Forbes.
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson agrees that being able to communicate effectively is critical to success.
"Today, if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, you also have to be a storyteller," the British businessman said in 2016 blog post. "Of course, it is no use being a good storyteller if your product or idea is rubbish. But it is not enough to create a great product; you also have to work out how to let people know about it."