A former NFL player says Warren Buffett taught him 2 lessons about success that he still follows years later

A former NFL player says Warren Buffett taught him 2 lessons about success that he still follows years later Ndamukong Suh wasn't taking any chances before his first meeting with Warren Buffett.While still a college student, the soon-to-be NFL star arrived at Buffett's office two to three hours early because he refused to risk being late, he said.The wait paid off, though. Suh said he and Buffett hit it off, talking for hours during that first meeting. Before it ended, Buffett agreed to Suh's request to become his mentor.That was more than 15 years ago.Suh went on to spend 13 years in the NFL, establishing himself as one of the league's most dominant defensive linemen while playing for five teams. He capped his career with a Super Bowl win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021. Ndamukong Suh played for the Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Philadelphia Eagles. George Gojkovich/Getty Images While earning millions over his career, Suh built a reputation as one of the NFL's more serious athlete-investors, assembling a portfolio that spans real estate, private equity, venture capital, and hospitality businesses. In 2021, Forbes said he was building an "investment empire."During NFL offseasons, Suh would spend time with Buffett and talk with him by phone. These days, he said, they try to catch up quarterly.Over the years, Buffett taught him about stocks and the value of companies, Suh said. Yet, two of Buffett's broader lessons have stuck with him for more than a decade.Warren Buffet's most surprising pieces of advice Warren Buffett has mentored Ndamukong Suh for over 15 years. Kent Sievers/The Omaha World-Herald For Suh, a good mentor is someone who doesn't need anything from him and genuinely wants to see him succeed. Buffett fits that definition, he said. The most surprising lesson Buffett provided was learning to be patient, Suh said. "Great things come to you with patience," he said, recalling Buffet's words.The other piece of advice was choosing the right people."If you can learn to have patience and stick to quality people and identifying that, those two things will serve you right," Suh said of Buffet's words.To Suh, patience means believing in what you are doing long enough to see it through. He contrasted that with a world built around instant gratification — a mindset that he said has led him to make "some terrible investments" when he was chasing immediate success.One large investment involved a media concept similar to LeBron James' Uninterrupted, he recalled. He put a good amount of money into it but ultimately the venture failed because the timing, infrastructure, and people weren't right, he said.Suh is known for being exceptionally good at money management Ndamukong Suh was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2010, as the second overall pick in the NFL Draft. Getty Images Suh said he went through multiple financial advisors before finding a group he was happy with.Along the way, Suh read books and educated himself enough to take the lead in conversations about his finances rather than simply handing those decisions to someone else."I'm not passive," he said.It's an approach that puts both of Buffett's lessons into practice: Take the time to understand what you're doing, and be thoughtful about the people you bring along.Suh is now sharing what he's learned through his podcast, "No Free Lunch," which explores how successful people in sports build long-term wealth and what listeners can learn from their experiences. He speaks with athletes, experts, and business leaders about their paths to success and the business ideas and trends shaping the sports world."It's something that I find a great love and fascination with being able to help people," Suh said. Read next Kevin is a video producer at Business Insider. His work has taken him from the United Nations to the world of bacon. He graduated from CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Jessica Orwig is a senior editor at Business Insider, where she collaborates with reporters, editors, and producers across teams to shape, write, edit, and publish stories that connect with a global audience. While her roots are in science and technology journalism, her work today spans business, careers, culture, and the big ideas shaping the future.She earned her Master’s in Science & Technology Journalism from Texas A&M University and holds a Bachelor’s in Astronomy & Physics from The Ohio State University. Throughout her career, she’s helped lead coverage on everything from space exploration and climate change to innovation, the future of work, and evolving cultural trends.Career HighlightsLed coverage on scientific milestones, including:Blue Origin's inaugural New Glenn launchIntuitive Machine's groundbreaking moon landing for the USSpaceX’s Polaris Dawn historic spaceflight NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Historic FlybyJapan’s SLIM lunar landingThe first image of a black holeIndia’s historic Moon landingSpaceX’s inaugural Starship-Super Heavy launchDiscovery of gravitational wavesNASA’s Pluto flybyReported on breaking news and scientific discoveries, including:Microplastics in the human brainPeregrine Mission One’s failed flightThe Palisades firesSpaceX Starship explosionsDark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s 3D map of the universe and what it revealsA local cosmic void that shouldn’t existThe Boeing Starliner missionMexico City’s water crisisEarth’s mysterious inner core behaviorPopular stories she’s edited on science and health:What it will take to modernize the American grid and usher in the clean-energy revolutionI study toxic microplastics. Here's how I protect myself and my kids at home.A mega-earthquake could strike the Pacific Northwest any day — and we're not preparedFlying is about to become even more miserableWhy the US can’t send humans to MarsThe world's most popular banana faces extinction but scientists' new creation could help save itScientists finally think they know where the most dangerous part of this US earthquake zone is and it's bad news for WashingtonOne of Mt. 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Take a look.Archaeologists are finding mysterious ancient objects on Norway's melting glaciers. Take a look.I'm an American mom in Italy. When I couldn't help my daughter with her homework, I realized how isolated I felt. Warren Buffett NFL Sports More Finance Investing