In his own words · Incentives

“Well I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it. And never a year passes, but I get some surprise that pushes my limit a little farther.”

— Charlie Munger · The Psychology of Human Misjudgment (Poor Charlie's Almanack) · 1995

Verified. Sourced to The Psychology of Human Misjudgment (Poor Charlie's Almanack) · 1995.

First given as a 1995 talk; the canonical wording is the expanded Almanack version.

Where he said it

More Munger on Incentives

“Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.”

Poor Charlie's Almanack

“Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.”

The Psychology of Human Misjudgment (Poor Charlie's Almanack) · where he said it ↗

“Perhaps the most important rule in management is, 'Get the incentives right.'”

The Psychology of Human Misjudgment (Poor Charlie's Almanack) · as recalled · where he said it ↗

From the FedEx night-shift example in the Misjudgment essay; wording varies slightly across editions.

“We want to win the bass fishing tour, whereas pension fund consultants sell tackle. We're not interested in selling tackle, we're interested in catching bass.”

Whitney Tilson's notes, Wesco Financial annual meeting, Pasadena, May 7, 2003 (Q&A, 'Pension Fund Consultants') · 2003

His doers-vs-sellers point (he framed it as 'Warren and I').

All incentives quotes