My illusion was shattered when I spent a day on the campus of Lake Forest College, my alma mater, giving lectures and talking with economics majors. To them, I, at 49, am not young and frisky. I'm just an old, rich guy. Across this great divide, however, we communicated, those students and I. Here are some of the things

I told them. Young readers may find some of it interesting; older readers might want to pass it on to kids they know. I told them to worry less about what they do and more about what they are. Everyone with assets is searching for a person they can trust to manage them. In this, skills are good but principles are much more important. I suggested they read Stephen Covey's First Things First, which helps one understand the link between principles and objectives. I suggested they each prepare a personal mission statement and a statement of principles to use as compasses when making choices.

Beyond that, I strongly urged that they learn how to manage their time, the only resource they can truly control.

At lunch, I got a chance to visit at length with a dozen or so members of the Entrepreneurs Club. Some questions and my answers:

What are the secrets of success?

There aren't any secrets, I confided, but there are rules. Act in such a way that the people you want to learn from will want to have you around. Act in such a way that the people in charge will trust you to carry out any responsibilities they give you. Strive to become predictable in that respect in the same way that each can of Coca-Cola tastes exactly like the one before.

What are the most important skills?

That one was easy, though my answers surprised some of the youngsters: reading, writing and arithmetic, with accounting a close fourth. Read everything you can and learn to read critically. Write lots of term papers. And don't dodge math courses. You will need those communications and math skills, and you might as well learn them when you are in school.

Every college freshman should take two courses before the year begins: speed-reading and time management. Reading speed, more than anything else, determines how many ideas and points of view a student can absorb. I find it appalling that many people struggle along as slow readers when speed-reading is such an easy skill to learn.

As a high school student I was fortunate to take a course that increased my reading speed more than tenfold. This has paid me enormous dividends in my life. I still can't stand it that at my age there are so many things I have not yet read. But I'm gaining on them every night.

What about the much vaunted networking? Every opportunity in my career has been created by people who know and trust me, but making acquaintances so they can help you with your career is not the same thing.

What language would I study for the 21st century? I am a big fan of learning languages, both in and out of school, and have Italian, Russian and Latin on my laptop. But if I could only study one language, I would learn Latin. It is the key to understanding syntax, the way we combine words to relate ideas. And it opens the door to the incredible intellectual wealth of ancient Rome and Greece.

One of the students asked what to read during all the extra time he saved by taking the speed-reading course.

My list of favorites includes Gibbon's The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire; Toynbee's A Study of History; Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples; Lyell's Principles of Geology; Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and The Extended Phenotype; Boorstin's The Discoverers and The Creators; Feynman's Six Easy Pieces; and Plutarch's Parallel Lives. Don't forget Warren Buffett's annual reports.

Last night I received an E-mail from one of the young men I met at lunch. Immediately after our lunch he had bought an Evelyn Wood reading course. His reading speed has doubled already. For me getting that E-mail made the trip worth taking.