A sustainable competitive advantage

Warren Buffett states that if you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes.

Human nature is most concerned with short term loss aversion, not long-term gain seeking. Because we are so short-term oriented, it's an enormous advantage if you can operate on a longer time than the competition. Having a ten, twenty, and thirty-year track record of ethical behaviour is a very defensive career position.