The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is awesome by most any measure. They tackle global problems as wide ranging as education and clean water. They fill some of the societal gaps that public companies and government are missing – nudging nation states, inter-governmental organizations many times their size to get their act together. Amazing.
Their 2017 annual report was informative and hopeful.
2017: addressed to Warren Buffet here.
Their 2018 annual report is frank and thoughtful.
2018: answering their 10 toughest questions / criticisms here.
- Why don’t you give more in the United States?
- What do you have to show for the billions you’ve spent on U.S. education?
- Why don’t you give money to fight climate change?
- Are you imposing your values on other cultures?
- Does saving kids’ lives lead to overpopulation?
- How are President Trump’s policies affecting your foundation’s work?
- Why do you work with corporations?
- Is it fair that you have so much influence?
- What happens when the two of you disagree?
- Why are you really giving your money away—what’s in it for you?
This is liberal arts thinking at its best:
- Frame the problem, and pose meaningful questions
- Use analysis and critical thinking; use data to build an argument
- Use of ethics and principles to prioritize
- Experiment, be wrong, admit failure, keep going
- Understand, adapt to different cultures and norms
- Demonstrate leadership, followership, and drive change
- Basically, get stuff done
They are different. It’s a sustainable competitive advantage.
Totally worth your read here. Well-written, thoughtful, and encouraging. Strategic.
- They prioritize. Their endowment is $44B, but they cannot spend it on everything. They look for the 80/20. They invest where they can save the most lives for the $$. (e.g., vaccines)
- They look at the data. When researching how to impact preventable childhood death, they asked “what are the numbers , what has worked, why are there gaps?” Data is your friend.
- They admit (temporary) failure. Their US education work has been touch-and-go. It’s a multi-factorial problem that defies a simple solution.
- They are UBER-practical. For climate change, they are helping farmers grow climate-smart crops. . knowing that floods and droughts are coming.
- They are process driven. They approach this like a BIG consulting project:
We have about 1,500 employees in offices on four continents who look at the data, survey the universe of possible approaches, study what’s worked and what hasn’t, and develop strategies that we believe will maximize our impact. But one of the most important parts of their job is to listen to partners, adjust the strategies based on what they hear, and give implementers the leeway to use their expertise and their local knowledge. That’s not to say we always get it right. We don’t. But we try to approach our work with humility about what we don’t know and the determination to learn from our mistakes.
Bonus, please find the 200 books Bill Gates recommends here. Get reading.
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