The real lessons of Bill Gates will not be televised
Who would have thought a guy investing his own money on useful vaccines could be so controversial? Bill Gates has made the news for one thing or another of the last year. He's important. Now, he's being attacked by the anti-vaccine movement in the US. I imagine this is only going to intensify as he pivots harder to address challenges arising from COVID-19. There are a couple of things here. Who is Bill Gates? And, why the hate?
Well, there is that three-part Netflix documentary that premiered in September called Inside Bill's Brain and reviewed here. Truth be told, It's mostly content marketing. Yes, it's informative and interesting but in a tailored, highly controlled narrative sort of way. As you'd expect (and not bad television). But I'm making it explicit as many don't think critically about what they are seeing and not seeing. Information overload in modern life gets to us all.
The best moments are when Bill is ruthlessly honest: the pivotal criticism of Bill is that he’s a technophile who believes technology will solve everything. He pleads guilty, owns it, and says that’s what he knows. Which is why it is fantastic that he's investing in technology for good. It's also why it is sometimes difficult for Bill Gates and his foundation to navigate the complex political landscape. It's a challenge for anyone, really.
History has great sources. I recently finished Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire by James Wallace and Jim Erickson. Published in 1993, it's an amazing history of the software industry and the personalities behind it. Highly recommend the book. More than the series. What do you find out about Bill Gates? His parents, his up and down relationship with Paul Allen, his lack of sustained friendships, his early and raw genius with computers, his incredible work ethic and drive.
The back cover alone includes quotes like "I half-jokingly say there is only one person with fewer friends than Saddam Hussein. And that's Bill Gates" Paul Grayson, co-founder of Microfgraphix.
One well-known businessman on the Eastside of Seattle said he runs into a lot of "Microsoft widows" the joke among them is "we hope Bill will get married. Then we will finally get to see our husbands." The sense from these wives is that Bill is a nerdy guy who has no appreciation of people's real lives. Microsoft does crazy things, like telling an employee they have to be in Hawaii tomorrow. People see Microsoft as being hostile to families.
How the book ends:
"Believe me," Bill Gates said as the interview ended, "staring out the window and saying 'Isn't this great,' is not the solution to pushing things forward...You've got to keep driving hard."
What have I taken away from those sources, my own observations, and my work in education on Bill Gates?
First: In Education, like in health, Bill Gates does great work. If you only watched Insides Bill's Brain, you would miss one of the most important aspects of the Gates Foundation - their work in education. They talk about Bill's work in eradicating disease, sanitation, and climate change. There is no mention of the billions spent on education. They've supported education technology, charter schools, accountability programs, and research. Behind almost every innovation program in US education is a large grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I've worked for 8 years in education and I can attest - they work they've done is great, it's evidence-based, it has moved the entire field forward. And, full disclosure, I have received Gates grants to write policy papers on education like this one for the state of Massachusetts.
Second: Bill and the documentary hesitate to talk about their education work, maybe, because it is 'controversial'. I use the quotes because it's controversial in the same way that vaccine development shouldn't be controversial. Teachers' unions, fear-mongering, special interests have stymied a huge portion of necessary, helpful, evidence-supported education reform. There are so many opinions and so much nuance.
Third: Private money can be helpful but it isn't enough to transform teacher effectiveness, let alone all the ills of society. Even if you have the strategy right, billions and billionaires aren't enough to move systems. Bill and Melinda Gates are pretty open about the challenges in education as “We have no noticeable impact after almost 20 years of working in that space,” Gates said. “But we’re committed. You need something more than money. $200M wasn't even close to enough to change Newark Public Schools. Tying to the present, Gates Foundation money won't be enough, alone, to solve COVID-19. These blockages, like the one highlighted today by the FDA, will keep coming up.
Fourth: The Power of Petulance. Bill, uh, he doesn't hold back. Unbridled from constraint. That's not to say he screams at people all the time. But if he feels like they need it, he doesn't mince his words. That's rare today. Leaders, particularly in the social and public sector, rarely speak with an independent voice. I don't think it's because they are practicing good manners; it's because they are scared. They want to keep their job, their position, their status. They know that the key criteria for floating to the top is to play nice. Gather the stakeholders, consult the committee, take a couple of opinion polls, then do the exercise again. "Syndicate ahead of the meeting" and "meet them where they are" and "prioritize the relationship." Do you think Bill Gates does that? Or ever did that? His team might. But Bill, throughout his career, particularly in the early days of Microsoft, did not hesitate to tell people when he thought they were wrong. Of course, it helps to be right.
Fifth: Hard, hard, hard work. From the early days of Microsoft: "There was, in fact, a mystique about the long hours' employees worked at Microsoft. There was an unstated job requirement that employees had to be at the office late into the night and on weekends regardless of how much work they had on a given day."