The Gates Foundation launched in 2000, and as of December 2023 holds $75.2 billion in its endowment.
French Gates exited the Gates Foundation in May with $12.5 billion in tow.
Gates Ventures, Gates’ personal office, denies the picture Das paints about the Gates Foundation.
Still, many Gates Foundation employees proverbially sucked up to Gates, owing to his clout in the tech and philanthropy world.
The Gates Foundation, in response to a request for comment about work culture at the organization, provided the following to Fortune: “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has an unparalleled 25-year legacy of working with partners to save and improve millions of lives worldwide,” a Gates Foundation spokesperson said.
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates, who was known for working on weekends and not believing in vacations. An excerpt from Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World by Anupreeta Das, published by Business Insider last week, claims that the philanthropic foundation he founded with his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, reflected that same level of intensity. Establishing in 2000, the Gates Foundation had an endowment valued at $75.2-202 billion as of December 2023. In May, French Gates left the Gates Foundation carrying a whopping $12.55 billion.
Das, a finance editor at the New York Times, says that working at the Gates Foundation is stressful and that staff members are afraid of Gates.
“For many, the fear he inspires for a variety of reasons is what comes through about Gates,” wrote Das. Das wrote that a number of things “terrify those who work for him,” including the fact that his foundation doesn’t have investors or shareholders, his intimidating “brilliance and fame,” and the “arrogant behavior” he displayed while working at Microsoft.
The description of the Gates Foundation given by Das is refuted by Gates Ventures, Gates’ personal office.
“The book includes highly sensationalized allegations and outright falsehoods that ignore the actual documented facts Mr. Gates’ office provided to the author on numerous occasions,” a Gates Ventures spokesperson told Fortune. “The book relies almost exclusively on second- and third-hand hearsay and anonymous sources.”.
The Gates Foundation: An inside look at the workplace.
According to a book excerpt, one former attendee described Gates’ meetings with executives and staff from the Gates Foundation as “almost comical,” comparing them to a king holding court to discuss plans, budgets, and strategies.
Meetings were “usually held in a large room with a set arrangement for seats,” according to Das. Everything was done with strict manners. According to a former senior executive who attended numerous meetings, the atmosphere at Gates’ court felt a lot like that of a monarchy, with staff members acting as courtiers vying for the ruler’s favor in Versailles. “.
In order to be ready for a potential Gates inquiry, staff members of the Gates Foundation would “frantically” prepare presentations for these gatherings. Even with his attention to detail, these questions were unavoidable with Gates. In reports, he would pick up on even the tiniest departure from a coherent narrative.
Das was informed by a former foundation employee that “he’s the scariest person in the world” to give advice or a briefing to. After perusing a page, he returns to you with a statement akin to, “The footnote on page 28 and what you say in the footnote on page 9 do not match. “”.
However, the Gates Foundation’s frenzy wasn’t limited to big presentation days. The low murmur of fear was, in fact, “a constant presence inside the foundation,” according to Das. One email inquiry from Gates regarding a grant application or a task that needs to be completed could be enough to instill fear.
“After removing [Gates] from the chain, there may have been up to 100 emails exchanged among staff members attempting to understand his intentions, his motivations, and the best course of action,” Das wrote.
Yet, because of Gates’ influence in the tech and charity sectors, a lot of Gates Foundation staff members essentially ate up to him. According to Das, the Gates Foundation staff could be divided into three groups: “consiglieres who bow to Gates; young aspirants who are awed by him; and skeptics who find Gates domineering and eventually leave” the organization.
In reaction to Fortune’s inquiry regarding the work culture within the organization, the Gates Foundation sent the following information:.
A representative for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation stated, “The Foundation has an unparalleled 25-year legacy of working with partners to save and improve millions of lives worldwide.”. “We are steadfast in addressing the most difficult problems in global health and development, supported by our executive leaders and board of trustees, and with a strong commitment to doing so.”. “.
For those acquainted with Gates’s practices during his tenure as Microsoft’s CEO, the work culture at the Gates Foundation may come as no surprise.
“Vacations didn’t seem real to me. At a Northern Arizona University graduation speech in 2023, Gates declared, “I didn’t even believe in weekends.”. “I made those around me put in a lot of overtime. In order to “keep track of who is leaving early and who is staying late,” he acknowledged that he regularly looked over Microsoft’s parking lot. “.
Nevertheless, Gates exemplifies the dilemma faced by CEOs: to be feared or adored. Although Das’s book provides insight into the working culture at the Gates Foundation, Gates feels that his behavior has lessened from what it was when he was at Microsoft.
Gates stated in his 2023 graduation speech, “As I got older—and especially once I became a father—I realized that that intensity was not always appropriate both in terms of doing your best work and having a great life.”. “Remember this lesson; don’t put it off like I did. “.
