Kamal Ghorui
Bill Gates’ ex-wife and philanthropist Melinda French Gates recently shared the rule she follows when she is upset. Speaking at Bloomberg Business‘s Leaders with Francine Lacqua podcast this week (via Fortune), Gates said “If I’m unhappy with work you have done, you will hear from me within 48 hours”, adding, “I’m not going to tell you right away, because I need time to think it through.” Melinda Gates continued saying “If I’m angry about something [I do this] to calm down.” “That’s on me,” she added. Explaining further, Gates said that this practice is less about withholding criticism and more about delivering it with honesty, integrity, and grace. On the contrary, if the employee does not hear from Gates during this feedback window, it means they are in the clear.“If they pass the 48-hour mark, they can be confident that the job they did was a good job,” she said. “You’re not going to get to your performance review and have a surprise.”Melinda French Gates described her 48-hour feedback mantra as “gracious, thoughtful, before you go into it.” Gates has followed this practice over years when she co-chaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2000 to 2024.
Melinda French Gates on leadership
During the podcast, Bloomberg’s Lacqua described French Gates’ way of handling feedback as her “leadership superpower,” saying it takes emotional control and honesty. “Being clear is kind,” French Gates replied, “because I’m giving them feedback so they can actually grow and become better.”
Dumbfounding’ advice for Melinda French Gates
Earlier this year, Gates revealed that her path to a $17.4 billion fortune began with an unusual piece of advice from a hiring manager at IBM. A hiring manager at the US-based multinational technology company told her to turn down the job, and instead join Microsoft, which was relatively new at that time. Gates then said : “My hiring manager at IBM, a female, said to me, ‘Okay, are you ready to accept the job offer?’ And I said, ‘Well, I have one more company to go interview—this little company, Microsoft. It was tiny,” French Gates said during an interview.“And she said, ‘If they give you an offer, you should take it.’ And it dumbfounded me,” she added.
