Bill Gates A Living Legend

The Real Reason The World Will Remember Bill Gates (Hint: It's not Windows 8) 13 comments, 13 called-out William H. Gates, III, shall ultimately be remembered as the most significant person of his generation. It may not be for the reasons you think. Bill Gates is eligible for consideration by virtue of founding Microsoft (I own a few shares), which despite certain rivals’ success, remains a significant player in the technology arena, nearly forty years after its founding in 1975 regardless of the wreckage all around it. Many would leap to the conclusion that Gates will one day be recognized as the most important person of his generation because for fourteen out of the fifteen years from 1995 to 2009 he was the richest person in the world. Such achievements, however, will likely seem small in the scope of history. One day, Microsoft may not be the significant company it is today; the fall of great companies is so nearly axiomatic that those rare exceptions to the rule become the subject of Harvard case studies. Certainly, there will come a day when many fortunes dwarf the Gates fortune, making the accumulation of his wealth seem smaller and less meaningful. So from what do I draw my conclusion that Bill Gates will ultimately be remembered as the most significant person of his generation? Philanthropy. Social entrepreneurship. Philanthrocapitalism. Bill Gates Bill Gates at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle on August 14, 2012. Courtesy of the Gates Foundation. Gates is famous for asking other billionaires to commit to giving away half their fortunes, reportedly inspired by Melinda’s reading The Power of Half by Kevin Salwen and his 14-year old daughter Hannah in 2010, about selling their home, giving half the proceeds to charity, and buying one half the size for their family. Bill and Melinda have committed to giving 95% of their fortune to charity over time; that is an astounding measure of generosity. Of course, Gates can afford to give away 95% of their fortune and still make the Forbes 400 list each year, but everything in my experience suggests that it would be just as hard to give away 95% of $60 billion as it would be to give away 95% of $6 million. The loss of that personal fortune changes substantially who you are. Now, for a moment, consider the scale of the Gateses’ philanthropy. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through which their philanthropy flows is, according to Wikipedia, the largest “transparently operated private foundation in the world.” Since inception, the Foundation has made grants of over $26 billion, including $15 billion in global health alone. A significant contribution to the Foundation was made by Warren Buffet in 2006, but most of the money in the Foundation has been provided by the Gateses. This Indian baby will likely live her entire life without risk of exposure to polio. This Indian baby will likely live her entire life without risk of exposure to polio. Courtesy of the Gates Foundation. The annual giving of just the Global Health program of the Foundation is about $800 million and approaches the scale of the United Nations World Health Organization. One key focus of the Foundation is, in partnership with Rotary International, the eradication of polio. Combining the tremendous financial and volunteer power of Rotary with the greater financial power of the Gates Foundation, is making the goal to permanently rid the world of the scourge of polio achievable—even likely.