風蕭蕭_Frank
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那天我知道我餘生想做什麽
https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-day-I-knew-what-I-wanted-to-do-for-the-rest-of-my-life
演講如何幫助我決定專注於慈善事業。
作者：比爾·蓋茨 2019 年 9 月 20 日
Netflix 紀錄片係列《走進比爾的大腦》的第 1 部分講述了蓋茨基金會重新思考世界上最貧困人口的衛生設施問題的故事。第一步：改造廁所！從我在高中愛上軟件到今天在我們的基金會工作，這種對創新力量的信念一直是我一生的信念。接下來的故事講述了我在這條道路上的一個清晰時刻，以及一路上一直擔任批評指導的人的影響。
如果你在二十多歲的時候問我是否會提前從微軟退休，我會告訴你你瘋了。我喜歡軟件的魔力，以及微軟提供的不斷上升的學習曲線。我很難想象我還願意做什麽。
到了四十多歲，我的觀點發生了變化。美國政府針對微軟的反壟斷訴訟讓我精疲力盡，也讓我失去了工作的樂趣。 2000 年初辭去 CEO 職務後，我希望更多地專注於構建軟件產品，這始終是我工作中最好的部分。
此外，我的世界觀也更加開闊。梅琳達和我都感受到我們年輕的基金會及其在美國教育以及貧困國家疾病藥物和疫苗開發方麵的工作受到越來越大的推動。在我的成年生活中，我第一次給自己留出了閱讀非微軟書籍的空間，吸收了有關免疫係統、瘧疾和瘟疫曆史的書籍，就像我曾經瀏覽過《計算機編程的藝術》一樣。
隨著我們對慈善事業的承諾不斷增長，梅琳達和我將價值 200 億美元的微軟股票轉移到我們的基金會，使其成為世界上最大的此類基金會。一年之內，我為該基金會進行了第一次海外旅行，前往印度，在那裏我將脊髓灰質炎疫苗滴入嬰兒的嘴裏。梅琳達前往泰國和印度，研究這些國家如何應對艾滋病。
我們的好朋友沃倫·巴菲特對我們即將踏上的這段新旅程感到好奇。因此，2001 年秋天，他邀請我去西弗吉尼亞州的一個度假勝地，並請我向一群商界領袖講述我和梅琳達所學到的知識。
我不是一個天生的公眾演講者。但在微軟，年複一年，一次又一次的演講，我學會了走上舞台，為我們的客戶、合作夥伴和媒體描繪技術願景。人們想了解白熱化的軟件行業，這很有幫助。我漸漸喜歡上了它。
我覺得我正在從我們的基金會開始。在世界經濟論壇等大型全球會議上，人們蜂擁而至，想聽我詳細介紹一些很酷的軟件，但當那天晚些時候我宣布一項為數百萬兒童提供疫苗的創新計劃時，人群和精力就會消失。
當時，我遇到的許多人都認為低收入國家的健康問題非常嚴重且棘手，無論花多少錢都無法產生任何重大影響。我明白為什麽。人們很容易忽視遠方發生的死亡和疾病。我們在有關全球健康的新聞中讀到的大部分內容都集中在厄運和悲觀情緒上。這讓我很沮喪。這些問題是真實存在的，但人類尋找解決方案的聰明才智的力量也是如此。梅琳達和我感受到了強烈的樂觀情緒，但我們沒有在這些故事中看到這一點。
就在沃倫邀請我發表演講的時候，梅琳達和我正在努力思考如何利用我們的聲音來提高全球健康的知名度。有人願意聽嗎？
我對沃倫朋友們的演講是一次練習的機會。如果我能激起他們的興趣，這將是說服那些有能力做出最大改變的人的一步：立法者和國家元首決定有多少資金流入對外援助和全球衛生。
前往沃倫團隊聚集的會議室時，我有點緊張，但更重要的是，我感到筋疲力盡。當時我們正在就反壟斷案件進行談判，我一直在和律師通電話至深夜。我沒有時間寫完整的演講稿。我隻是在通話之間記下筆記，試圖將我們學到的所有知識簡化成盡可能清晰的故事。
我開始說話，一開始是結結巴巴的。我解釋說，我們的重大啟示是在 20 世紀 90 年代中期，當時梅琳達和我意識到貧窮國家有多少苦難是由健康問題造成的，而富裕國家已經不再試圖解決這些問題，因為我們不再受到這些問題的影響。這激怒了我們。我說，當時這種不平等的代價是每年有三百萬兒童死亡。
我們意識到，這些死亡並不是由一係列失控的疾病造成的，而是由少數基本上可以治愈的疾病造成的。僅腹瀉和肺炎就造成兒童死亡的一半
名詞其中許多兒童可以通過現有的藥物和疫苗得到拯救。所缺乏的隻是將這些拯救生命的技術提供給需要它們的人和地方的激勵措施和係統，以及一些加速變革的新發明。
我解釋說，我們的慈善事業遵循與微軟相同的理念：堅持不懈的創新。正確的疫苗可以消滅地球上的致命病毒。更好的廁所可以幫助預防腹瀉病。對科學技術的投資可以幫助數百萬人度過童年並過上健康、富有成效的生活——這可能是有史以來研發支出的最大回報。
當我說話時，前一天晚上困擾我的法律糾紛消失了。我充滿了活力。當想法激發我時，我會搖擺、搖擺、踱步——我的身體就變成了大腦的節拍器。第一次，所有的事實和數據、軼事和分析都凝聚成一個令人振奮的故事——甚至對我來說也是如此。我能夠闡明我們捐贈的邏輯，以及為什麽我如此樂觀地認為金錢、技術、科學突破和政治意願的結合可以比很多人想象的更快地建立一個更加公平的世界。
從點頭、大笑和提問的水平上我可以看出，這個小組明白了。隨後，沃倫滿臉笑容地走了過來。“這太棒了，比爾，”他說。“你說的太棒了，你在這項工作上的精力也太棒了。”我對他笑了笑。三個“驚人”——第一次。
那天我找到的信心鼓勵我在全球健康問題上發揮更多的公共作用。在接下來的一年裏，我在活動和采訪中完善了我的信息。我花了更多時間與政府領導人談論健康問題。 （現在這是我工作的重要組成部分。）
但還發生了其他事情。這次演講幫助我更清楚地看到了離開微軟後的自己的生活，重點是我和梅琳達開始的工作。多年來，軟件仍然是我關注的焦點，我將永遠認為它是最能塑造我的東西。但我感到精力充沛，能夠在我們正在走的這條新道路上走得更遠，了解更多，並致力於克服障礙，讓更多的人過上更好的生活。最終，我比原計劃提前了近十年從微軟退休。 2001 年的演講是朝著這一決定邁出的一步，是一個私人時刻。
現在，我每天都專注於努力實現我大約二十年前在會議室中概述的願景。現在的世界比以前更加公平。但我們還有很長的路要走。通過讓 Netflix 的攝像機進來，我希望您能看到我從工作中獲得的快樂，以及為什麽我如此樂觀，相信憑借聰明才智、想象力和決心，我們可以在實現這一目標方麵取得更大進展。
The day I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life
https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-day-I-knew-what-I-wanted-to-do-for-the-rest-of-my-life
How giving a speech helped me decide to focus on philanthropy.
Part 1 of the Netflix documentary series Inside Bill’s Brain tells the story of the Gates Foundation’s quest to rethink sanitation for the world’s poorest. First step: reinvent the toilet! This belief in the power of innovation has been a constant in my life, starting from the time I fell in love with software in high school to my work today at our foundation. What follows is the story of a moment of clarity for me on that path and the influence of someone who’s been a critical guide along the way.
If you’d have asked me in my twenties if I’d ever retire early from Microsoft, I’d have told you that you were crazy. I loved the magic of software, and the ever-rising learning curve that Microsoft provided. It was hard for me to imagine anything else I’d rather do.
By my mid-forties my perspective was changing. The U.S. government’s antitrust suit against Microsoft had drained me, sucking some of the joy out of my work. Stepping down as CEO in early 2000, I hoped to focus more on building software products, always the best part of my job.
Also, my world view was broadening. Both Melinda and I were feeling a strengthening pull toward our young foundation and its work in U.S. education and the development of drugs and vaccines for diseases in poor countries. For the first time in my adult life I allowed myself space for non-Microsoft reading, soaking up books on the immune system, malaria and the history of plagues just as I had once scoured The Art of Computer Programming.
With our commitment to philanthropy growing, Melinda and I transferred $20 billion of Microsoft stock to our foundation, making it the largest of its kind in the world. Within a year I’d taken my first overseas trip for the foundation, to India, where I squeezed drops of polio vaccine into babies’ mouths. Melinda traveled to Thailand and India to study how those countries were handling AIDS.
Our good friend Warren Buffett was curious about this new journey we were on. So in the fall of 2001, he invited me to a resort in West Virginia and asked me to speak to a group of business leaders about what Melinda and I were learning.
I’m not a natural public speaker. But at Microsoft, speech after speech, year after year, I learned to step out on a stage and paint a vision of technology for our customers, partners and the media. It helped that people wanted to hear about the white-hot software industry. I grew to enjoy it.
I felt like I was starting over with our foundation. At big global meetings, like the World Economic Forum, people flocked to hear me detail some cool piece of software, but the crowd and the energy would be gone when later that day I’d announce an innovative plan to get vaccines to millions of children.
At the time, many people I met thought health problems in low-income countries were so big and intractable that no amount of money could make any significant difference. I could see why. It was easy to ignore death and disease happening so far away. And so much of what we read in the news about global health focused on doom and gloom. This frustrated me. The problems were real enough, but so is the power of human ingenuity to find solutions. Melinda and I felt a strong sense of optimism, but we didn’t see that reflected in these stories.
Right around the time Warren asked me to give the talk, Melinda and I were trying to figure out how we might use our voices to raise the visibility of global health. Would anyone listen?
My speech to Warren’s friends was a chance to practice. If I could stir them, it would be a step towards persuading the people with the power to make the biggest difference: the legislators and heads of countries who decide how much money flows into foreign aid and global health.
I was a little nervous heading to the conference room where Warren’s group was gathered—but more than that, I was exhausted. We were in the midst of negotiations over the antitrust case, and I’d been on the phone with lawyers deep into the night. I hadn’t had time to write a full speech. I’d just jotted notes between calls, trying to simplify all we had learned into the clearest possible story.
I started talking, haltingly at first. Our big revelation, I explained, had come in the mid-1990s when Melinda and I realized how much misery in poor countries is caused by health problems that the rich world had stopped trying to solve because we’re no longer affected by them. That incensed us. The cost of that inequity at the time was three million children dying ever year, I said.
Those deaths, we realized, weren’t caused by a bunch of runaway diseases, but by a handful of illnesses that are largely treatable. Diarrhea and pneumonia alone were responsible for half of the deaths among children. Many of those children could be saved with medicines and vaccines that already existed. All that was lacking were incentives and systems to get those life-saving technologies to the people and places where they were needed—and some new inventions to speed the change.
Our philanthropy, I explained, followed the same philosophy that guided Microsoft: relentless innovation. The right vaccine can wipe a deadly virus off the planet. A better toilet can help stop diarrheal disease. Investments in science and technology can help millions to survive their childhood and lead healthy productive lives—potentially the greatest return in R&D spending ever.
As I spoke, the legal tangles that had consumed me the night before vanished. I was energized. When ideas excite me, I rock, I sway, I pace—my body turns into a metronome for my brain. For the first time, all the facts and figures, anecdotes and analyses cohered into a story that was uplifting—even for me. I was able to make clear the logic of our giving and why I was so optimistic that a combination of money, technology, scientific breakthroughs, and political will could make a more equitable world faster than a lot of people thought.
I could tell from the nods and laughs and caliber of questions that the group got it. Afterward, Warren came over with a big smile. “That was amazing, Bill,” he said. “What you said was amazing, and your energy around this work is amazing.” I grinned back at him. Three ‘amazings’—a first.
The confidence I found that day encouraged me to take a more public role on global health issues. Over the next year, I refined my message at events and in interviews. I spent more time talking about health with government leaders. (That’s now a big part of my job.)
But something else had happened, too. The speech helped me see more clearly a life for myself after Microsoft, centered on the work that Melinda and I had started. Software would remain my focus for years and I will always consider it the thing that most shaped who I am. But I felt energized to get further along this new path we were traveling, to learn more and to apply myself to the obstacles in the way of more people living better lives. Eventually, I would retire from Microsoft almost a decade earlier that I had planned. The 2001 speech was a step, a private moment, on the way to that decision.
Now I get to focus every day on trying to deliver the vision I outlined in that conference room almost two decades ago. The world is more equitable now than it was then. But we’ve still got a long way to go. By letting Netflix’s cameras in, I hope you can see the joy I get from my work and why I am so optimistic that with ingenuity, imagination, and determination, we can make even more progress towards that goal.
