As founder of Microsoft and currently the wealthiest person in the world, Bill Gates is obviously one of this generation’s transcendent leaders. In the past decade, one of Gates’s primary focuses has also been philanthropy and solving global issues such as education and poverty.
After witnessing the events surrounding the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Gates addressed the need prepare for future pandemics at the recent TED Conference shown above.
As I listened to his presentation, I gleaned 18 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Bill Gates TED Talk. All quotes below are from Gates.
- Great Leaders Serve A Greater Purpose – Gates long ago reached at a point in his life where he shifted his focus to the global quality of human life. At a certain point, how many computers can you sell?
- Great Leaders Make Us Look At The World Differently – Gates said, “If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war.”
- Great Leaders Properly Leverage Financial Resources – Gates said, “We’ve invested a huge amount in nuclear deterrents. We’ve invested very little in stopping an epidemic.”
- Great Leaders Build Systems – A system is anything you as a church or organization do twice. If you do something twice, you need a system for how it should be done. Regarding a response to an epidemic, “The problem wasn’t there was a system that didn’t work well enough. The problem was we didn’t have a system at all.”
- Great Leaders Properly Evaluate Reality – This is the fundamental requirement of leadership. Gates admitted, “The fact these (system) elements are missing is a global failure.”
- Great Leaders Celebrate Accomplishment – No one should ever work for someone who does not celebrate accomplishment. Celebration is the payoff for a job well done. Gates identified three reasons Ebola didn’t spread more. “The first is there was a lot of heroic work by the health workers.”
- Great Leaders Know How Things Spread – There are several things which spread in your organization – great ideas, generosity, negativity, passion, etc… Leadership determines what spreads in their organization. A virus also spreads. Gates said, “The second is the nature of the virus. Ebola is not spread through the air.”
- Great Leaders Effectively Leverage Luck – All leaders have both good and bad luck. Unsuccessful leaders simply dismiss luck. However, successful leaders identify and leverage luck well. Gates said, “Third, it didn’t get into many urban areas and that was just luck.”
- Great Leaders Use All Their Resources To Respond To Issues – Leaders have much at their disposal – money, time, networks, people, experiences, technology, skills, etc…. Gates pointed out, “We can build a really good response system. We have the benefit of all the science and technology.”
- Great Leaders Take Skills Learned In One Area And Apply Them To Other Areas – Leaders do not operate in silos. Our skills, experiences and resources are cross-functional assets we can use. Gates said, “The best lessons on how to get prepared are what we do for war.”
- Great Leaders Care About And Serve The Poor And Under-Resourced – Gates could have easily just thrown money at the medical needs of third world countries. However, he is using his influence and technology to bring relief to these areas. He challenged all leaders by saying, “We need strong health systems in poor countries.”
- Great Leaders Build Great Teams – A great team has depth. Depth allows you to have the margin needed to quickly respond to needs which unexpectedly arise. He said, “We need a medical reserve corp, lot of people with the training and background who are ready to go with the expertise.”
- Great Leaders Build Strategic Partnerships – Leaders are connectors. They bring people together who need to know each other so problems can be solved. Gates said, “We need to pair the medical with the military.”
- Great Leaders Over-Prepare – Smart leaders go through a rigorous process of preparation. They leave little to chance. Gates suggested, “We need to do simulations. We need to do germ games, not war games, to see where the holes are.”
- Great Leaders Are Not Afraid To Fail – They just fail fast. Gates said, “We need lots of R & D.”
- Great Leaders Count The Cost – Gates acknowledged, “I don’t have an exact budget of how much this would cost.” Something tells me he will soon.
- Great Leaders Offer Hope – They point to a brighter tomorrow. Gates said, “There’s no need to panic.”
- Great Leaders Call People To Action – Gates concluded by saying, “but we need to get going because time is not on our side…If we start now we can be ready for the next epidemic.”
For more TED Talk insights, click 33 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Rick Warren’s Ted Talk.
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