Lessons From My First Year as CEO of the Gates Foundation

By Sukh Singh, Associate Partner, Lighthouse International 

When you’re the CEO of one of the biggest philanthropic organisations in the world, what’s the most important factor in your and the organisation’s success?

This is what Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Gates Foundation, has been reflecting on recently. Here are three powerful quotes on what Sue has learned…

"The single most important thing for me as CEO is taking the drive, power, and intellect of our people and partners, and uniting them to use every resource we have as effectively as possible."

"The bottom line with our mission is this: If we allow ourselves to get gummed up because we lack self-awareness and discipline, we lose precious opportunities to reduce human suffering."

"We want to help the world go further than ever before. Partnerships are the only way to make that happen. When they work well, when they allow for constructive conflict, partnerships have a way of adding up to something greater than the sum of their parts."

Sue takes her responsibility and the organisation’s mission seriously and as such, she recognises that achieving their mission comes down to the quality of people, relationships, partnerships, and discipline that exists in and around the organisation. Here’s a brief video of Sue sharing more about running the Gates Foundation...

Click here to read the full article which goes into far greater depth on these insights and why Desmond-Hellmann is so passionate about her work. It's a truly powerful and inspiring piece of work.

If you could build an organisation like the Gates Foundation, what major issues would you want to address in the world? Share in the comments below...

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