Melinda French Gates - ‘Just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you’re wise’

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melinda French Gates studied computer science and economics and completed an MBA before joining a tech start-up called Microsoft, in 1987. She rose through the ranks to become Manager of Information Products and married the boss in 1994. His name was Bill Gates. Together, the couple founded and co-chaired the Gates Foundation, where, for more than two decades, she set the direction and priorities of the world’s largest philanthropic organisation. Today, a divorced French Gates heads up Pivotal, which works to advance women’s power and influence in the U.S. and around the world. Along the way, she has raised three children and written two bestselling books - The Moment of Lift and her latest, The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward. It is an astonishing journey: from the normality of a middle-class childhood to becoming one of the wealthiest women in the world and one of our most influential philanthropists. French Gates joins me for an open conversation about her divorce, ensuring her children never became spoiled, being strict about smartphones and surviving the death of a friend. Plus: the importance of empathy in the workplace and whether we should be scared of AI. Elizabeth and Melinda answer YOUR questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content ✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Intro 01:50 Philanthropy and Personal Growth 03:49 Reflections on Grief and Friendship 14:41 Parenting Challenges and Lessons 23:26 Cultural Context in Philanthropy 23:39 Vaccine Distribution Challenges 25:19 Vaccine Shortage and Initial Mistakes 25:39 Treadle Pumps and Cultural Missteps 26:45 Learning from Failures 28:58 Empathy as a Superpower 30:13 Personal Anecdotes and Relationships 32:03 The Power of Friendship 36:33 Microsoft Bob and Technological Failures 39:55 Reflections on AI and Personal Growth Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com I have an upcoming one-off show at Cadogan Hall on 21 Sep for my new novel One of Us. Full show details here: https://www.fane.co.uk/elizabeth-day Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Studio & Sound Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Carly Maile How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 1x pre-roll 2x Mid-roll 2x Mid-roll 1x Mid-roll 1x post-roll Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello there. Did you know that you can hear all of the things that my guests might have failed to divulge in the main episode by joining us in our subscriber community failing with friends? It's where you will hear really riveting pieces of information like Olivia Atwood's dream date location or Miranda Hart's advice on performing bodily functions in front of your
0:22.5	partner. Just follow the link in the podcast notes and we will see you there.
0:36.3	Hello and welcome to How to Fail with me, Elizabeth Day.
0:40.3	This is the podcast that believes failure can be a nudge from the universe into a different kind of beginning.
0:46.3	I kept pushing it away, but at some point I had to turn towards it, and I just knew it, and I knew it in my soul. And so I had to learn
0:57.4	to say to them just because I can doesn't mean I should. We essentially knew the day we shipped
1:06.3	the software that it was a dud.
1:17.0	Thanks to Dove, we've got an absolutely iconic guest coming on How to Fail on Monday, July the 7th, in partnership with the really exciting Dove Self-Eesteem Project.
1:22.8	The Dove Self-Esteen Project is an amazing initiative, supported by science-backed methodology that we can all
1:29.4	introduce into our lives to help us improve our relationship with our bodies. To find more body
1:35.7	confidence building exercises and a supporting workbook, you can go to Dove.com forward slash Y2K,
1:43.2	that's W-H-Y-2K. And keep your eyes and ears peeled on Monday, July
1:49.2	the 7th, for our very special Dove episode with an iconic guest who I know you're all going to love.
1:56.4	Melinda French Gates was born in Dallas, Texas, the second of four children. Her father,
2:02.2	Raymond, was an Apollo space engineer who taught his young daughter to code. Her mother,
2:08.1	Elaine, instilled in her a belief in the power of education. French Gates excelled at school
2:14.8	and university, where she studied computer science and economics and completed an MBA.
2:20.7	In 1987, she joined a tech startup called Microsoft, rising through the ranks to become manager
2:26.5	of information products and marrying the boss in 1994. His name was Bill Gates. Together, the couple founded and co-chaired the Gates Foundation,
2:37.2	where for more than two decades, she set the direction and priorities of the world's largest
2:43.1	philanthropic organisation. Today, a divorced French Gates heads up pivotal, which works to
2:49.3	advance women's power and influence in the US
	...

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