Warren Buffett, The Best Advice Giver Says Melinda Gates: Here's Wisdom She Uses In Philanthropy

Philanthropist Melinda Gates is best known for helping lead the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for years before she moved on to focus on Pivotal Ventures.

While Gates has moved on from the organization founded with ex-husband Bill Gates, the philanthropist carries advice shared to the duo by longtime friend and partner Warren Buffett.

Buffett's Advice: With a new book titled "The Next Day: Transitions" on the way, Gates has been making the rounds with multiple interviews to promote the book.

Along the way, Gates is also sharing details about her new philanthropic effort, her split from Bill Gates and how legendary investor Warren Buffett has played an important role in her life.

Gates told the Wall Street Journal that she writes down a lot of quotes that people tell her over time so she can "replay them" in her head.

"Like if I get tough on myself about philanthropy, I remember what Warren Buffett said to us originally, which is ‘You're working on the problems society left behind, and they left them behind for a reason. They are hard right? So don't be so tough on yourself,'" Gates said.  

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Life Transitions: Gates said her new book is based on an idea from a commencement speech she gave at Stanford University, where she talked about life's twists and turns.

"You don't get to be my age without navigating all kinds of transitions," Gates said in the new book, as reported by Fortune.

The book goes into her transition from leaving the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and turning 60. "I have a lot more to say about transitions. So I just started to go ahead and do a book."

One of the details she revealed was how she and Bill viewed the effects their divorce would have on their professional and personal lives.

Buffett was one of the first people the couple called in May 2021 before going public about their divorce. Buffett, their long-time friend, had donated more than $39 billion to their foundation.

"He had made this enormous investment in the foundation and so whatever decision he would eventually need to make or not make about that was his. We both felt strongly he was one of the first people we needed to tell," Melinda Gates said.

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