Gates, Buffett lead the way to a better world
By Bill Settlemyer
Leadership comes in many forms. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have led the nation for years as builders of value and wealth through business innovation and investing.
Yet with all the past high profile visibility of both men, the recent announcements of their respective commitments to philanthropy were truly stunning, in a good way.
First it was Bill Gates announcing that he is stepping away from involvement in the day-to-day operations of Microsoft and will be engaged on a full-time basis in the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Soon after, Warren Buffett announced his pledge to donate more than $30 billion to the Gates Foundation, doubling its capacity for charitable giving. This was a 180-degree turn from his previously stated intention to give away most of his fortune only after his death.
Without doubt, the close friendship between the two men influenced his decision, but it’s also clear the move was a shrewd business decision: Put the money in the hands of someone you trust, someone whose business acumen, creativity and entrepreneurial brilliance will be applied to making the world a better place.
Re-channeling American mania?
I recently finished reading “American Mania—When More is Not Enough,” by Peter C. Whybrow. The author is the director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.
Whybrow’s book takes a hard look at the uniquely American passion for constantly striving to acquire and consume more of just about everything. Bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger burgers, second homes, a TV in every room, more clothes, you name it.
Whybrow says we pay a heavy price for our “mania,” racking up unmanageable debt, working insane hours and living over-scheduled lives that allow little time for leisure or contemplation. He says that the source of our over-consumptive habits can be found in our immigrant past and the changing economic landscape of the global economy.
Most of us are descendants of immigrants who came here to find a better life, preferring to risk the unknown rather than endure a life with fewer prospects and limited freedom. The manic pursuit of “the American dream,” the so-called “good life,” is truly in our genes, our nature and our culture. The same applies to today’s immigrants, legal or not.
In the 20th century, the economic landscape evolved from the marketplace of the small village, town or city to a global 24/7 environment dominated by large, impersonal corporations.
Adam Smith, who wrote “The Wealth of Nations” in 1776, is well known for proclaiming the power of “the invisible hand” of free markets to raise material standards of living.
Lesser known, according to Whybrow, is Smith’s earlier book “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” in which he recognized the need for a balance between self-interest and a sense of duty to community and society commensurate with the merchant’s position of wealth and power.
The connection between commerce and community in what we now call “small-town America” promoted a sense of balance and reciprocal obligation, and this was the context in which Smith lauded the benefits of free markets. But today’s giant multinational corporations march to a different drummer, too often indifferent as to whether local communities thrive as places to live and work, and uncommitted to the need to sustain the social fabric of the communities where they do business.
With the pursuit of profit cut adrift from the ties of community, Whybrow argues, we are left with an increasingly soulless search for happiness through the acquisition of material things, despite long-standing evidence that a one-dimensional pursuit of material wealth does not equate with happiness.
At home in the Lowcountry
How about life in the Charleston region? Do we suffer from the American Mania?
Yes and no. We have all been at the mercy of impersonal multinational corporations that provide “customer service” from incomprehensible people half way around the world. Yet we also have local facilities here run by national and multinational companies that work hard to be good corporate citizens of the Charleston region.
Are we obsessed with over-consumption and material gain? As Americans, yes. And yet both those who are natives of the region and those who moved here “from off” generally see living here as an opportunity to seek more balance between work and leisure than might be found elsewhere.
Do we see ourselves as part of a larger community and respond to the needs of others, including those less fortunate? Yes, for the most part. Through organizations like Trident United Way and other area nonprofits, through our places of worship, through business and government initiatives and individual acts of kindness, we do share a viable sense of community, although race, social class and political boundaries still separate us too much from each other.
Gate and Buffett show us the way
Bill Gates’ decision at age 50 to devote himself full-time to the work of his foundation, and Warren Buffett’s decision to transfer his wealth to the foundation, are acts of leadership on social needs by two men with impeccable credentials in the business world.
What a happy and honorable contrast to the late Ken Lay and all the other high-profile “business leaders” who seem more consumed by personal greed and status as measured by the size of their stock options than the success of their companies or the health of the societies in which they do business.
I love the excitement and challenge of the world of business. Now Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have issued a different challenge, one that should cause us to think about making sure we keep our priorities in balance, for our own good and for the common good.
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