Annual Employee Meeting

How many companies can boast Bill and Melinda Gates, Bill Gates Senior, Warren Buffett and Bono as speakers at their annual employee meeting? I came away inspired and star-struck.  All the 1,391 foundation employees trooped across the street to a large theater in the Seattle Center for a series of panel discussions and keynote speeches to celebrate the first 15 years of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Some of the most inspiring moments were hearing the story of GAVI, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, which was launched in 2000 with strong support from the foundation and has since changed expectations for how fast new vaccines can be introduced in every country around the world; hearing Melinda's personal story of how she became an advocate for family planning; and a few simple but powerful words and reflections from Bill Gates Senior.  Some levity was provided with a muppet show from one of the side boxes featuring the foundation's version of Waldorf and Stadtler (aka Bill Sr. and Warren).

Warren Buffett and Bono were each captivating.  Here are some of their pearls of wisdom.

Quotes from Warren Buffett:
On being asked what were the biggest surprises of the last 15 years - ' Speaking personally, I'm surprised I'm above ground.'
'The only conceivable pleasure I could get from all those stock certificates sitting in the safety deposit box is if I went down once a year and fondled them. The money's had more impact this way.'
On his decision to give his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - 'Bill and Melinda are young, bright and hardworking. They are one of my best bargain purchases.'
'We've been extraordinarily blessed. These claim checks we pile up have very little marginal utility to me and much more utility to other people.'
From his business partner at Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie - 'You'll end up agreeing with me because you're smart and I'm right.'
On the 50th anniversary of Berkshire Hathaway - 'It's not over yet - Charlie's 91 but he can still hear and I can still see.'
On his Coca Cola consumption - 'I'm sort of like an antique car. If you change one thing it falls apart.  I read that six year olds have the lowest mortality rate of any male age group, so I eat the diet of a six year old.'
'Praise by name and criticize by category.'
On stewardship - 'Decide not whether it [the way you spend] is good or bad but whether it's best'
On his meeting the next day with Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors to comment on the need for good stewardship - 'Of 2,000 US auto manufacturers ever started only one is solvent today. That's what capital markets do for you. Foundations have to do it for themselves.'

Quotes from Bono:
On his first meeting with Bill and Melinda at their home when he surprised them by asking about their faith - 'Coming to grips with the force of love and logic in this universe is much easier than silence for this Irishman.'
'The arc of the universe bends towards justice' (Martin Luther King). You are not just involved in charity, you are involved in justice.'
On learning of Warren Buffett's gift to the foundation - 'We look for cosmic rhymes and poetry and if we do look, we find it. I knew this was a seismic change - the symbol of it as well as the weight and import of it.'
'Even these people don't have pockets deep enough to fix the whole world, they are using the foundation as leverage with the moral authority to cajole governments to increase aid. Our job is not inside maneouvering, it's outside mobilization. We have to do this all over the world with Global Citizen as the badge, the wind in the sails of a social movement to persuade heads of state to act.'