Be Lazy ! Think Crazy .. !
June 21, 2012 4 Comments
Bill Gates Biography
September 11, 2011 Leave a comment
This is a documentary I found yesterday while searching for ‘World’s Greatest Money Maker’ . Personally I have never been drawn towards Bill Gates .In fact I’ve been repelled.Or it would be more correct to say that I have found his fans incompatible.I find hyper competitive people irritating.My own way is to compete to win if its absolutely necessary and if the game is truly a zero sum game.For the rest of the time I’m happy as long as I can cruise along on the world’s abundance.I really don’t need to win every scrabble game to feel happy.And speed tests are really not my thing.
Given my antipathy it’s no surprise I have never read Bill’s books.Watching this documentary is the first time I’ve spent studying Bill Gates.So far I just knew of him as a geek.I suppose if I’d ever bothered to think,it would have been obvious that he had to have some financial and strategic skills.But I’m sorry to say I was so put off him I didn’t bother.And it was my loss.I was surprised to find out from the documentary just how good a sales person he was.After watching the movie I can’t say I’m a fan but I can see where his competitiveness,ideas on family and philanthropy etc. come from.I’d recommend the movie on any Sunday afternoon.Here are the links: Read more of this post
Buffett Family Philanthropy
March 30, 2011 6 Comments
Here is an article I came across by chance today.I think it’s worth sharing.
Daddy Givebucks: Lessons Learned When Warren Buffett Hands You $1 Billion
By: Jeff Bailey September 1, 2009
Three years ago, Warren Buffett gave each of his kids $1 billion to give away — suddenly thrusting them into the philanthropic elite. Here’s what they learned.
For all the talk of how Warren Buffett is a normal, aw-shucks Midwestern guy, we know he is not just like us. We don’t play bridge with Bill Gates. We may get calls asking for capital infusions, but they’re from our kids, not from GE and Goldman. And these days, we certainly don’t get 10% dividends on our stocks.
But ask Buffett about his kids — Susie, 56, an Omaha knitting-shop owner; Howie, 54, an Illinois farmer; and Peter, 51, a New York-based new-age musician — and he turns into your typical, gushing dad. “All three are smart. They have good judgment,” he says. “They’re just very decent human beings.”
So decent, he thinks, that three years ago, when he pledged $30 billion in Class B Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he also promised each of his children $1 billion in shares for their charitable foundations. (All four foundations are receiving their stock grants in annual installments, with the remainder to be paid out upon his death.) Read more of this post
Indian Philanthropy
March 29, 2011 1 Comment
Here are some major features of Indian Philanthropy as enumerated by eminent Indian businesspeople.They are perspectives that were articulated in response to the Gates-Buffett ‘the Giving Pledge’
1.”India has a very old culture of giving, since the time of Buddha. The concept of philanthropy is not new to us.”—-Rahul Bajaj, chairman, Bajaj Group.
2.”Philanthropy in the first world and in the third world are two different things. In the first world people donate to build a baseball stadium. In India, we have to decide for ourselves what we want out of philanthropy. It is not for the Americans to tell us.”
“shareholders have done more charity than Gates and Buffett put together. How? By allowing Cipla to export drugs for $100 million to Africa, which could have fetched $4 billion if they were exported to the US”—-Yusuf Hamied, chairman & managing director, Cipla Read more of this post
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