I used to consider Bill Gates a visionary and brilliant businessman but think little of him as a person. He seemed Machiavellian and underhanded in the way he managed business relationships. I thought he was singularly and disturbingly focused on crushing the competition. These were indirect impressions, though. I had not met him, nor have I since.

Since Gates started his foundation, I have come to think differently. He is spending his fortune and time to trying to improve the lives of millions of people. This says to me that his ambition remains strong. It seems to me that he is applying his talents with the same level of energy that he did when building Microsoft. That impresses me. In this article, I read this that he wrote to the Harvard University community:

I hope you will reflect on what you’ve done with your talent and energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you work to address the world’s deepest inequities, on how well you treat people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.

 I admire that sentiment and am glad to have Bill Gates 2.0 as a role model.