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Bill Gates<\/a> is one of the most revered\u2014yet most intense\u2014business leaders in history. Gates, along with Paul Allen, founded Microsoft\u2014a company that has had a lasting impact on the software industry, and Big Tech itself. Microsoft<\/a> now boasts a $3.1 trillion market capitalization.<\/p>\n During his tenure building Microsoft, Gates infamously \u201cdidn\u2019t believe in vacations<\/a>\u201d and worked on weekends. That same level of intensity allegedly bled into the philanthropic foundation he created with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates<\/a>, according to an excerpt<\/a> from Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World<\/em><\/a> by Anupreeta Das<\/a>, published by Business Insider<\/em> last week. The Gates Foundation launched in 2000, and as of December 2023 holds $75.2 billion in its endowment<\/a>. French Gates exited the Gates Foundation in May<\/a> with $12.5 billion in tow.\u00a0<\/p>\n Working at the Gates Foundation is described as stressful\u2014and staff are terrified of Gates, according to Das, who is a finance editor at The New York Times<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat comes through about Gates for many is the fear he inspires for a number of things,\u201d Das wrote. A combination of factors \u201cterrifies those who work for him,\u201d Das wrote, from the fact his Foundation operates without shareholders or stakeholders, his intimidating \u201cbrilliance and fame,\u201d and the \u201carrogant behavior\u201d he exhibited at Microsoft.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gates Ventures, Gates\u2019 personal office, denies the picture Das paints about the Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n \u201cRelying almost exclusively on second- and third-hand hearsay and anonymous sources, the book includes highly sensationalized allegations and outright falsehoods that ignore the actual documented facts Mr. Gates\u2019 office provided to the author on numerous occasions,\u201d a spokesperson for Gates Ventures told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gates\u2019 meetings with executives and employees from the Gates Foundation, to review plans, budgets, and strategies, were likened to a king holding court\u2014spectacles one former attendee called \u201calmost comical,\u201d according to the book excerpt.<\/p>\n Meetings were \u201cusually held in a big room with a seating pattern,\u201d Das wrote. \u201cStrict etiquette was followed. One former senior executive who participated in many of the meetings said they had the feel of a king holding court, as though Gates were Louis XIV and the employees were courtiers bowing and scraping before him in Versailles, hoping to earn their ruler\u2019s favor.\u201d<\/p>\n Gates Foundation employees would \u201cfrantically\u201d prepare presentations for these meetings, \u201creadying themselves for a possible inquisition by Gates.\u201d As detail-oriented as Gates is, these interrogations were inevitable. He would notice even the smallest or slightest deviation from a cohesive story in reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the scariest person in the world to provide a recommendation or briefing to,\u201d one former foundation employee told Das. \u201cHe scans a page and comes back at you saying something like \u2018what you say in the footnote on page 9 does not match with the footnote on page 28.\u201d<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t just big presentation days that spurred frenzy at the Gates Foundation. Indeed, \u201cthe low hum of fear was a constant presence inside the foundation,\u201d Das wrote. Fear could be instilled from just one email from Gates asking about a grant application or for a task to be done.<\/p>\n \u201cThere might be as many as 100 emails among employees\u2014after taking [Gates] off the chain\u2014trying to decipher what he meant, why he meant it, and how they should follow through,\u201d Das wrote.<\/p>\n Still, many Gates Foundation employees proverbially sucked up to Gates, due to his clout in the tech and philanthropy world. Gates Foundation employees fell into three categories, Das wrote: \u201cconsiglieres who bow to Gates; young aspirants who are awed by him; and skeptics who find Gates domineering and eventually leave\u201d the foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Gates Foundation in response to request for comment about work culture at the organization provided the following to Fortune<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has an unparalleled 25-year legacy of working with partners to save and improve millions of lives worldwide,\u201d a Gates Foundation spokesperson said. \u201cWith a strong commitment and the guidance of our executive leaders and board of trustees, we are resolute in tackling the most formidable challenges in global health and development.\u201d<\/p>\n The work culture at the Gates Foundation may not be surprising to people familiar with Gates\u2019 habits while running Microsoft.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t believe in vacations. I didn\u2019t even believe in weekends,\u201d Gates said in a 2023 graduation speech<\/a> at Northern Arizona University. \u201cI pushed everyone around me to work very long hours.\u201d He also admitted to overlooking Microsoft\u2019s parking lot each day to \u201ckeep track of who is leaving early and who is staying late.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Gates serves as the prime example of the conundrum executives face: to be loved, or to be feared. While Das\u2019 book draws back the curtain on work culture at the Gates Foundation, Gates believes his behavior isn\u2019t as intense as it once was during his time at Microsoft.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I got older\u2014and especially once I became a father\u2014I realized that both in terms of doing your best work and having a great life, that that intensity was not always appropriate,\u201d Gates said in the 2023 graduation speech. \u201cDon\u2019t wait as long as I did to learn this lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nWhat it\u2019s like to work at the Gates Foundation<\/h2>\n