Season of Interdependence.
Just some quick ramblings regarding an interview (click here for a transcript) by Judy Woodruff of PBS’s News Hour of Bill and Melinda Gates that I watched last week. Tried to post it earlier, but due to some revisions to the Blogger site was not able to post. The interview was about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the work that Bill and Melinda do for it.
As I watched the wealthiest couple in the world answer questions about their giving, I could not help but wonder what was behind their motivation for giving away their money. The lead in to the interview pointed out that the Gates have contributed well over $11 billion to support public health programs and have contributed over $1 billion for college scholarships.
There was something about the interview that troubled me, I wondered if the work that their foundation was doing to help people around the world was really about empowering people to help themselves, or more about the Gates assuming the role of caretaker of the world. I also wondered how much of the struggles that the people they aimed to help, might in part be related to some of the monopolistic practices of the Microsoft Corporation that has bestowed extreme levels of wealth on the Gates. (Refer to an interview of Noam Chomsky for his thoughts on the impacts of the Microsoft Corporation on the world for more on this.)
In an attempt to address some of my concerns via servant leadership, I read the chapter titled “Servant Leadership in Foundations” from Robert Greenleaf’s book “Servant Leadership”. Greenleaf had some interesting things to say about his concerns about philanthropic foundations.
These included “The most difficult way to serve may be the giving away of money.” He also pointed out that “The relatively innocent desire to help is so thinly distinguished from want to be the helper. But the later is capable of all sorts of distortions: wanting to be widely known as the helper, wanting to make some decisions for the helpee, wanting to dictate, to partnalize, to manipulate.”
Do a search on the internet for Bill and Melinda Gates and it becomes obvious that the Gates are widely known for their helping; so what are their other motivations?
In a later chapter titled “America and World Leadership”, Greenleaf revisits the topic of giving and reminds us “One may not safely give unless one is open and ready to receive the gifts of others, whatever they may be.”
Greenleaf’s writings remind me that being able to give and receive equalizes the relationship to one of two equal interdependents helping each other, rather then the less helpful interaction of an independent superior giving to an inferior dependent. Being able to accept or receive a gift in return requires an acknowledgment of the interdependence. After reading Greenleaf’s advice, I wondered what the Gates were receiving in return for all their giving.
In this season of giving and receiving, I need to remember to be aware of my own interdependence.
As I watched the wealthiest couple in the world answer questions about their giving, I could not help but wonder what was behind their motivation for giving away their money. The lead in to the interview pointed out that the Gates have contributed well over $11 billion to support public health programs and have contributed over $1 billion for college scholarships.
There was something about the interview that troubled me, I wondered if the work that their foundation was doing to help people around the world was really about empowering people to help themselves, or more about the Gates assuming the role of caretaker of the world. I also wondered how much of the struggles that the people they aimed to help, might in part be related to some of the monopolistic practices of the Microsoft Corporation that has bestowed extreme levels of wealth on the Gates. (Refer to an interview of Noam Chomsky for his thoughts on the impacts of the Microsoft Corporation on the world for more on this.)
In an attempt to address some of my concerns via servant leadership, I read the chapter titled “Servant Leadership in Foundations” from Robert Greenleaf’s book “Servant Leadership”. Greenleaf had some interesting things to say about his concerns about philanthropic foundations.
These included “The most difficult way to serve may be the giving away of money.” He also pointed out that “The relatively innocent desire to help is so thinly distinguished from want to be the helper. But the later is capable of all sorts of distortions: wanting to be widely known as the helper, wanting to make some decisions for the helpee, wanting to dictate, to partnalize, to manipulate.”
Do a search on the internet for Bill and Melinda Gates and it becomes obvious that the Gates are widely known for their helping; so what are their other motivations?
In a later chapter titled “America and World Leadership”, Greenleaf revisits the topic of giving and reminds us “One may not safely give unless one is open and ready to receive the gifts of others, whatever they may be.”
Greenleaf’s writings remind me that being able to give and receive equalizes the relationship to one of two equal interdependents helping each other, rather then the less helpful interaction of an independent superior giving to an inferior dependent. Being able to accept or receive a gift in return requires an acknowledgment of the interdependence. After reading Greenleaf’s advice, I wondered what the Gates were receiving in return for all their giving.
In this season of giving and receiving, I need to remember to be aware of my own interdependence.
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