Melinda French Gates, MacKenzie Scott, and the New Era of Giving | Pivot

Kara Swisher 0:00 ... Melinda French Gates. She announced her next chapter in philanthropy this week as she prepares to leave the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She plans to donate $1 billion globally over the next two years to help support women and families as well as reproductive rights in the US. A portion of the money will also be distributed in the form of, uh, $20 million grants to individuals like former New Zealand Prime Minister, uh, uh, Jacinda Ardern and Director Ava DuVernay, uh, to use at their discretion. I think Melinda was a, a, a funder of her recent film, for example, and, uh,

Kara Swisher 0:30 there's a whole bunch of people, The 19th, she's given all this, these grants to really terrific groups and it's a r- it's a fascinating move between her and Mackenzie Scott. Uh, we have entered a very interesting era of philanthropy. Mackenzie Scott, as you know, a former, uh, was, used to be married to Jeff Bezos, donated $640 million over, to over 300 nonprofits a few months ago. She donated $2.2 billion last year. She is burning up the, getting rid of her money off her plate as if it's like lava. Um, y- this is really interesting, um, th- these two women, and then obviously, uh, um, Laurene Powell Jobs is making media investments, she has a, her own Emerson Collective that does both philanthropy and investments. Um, what do you, what do you, what do you think? What do you think about this?

Scott Galloway 1:19 I think it's wonderful. Um, I think... I'm a sexist, I think there are certain behaviors that are more prone to people born as women and born as men, and one of the things I notice about, uh, philanthropy from women is they're not as big on the ribbon-cutting and believing that they should have input and influence into education 'cause they give, you know, $50 million to the Newark School District, not recognizing they don't know a fucking thing about public school education. I find that generally speaking when women give money away, it's in return o-... They ask for less in return

Scott Galloway 1:49 and they're more promiscuous. They're like, "I've got a shit ton of money, it makes no sense to hoard wealth and I'm gonna start pushing it out and I'm gonna ask for almost nothing in return." And I think Mackenzie Scott is an outstanding American. I mean, look at... I- I- I'm here for Bill Gates'... uh, I'm sorry. I'm here for Jeff Bezos' midlife crisis. I actually enjoy watching it, I can relate to it, but while he's building super yachts for $300 million, you know, Mackenzie Scott is sending, sending $15 million to the JED Foundation to work on teen suicide. And by the way, she doesn't demand anything, she doesn't want to show up, she doesn't want her name on anything, she just wants to get, start helping people. And this feels, this feels like that. And then in another, what I think is just absolutely wonderful here and I think I'm going on Morning Joe on tomorrow to tal-

Kara Swisher 2:36 Oh, cool. You like that show.

Scott Galloway 2:38 I do. But more importantly, they like me.

Kara Swisher 2:40 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 2:41 But, uh, I'm going on tomorrow and, with Richard Reeves, but i- it... I'm a glass half empty kinda guy, I talk a lot about what's wrong with America, but here's the reality, despite, you know, our House of Representatives insulting each other's looks, despite the zombie apocalypse of useful idiots on campuses, America is singular around some really wonderful things. And this is an American story, this is... uh, and I'm a big fan of Richard Reeves, he kind of got highlighted to me or brought to my attention some of the things going on with the struggles that young men face. The guy's at the Brookings Institute, he's an outstanding scholar, he takes a risk, starts his own business, it's a nonprofit but it's a true nonprofit, he doesn't answer to Microsoft, called the American Institute for Boys and Men. He takes a risk, he starts this thing just to produce research around the struggles that young men are facing, and then a woman named Melinda French Gates finds him and gives him $20 million. And you know something? This is a uniquely American story. It does happen in other parts of the world but it

Scott Galloway 3:41 doesn't happen as often as it happens in America. So for all of the shitposting and of all of the catastrophizing, of all of the, the clickbait around everything that's wrong with our nation, this is one of the things that's right with it. We create tremendous economic value and then good people want to push it out to do good work. I, I just love this story. I'm really happy for Richard, and also Melinda French Gates has said, uh, bodily autonomy and women's rights are hugely important, she's passionate about it, it's wonderful, but at the same time she said, "If we're gonna have a, a, a vibrant community, who wants more economically and emotionally viable young men? Women."

Kara Swisher 4:16 Yeah. That's right.

Scott Galloway 4:17 And she's giving money (laughs) to an institute that's focused on boys.

Kara Swisher 4:19 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 4:20 I, I think she's, I think she's wonderful-

Kara Swisher 4:21 She's excellent. Can-

Scott Galloway 4:22 Go Melinda French Gates.

Kara Swisher 4:23 L- l- l- let me make a, a comparison to something we just talked about. These sort of childli- childish men are doing their stupid Trump r- fundraiser with very little money that they're putting out to get a lot of influence and doing no good for humanity except for themselves, except for, like, self-aggrandizing themselves, both Chamath and David Sacks and also Elon Musk is doing this, but doing nothing to help all of society, they're just giving a piddling amount of money to whorish politicians in order to have influence. Meanwhile, Melinda Gates and, uh, and Mackenzie Bezos are using money, real money, real money, not little tiny multimillion dollar, $5,000 donations to have dinner with a, uh, with someone who has been found liable for rape. No, they're not using their money for that, they're giving away billions and billions of dollars to laudable people across the globe to make the world a better place. What a fucking comparison. These men are sad and dickless and these women have balls as big as all ever. That's all I'll say.

Scott Galloway 5:27 Fuckin' dickless? Jesus Christ.

Kara Swisher 5:28 Dickless. Sorry they're dickless.

Scott Galloway 5:30 By the way, my, my ini-

Kara Swisher 5:30 No, but they're doing this so they can have a party in Silicon Valley for Trump.

Scott Galloway 5:34 N- n- neither... You're not-

Kara Swisher 5:35 It drives me nuts that these people think they're important when this is where the real... If you have money like this, this is what you should do with it.

Scott Galloway 5:42 Totally.

Kara Swisher 5:42 Thank you.

Scott Galloway 5:42 Well again, these, i- it's not... They're not presenting their money to issues, they're using a small amount of money to present themselves.

Kara Swisher 5:48 That's correct.

Scott Galloway 5:50 I- it's... It, this isn't... One is vanity, one is philanthropy.

Kara Swisher 5:53 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 5:53 But, I don't know if you knew this but my girlfriend often compared me to Bill Gates when we would have sex-

Kara Swisher 5:58 Oh, no.

Scott Galloway 5:58 ... because I'm micro-soft.

Kara Swisher 6:00 Oh. (laughs) God-

Scott Galloway 6:02 That's good.

Kara Swisher 6:03 ... he's literally putting a penis joke. I'm like-

Scott Galloway 6:04 That's good.

Kara Swisher 6:04 ... this is a power lady's moment.

Scott Galloway 6:04 All of it. You are angry this morning.

Kara Swisher 6:06 Well, I- I- I-

Scott Galloway 6:06 You are going after-

Kara Swisher 6:07 Well-

Scott Galloway 6:07 You gotta be careful in San Francisco. There's a lot of these-

Kara Swisher 6:10 N-

Scott Galloway 6:10 ... these pretend to care about the world-

Kara Swisher 6:12 They don't care about the world.

Scott Galloway 6:13 ... rich people around there.

Kara Swisher 6:13 That's the thing. These women do. They're actually-

Scott Galloway 6:16 Agreed.

Kara Swisher 6:16 ... putting their money where their mouth is.

Scott Galloway 6:18 100%.

Kara Swisher 6:18 And they're not... By the way, are you hearing from MacKenzie Scott? She just gives the money and leaves in the dark of night.

Scott Galloway 6:24 That's right. That's right.

Kara Swisher 6:24 Melinda French Gates gave a few interviews talking... And she's giving to help reproductive rights. She's... An- and by the way, they're putting it all over the place. It's not just in, like, liberal causes. They're putting it-

Scott Galloway 6:35 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 6:35 ... in places that matter for kids and families. They're putting it-

Scott Galloway 6:39 Agreed.

Kara Swisher 6:39 ... to feed people. They're putting it to... Uh, it's just, like, the- the contrast is so vast. I'm not mad. I'm like-

Scott Galloway 6:45 Mm-hmm.

Kara Swisher 6:45 ... "Why do we... W- these terrible men compared to these amazing women," is just such a great contrast for me, um, for me in u- understanding what's going on. Uh, by the way, uh, FYI, a lot of these people, one of the things that the Gateses did start was the Giving Pledge with, with, um, Warren Buffett in 2010.

Scott Galloway 7:04 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Kara Swisher 7:05 Sam Altman and his husband just announced that they plan to give away most of their w- wealth as part of the Giving Pledge. I've always thought that was a cool thing. I don't know. I've always thought-

Scott Galloway 7:13 I don't think it is.

Kara Swisher 7:13 You don't? Why? Tell me why. I don't know... I, I, uh, to pledge to give away all your wealth? Why is that?

Scott Galloway 7:19 Okay.

Kara Swisher 7:19 Tell me why.

Scott Galloway 7:19 Big fucking deal.

Kara Swisher 7:20 All right.

Scott Galloway 7:21 I- okay. I pledge to give away all my wealth. This is what it means.

Kara Swisher 7:23 Yeah. All right.

Scott Galloway 7:24 I'm gonna put a couple billion dollars into a donor advised fund.

Kara Swisher 7:26 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 7:27 And-

Kara Swisher 7:27 Though this is different.

Scott Galloway 7:28 ... I com-

Kara Swisher 7:28 This is the Giving Pledge. This is not that.

Scott Galloway 7:30 Uh, the Giving Pledge, all the Giving Pledge says is that-

Kara Swisher 7:32 It's a pledge.

Scott Galloway 7:32 ... after I'm dead-

Kara Swisher 7:33 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 7:33 ... that somebody is gonna give my money away.

Kara Swisher 7:35 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 7:36 Okay? I don't... Uh, okay, fine. Great. You don't believe in dynastic wealth. It has absolutely no impact on you. Maybe you even-

Kara Swisher 7:41 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 7:41 ... put it into a donor advised fund where you get a tax deduction-

Kara Swisher 7:44 That's different.

Scott Galloway 7:44 ... and you can borrow against that.

Kara Swisher 7:45 That's different than the Giving Pledge.

Scott Galloway 7:45 Yeah, but that's, that's a component of-

Kara Swisher 7:47 Yes, true.

Scott Galloway 7:47 ... this notion that you're a good person-

Kara Swisher 7:49 Fair point.

Scott Galloway 7:49 ... 'cause at some point you're gonna give your money away.

Kara Swisher 7:51 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 7:51 Uh, and I'm gonna hu- a lot of virtue signaling right now. I hit my number seven years ago-

Kara Swisher 7:56 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 7:56 ... and I've decided that above that number I'm giving everything away now.

Kara Swisher 7:59 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 7:59 'Cause here's the thing. This is a virus-

Kara Swisher 8:01 Fair.

Scott Galloway 8:01 ... that ails America, hoarding money.

Kara Swisher 8:04 Fair.

Scott Galloway 8:04 There needs to be a movement in America that once you hit your number, you just start giving it away now. You don't say, "I want credit for being a great guy after I have had all my Boeing business jets, after I have bought football teams, after I've had seven midlife crises, and then when I'm dead and it no longer matters to me, I'll give it away."

Kara Swisher 8:22 You know what, Scott?

Scott Galloway 8:22 There is no-

Kara Swisher 8:23 You have literally just convinced me. You are correct. I don't say this very often. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 8:27 (laughs) Uh-oh. Cats living with dogs. The world has stopped rotating.

Kara Swisher 8:31 Oh, my... God, you're right. You're right. I... That's why I love these badass women. They're giving it away. Literally.

Scott Galloway 8:37 You know what the- you know what the goal is?

Kara Swisher 8:39 Billions. What?

Scott Galloway 8:39 The goal is to give an... Uh, uh, I'll leave my kids a little bit of money, but this is the goal, to be at the end of your life-

Kara Swisher 8:45 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:45 ... to have spent the money on other people and experiences and be surrounded... Die at home, be surrounded by people who are gonna be really bummed that you're leaving. Not, not g- a bunch of press releases saying, "Why the fuck are you worth $100 billion?"

Kara Swisher 8:58 Mm-hmm. Yeah. Scott, you're right.

Scott Galloway 8:59 Why didn't you start giving it away at $100 million?

Kara Swisher 9:00 How much are you leaving your kids? What is the number? What's the number you, one leaves one to-

Scott Galloway 9:04 Uh, I- I'm... This is the challenge, and this is a good problem, but you wanna give them enough money such that they can do anything, but not enough money such that they can do nothing.

Kara Swisher 9:14 Ah, yes.

Scott Galloway 9:14 And the key is... Uh, I mean, again, this is the world that-

Kara Swisher 9:17 Buy a house. Give them money for a house. That's what I say. A nice house.

Scott Galloway 9:19 Uh, money that, quite frankly, they don't have access to until they're 25-

Kara Swisher 9:22 For business.

Scott Galloway 9:22 ... 35 and 45.

Kara Swisher 9:23 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 9:24 Money for education. Money for a home. But not enough money such that they don't have to work.

Kara Swisher 9:29 Yep. That's... uh, we're on the same parenting thing. That's the thing. That's correct. Yes.

Scott Galloway 9:34 Um.

Kara Swisher 9:34 That's exactly it.

Scott Galloway 9:34 But I've decided, and I love it, I hit my number seven years ago and my number is probably a lot lower than most of these guys.

Kara Swisher 9:41 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 9:41 And I'm like, anything above that, I'm gonna either spend it at the Hotel du Caphe-

Kara Swisher 9:45 Yes.

Scott Galloway 9:46 ... or, uh-

Kara Swisher 9:46 On me, by the way.

Scott Galloway 9:47 Uh, on friends and people I love-

Kara Swisher 9:49 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 9:49 ... or I'm gonna give it away. There is no reason once you're above a certain number to hoard wealth. I'm a big fan of Daniel Kahneman, and I went back and read some of his work when he passed away.

Kara Swisher 9:57 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 9:57 Uh, uh, let's pick a number. $100 million. Of $100 million-

Kara Swisher 10:02 That's a big number.

Scott Galloway 10:02 ... if it grows 4 or 6% a year, 4 to 6 million bucks a year gets you a beautiful home, a beautiful second home, a FlexJet card, do whatever you want with whomever you want pretty much all of the time. You can just have an extraordinary life. The difference between 100 million and a billion, there's no marginal increase in the quality of your life.

Kara Swisher 10:22 There isn't.

Scott Galloway 10:22 As a matter of fact, there'll be some incr- you can buy a football team, you can have more influence over politics, but there's also a downside. People start taking pictures of your kids. People start, start running stories of you, about you on T- TMZ. There is a downside. So if there's no incremental gain in happiness, and so many people would benefit from the types of donations that MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates are making, why on Earth wouldn't you enjoy that happiness-

Kara Swisher 10:49 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 10:49 ... and not hoard wealth?

Kara Swisher 10:50 And help people? You're... You know what? This is, this was a very good explanation. I'm still, I still think the others are shameful and these women are ballers. That's my feeling. Good for them.

Scott Galloway 11:01 Well, they're true... They, uh, uh, they define what it... The word giving is overused, and they have-

Kara Swisher 11:08 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 11:08 ... earned the right. They own the right to say that they are giving.

Kara Swisher 11:11 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:11 What these other folks are doing is consumption, it's PR. A lot of it's virtue signaling. "I'm gonna give all my money away after I'm dead." Who the fuck ca- well, I don't care-

Kara Swisher 11:19 Right.

Scott Galloway 11:19 ... what happens to my money after I'm dead. That's not doing anything.

Kara Swisher 11:22 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:22 That's not...

Kara Swisher 11:22 It should be in the now.

Scott Galloway 11:24 That's 100%. And also-

Kara Swisher 11:24 Let's wander around and give people $100 bills. Let's do that

Narrator 11:27 sometime.

Scott Galloway 11:27 And also let me be-

Kara Swisher 11:29 Let's do that.

Scott Galloway 11:29 ... a bit of a capitalist here.

Kara Swisher 11:30 Let's not do that.

Scott Galloway 11:30 I also think-

Kara Swisher 11:31 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:31 ... it's really wonderful-

Kara Swisher 11:32 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 11:32 ... and good for the world to spend it.

Kara Swisher 11:34 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 11:34 Spend a shit ton of money. Put it back into the economy. Uh, enjoy it. The world offers amazing things that you can spend money on. I don't... I, I think it's great when people spend a ton of money. I'm, I'm, uh-

Kara Swisher 11:45 Scott, I feel like this should be your next book.

Scott Galloway 11:47 (laughs) Spend. Spend, Bitches, Spend, The New Novel.

Kara Swisher 11:51 See, this is why I love this show. You have shifted my thoughts in a very good way and a very helpful way. Anyway, uh, I still, I love these women. I think they're great. Anyway, uh, let... it makes me feel so much better about the other assholes.