Forbes: For the first time the phrase ‘this panel needs no introduction’ is actually true. The big question: Do people who’ve been successful have a moral obligation to give? Is it an emotional decision—‘I can do good’—or an intellectual decision—‘I feel an obligation to do good’?
Melinda Gates: It’s both, but I won’t say the emotional piece is because I have an obligation. Any time you give, it has to be from your heart. One of the amazing things about philanthropy, at least for us, is getting out into the world and talking to people. And you realise how similar people are in terms of what they want and their needs. So, for me, it’s a heart tug that I feel and that I carry every time I come back home, be it Seattle or New York.
WARREN BUFFETT: I’m not sure whether it’s intellectual or emotional, but when I was born in 1930, the odds were 40-to-1 against me being born in the United States as opposed to someplace else. I was a male. The odds were even money on that. So now I’m down to 80-to-1.
FORBES: To the extent there’s an obligation to give back, is there also an obligation to do so publicly—to show that those who’ve achieved incredible success give back to society?
WARREN BUFFETT: That’s true in the United States, too. In talking to people, if they inherited it themselves, they feel they’re breaking a covenant to some extent if they don’t continue that policy. That’s not universal. But I can understand that. That’s a very understandable human reaction. But I try to talk them out of it.
STEVE CASE: Building the businesses that led to the success that gives you the opportunity to give back, there were struggles as well. There are very few overnight successes. That persistence, that perseverance, I think, is an important skill set in anything you do.
(This story appears in the 07 December, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)