Gratefully Give Back
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
—Muhammad Ali
Acknowledge that whatever you have achieved, it is society that made it possible for you. You have been schooled by it; you have received your employees, customers, and investors from it. Be grateful and “give back.”
You can’t really give back to all the people that have helped you on your way, but you can and should pay it forward to others. What do I mean by that?
The following story from Naveen Jain will explain it to you.
After my first company was very successful, I got a call from a woman saying, “My husband is in ICU and he wants to speak to you.” My first reaction as you can imagine was oh my god, she had lots of medical bills and she wants me to pay them. And I said, “Ma’am, I completely understand. We have a foundation; please send me an email. I will make sure whatever help you need, we’ll take care of that.”
And she said, “No. Would you be kind enough to just spend a minute with my husband? He really wants to speak to you.” And I’m a little annoyed, but I’m just thinking, “It’s probably easiest for me to spend a minute and just be done with it.” So I take the call. And my first thing was, “Sir, what is it that I can do for you?”
And this is what changed my life. His answer was, “Nothing, Naveen. You don’t remember. When you wanted to leave the country, I asked you to stay. And I have been watching your success, and I am just so proud of you, and I just want you to know it.”
It was the guy who asked Naveen to stay in the United States when he wanted to leave after his bad experiences in New Jersey, and helped him get a great job in Silicon Valley.
It took me a deep breath, and it occurred to me, “Oh my god, what have I become? The people who helped me not only I don’t remember, worse yet, they don’t need my help.” And I said, “I will never let that happen.” Now I can’t pay back so I’m going to pay forward. And I’m going to help every single person I meet, if I can help them, I’m going to help their dreams come true because that will be my way of giving back to the gentleman. There are many more people like this guy who may have helped me that I don’t remember.
Be Grateful
The first step is to be grateful for what you have.
I asked Lirio Parisotto about his dreams. What does a billionaire dream about?
No, I don’t have dreams. I just thank God every day for all the things I have. If it’s possible to do more, I will, but I need also to look back and thank God for that. I had enough.
The second step is to appreciate your life and the people around you.
Chip Wilson was struggling in his first company until he made a certain discovery.
I was living my life in the past, in angst about things that I’d done in the past, or I was living my life in the future. But I was never appreciative of right now and the people that I’m with or what I’ve accomplished. It seemed to me I was always in survival mode, so it was like learning from the past, and “what am I going to do in the future?”
I recognized that I spent probably 40 years of my life not saying, “Oh, isn’t life great?” So I started to think, “Oh, I live a great life. How can I be a better person within that life? Maybe it’s not all about me. Maybe it’s about the world and making the world a better place, making a difference in the world.”
Life as an onion. Have fun peeling layers of it.
I asked Dilip Shanghvi what he wished he had known when he was 20.
The fun for me has been the kind of life I have had. It’s a kind of onion, I keep on peeling layers as time goes by and learning new things. So the question is that if I knew everything on Day 1, then maybe I wouldn’t have had the happiness that I got along the way.
Hardships help you really appreciate what you have and let you look at life and people differently.
When Frank Hasenfratz arrived in Canada, he didn’t have any money.
In order to get to his uncle in Montreal, he first needed to earn some money, but meanwhile he was literally living at the railway station.
The railroad station has wooden benches, but it’s warm. It was late May, and it was still cold outside in Quebec City. So I stayed there for a few days. I couldn’t shower anywhere, so I just washed my torso. I shaved. I had a little bag. I must’ve smelled terrible. The bench gets very hard, but it was okay. People were very nice.
I asked about work. “There’s a few car dealers down here. They’re always looking for people to wash their cars.” So I go down there. “Have you ever washed cars before?” “No, but I can learn.”
Frank didn’t speak any English.
But you can make yourself understand. If you have to, you can. Twenty-five cents per car wash.
I made let’s say five dollars a day. I bought one loaf of bread for 18 cents and one liter of milk for 19 cents. That’s all I ate. Half a loaf of bread in the morning, half a loaf in the evening. It was that sliced bread, and it tasted like cake. I thought it was great. And I saved money. I could live on 50 cents a day. So eventually I saved up for the train to Montreal.
But I must’ve smelled. I wasn’t aware of it, but in Montreal somebody said to me, “Why don’t you wash?” “What’s wash? I do wash.” “You do wash?” “Yeah, I wash cars.” “But you wash.” [laughs heartily] It was funny, you know? In Montreal too, I stayed at the railroad station. And then I went to Toronto.
I was homeless for almost four weeks. It wasn’t bad.
Can you imagine that? Somebody who was homeless, living at the railway station, sleeping on a bench there, and later becoming a billionaire?
This experience taught Frank to survive on the bare minimum and appreciate every bit of comfort in life.
Do Good for Society
And the third step is to do good.
Many people are busy taking care of themselves and claim not to have time for taking care of others. But, as Naveen Jain points out, doing good and doing well are not mutually exclusive. In fact, in order to do well in life, you have to do tremendous good.
If you want to create a billion-dollar company, you solve a $10 billion problem. If you can help a billion people, you can make a lot of money.
As Frank Stronach told me, “The more things you have, the more good you can do. The better example you can be.”
It’s Not about You
It’s not about you, it’s about making the world a better place.
For Naveen Jain, “Success is measured by the impact you’re making on society.”
Billionaires want to improve our world.
I asked Manny Stul how he wanted to be remembered.
Obviously I’d like to be remembered as a very successful businessman, but also for the good that hopefully I’ll be able to do, more good, between now and when I pass away. Leaving the earth a much better place than when I arrived, than if I had not been here.
Success is measured by the impact you’re making on society.
— Naveen Jain #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
I asked Narayana Murthy for the message he would like to share with the world.
Every one of us should try, in every one of our actions, to make this world more equitable, inclusive, harmonious, peaceful, and sustainable.
Abundance and Generosity
Have the mindset of abundance rather than scarcity.
Tony Tan Caktiong, the World Entrepreneur of the Year 2004, complains about the scarcity mentality predominant in business.
In Jollibee’s early days, the founder and owner of one fast-food chain in the Philippines actually told me I should not compensate my people that much. And that company does not exist anymore. So I think that abundance mentality is underestimated.
I asked Tony about the message he would like to give to the world audience.
Let’s try to share because things are abundant. Things are in abundance. We can share, and the more we share, the more we get back in other things.
Let’s try to share because things are abundant.
— Tony Tan Caktiong #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Be generous. Whether it is your employees, your followers, or people you don’t know, it will come back to you.
Chip Wilson’s life motto is to “Give without expectation of return.”
I love people. I love when I can sense that I’ve made a difference in someone’s life, and that they’ve taken a big leap in who they are because of something that I’ve done for them.
The more we share, the more we get back in other things.
— Tony Tan Caktiong #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
One of the most generous people I know in the world is Jack Cowin. He was incredibly generous with his time and his effort to me and also to some other billionaires I interviewed. He has two yachts. Really big billionaire yachts with a crew of a dozen people including a chef. I stayed in Monaco on his yacht and talked to the captain, who told me one of apparently many stories about Jack’s generosity:
Once there was a gentleman on the yacht with his wife. He used to work for Jack for something like 35 years. When he retired, Jack said, “Retirement present. Take the boat for a week, free of charge.” And he wasn’t a CEO or in any high position. He was just an ordinary guy on the ground. It’s amazing.
You need to realize the upkeep of a yacht goes into tens of thousands of dollars per week.
Give without expectation of return.
— Chip Wilson #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Use Your Power for Good
Use your power for the good of society, of the less fortunate. Contribute to the lives of other people.
Cai’s objective is to “bring benefit to society. Not just thinking about ourselves, but think more about others.”
Mohed Altrad is happy “whenever I do something, even small, that contributes to you, to my neighbors, to my family, to my employees.”
Also, Petter Stordalen looks behind his company.
I feel a lot more responsible not only for the people in the company, but for society, for the future of the planet, for my kids, for the next generation.
Instead of making money, make a difference.
Petter sees his mission in contributing to the transition to a more sustainable business.
For me—Nordic Choice has never been about making money. It’s about making a difference. For the people who work for us, our guests, and for the community. I see Nordic Choice as a vehicle for changing the world for the better. This is the heart of the business. This is the reason I want guests to choose our hotels.
Narayana Murthy’s family’s focus was on learning universal values. And the most valuable for him was: “Put the interest of the institution and the community ahead of your personal interest.”
That’s where he derived his adage from, when dealing with the government and society: “No corporation can succeed over a long time unless it builds goodwill with society.”
Put the interest of the institution and the community ahead of your personal interest.
— Narayana Murthy #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Help
I asked Naveen Jain about the message he would like to share with the world.
Help someone who needs help. And help as many people as you possibly can. Nothing will give you more happiness and more fulfillment than truly doing something for someone without expecting anything back. And the amount of joy you get from that, there’s nothing in life you could own that will give you that much joy.
No corporation can succeed over a long time unless it builds goodwill with society.
— Narayana Murthy #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
For Frank Hasenfratz, helping others is the way to success.
You want to be successful, you’d better be a people person. The rest of it you can learn, but at an early age try to make friends, and try to help. Don’t ask, “What can you do for me?” Just ask, “What can I do for you?” Just start up like that. If that person can help you, he will help you anyhow. But don’t expect people are going to do things for you. It doesn’t work like that.
Help someone who needs help. Nothing will give you more happiness and more fulfillment than truly doing something for someone without expecting anything back.
— Naveen Jain #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
How Self-Made Billionaires Give Back to Society
Drifters don’t spend much thought on philanthropy; they demand it from others. It’s always the others, the rich who should do more to help the world. Many millionaires and celebrities engage in charity. They give away money at balls and happenings mostly because it is considered fancy and good PR. But billionaires do it differently. They don’t engage in charity; they engage in philanthropy. They don’t just give money; they build powerful philanthropic organizations to effectively pursue the causes they care for. Some billionaires don’t even talk about all the good they do for society.
Almost all my interviewees are big-scale philanthropists. Usually, they focus on business in their young years, and the older they are, the more they move from business to philanthropy.
Ron Sim is 50 and still heavily involved in business. This is how he learned to help others:
When I was in Primary 4, about nine years old, there was this very strict disciplinary master in the school who happened to be my class teacher. And we all hated him because he would punish us like hell. In the early days, they would make you squat. They would make you do silly things. They would put a shell on the floor and ask you to kneel. They would put a pen in your fingers and rub until it bruised. It was corporal punishment. [laughs] I mean, you hated them, you know?
But one day I learned he’s a very good man, because I stayed back in the class, and I didn’t have money to go to recess. I lost my five cents playing football, and because of that I didn’t get to go, because no money.
So I stayed in the class, and he came in and he said, “Why are you in the class?” I said, “No money, I lost my money.” He looked at me, he took out 20 cents, and gave me 20 cents.
I think that kind of made me turn around and see that, hey, this guy is a bad guy in terms of corporal punishment for the kids, but he has a good heart.
Today, Ron is the main donor to the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund that gives pocket money to 9,000 children in Singapore, so they can buy food at school.
So far I probably gave $6 million.
Billionaires give back to society either through their products, their services, or through the philanthropic causes their commit to. It would take an entire book to describe their vast activities in this field. Let me give you this small and inevitably incomplete selection:
Hüsnü Özyegin is one of the greatest philanthropists in Turkey. Together with his wife, Ayşen, the scale of his activities in this area is mind-blowing. He has founded a university, built 65 schools and dormitories for underprivileged girls, set up parent education, women’s empowerment, and rural development programs, and literally saved the lives of hundreds of addicts. Through his philanthropy, he has helped over a million people.
Petter Stordalen is one of the top philanthropists in Scandinavia. His Stordalen Foundation focuses on climate change, rain forest protection, renewable energy, and the development of ecological technology.
Narayana Murthy supports the underprivileged in Indian society through his Infosys Foundation.
We have built hospitals, schools, libraries, destitute homes, and lunch kitchens in rural India. We have instituted scholarships and improved education for the poor, and helped the needy at times of floods in India and the United States. We have supported several institutions of higher education in mathematics, physics, and computer sciences.
Infosys spends 2% of its annual profit on philanthropy, which amounts to $50 million each and every year.
Frank Stronach’s Magna implemented the Fair Enterprise concept. It not only shares the profits with the management and the employees, it also gives 2% of its profits to social projects. We are talking about $40 million a year.
Dilip Shanghvi’s philanthropy is about education for underprivileged and health. And he does it out of his own pocket.
The Filipino billionaire Tony Tan Caktiong’s School Feeding Program has fed more than 180,000 students in over 1,800 schools on a daily basis.
Lirio Parisotto engages in social projects in the Amazonas. He protects the rain forest over an area the size of Portugal by supporting 40,000 Indians living there with education, medical assistance, and buying products from them coming from sustainable agriculture.
This way the people can sustain themselves without cutting the trees.
He also built a hospital and is involved in children’s health care.
But probably the most preeminent philanthropist I have met is the Chinese billionaire Cho Tak Wong. He has already spent over $1 billion on philanthropy and is one of the greatest philanthropists in Asia. Cho Tak Wong gave away a big chunk of his Fuyao Glass to the Haren Foundation, which uses the dividends for various philanthropic causes.
For example, last year, we had in Haren a $30 million dividend on investment. We used this for the earthquake in Nepal.
Chip Wilson is deeply engaged in philanthropy through his Imagine1Day Foundation, which brings quality education to Ethiopia.
The Australian billionaire Manny Stul is involved in philanthropy on a personal and a company level. Moose Toys gives as much as 10% of its profits to philanthropic causes with a focus on children’s health and welfare. Among other things, they support autism research and are a major sponsor of Clown Doctors, which makes sick children a little bit happier. Additionally, Manny personally donates 10% of his personal income to a variety of charitable causes.
Tim Draper started several philanthropic and social projects, including educational projects BizWorld and Draper University.
Mohed Altrad gives away to philanthropy much more than he takes for himself from the company.
Every year, I’ve given something like $10 million to poor people, to disabled people, to children, children who have no parents. That is important.
His causes are “work against sickness, against hunger. People who die because of hunger. And also Doctors Without Borders, who go to the fighting places to save lives.”
Sergey Galitskiy spends a lot, mainly for his city Krasnodar. He made a park for the city, renovated sidewalks and revived public lawns and alleys, built a football stadium, one of the best in Russia. He is the greatest philanthropist in the region and the most respected citizen of his town. It is common in Eastern Europe to envy and vilify the rich. I did some field research asking people on the street what they think about Sergey. Not a single person had anything negative to say about him. The general opinion was: “If anybody deserves wealth in Russia, it’s him.” And this means something in Russia.
Business—The Best Philanthropy
For Tony Ton Caktiong, “the greatest form of philanthropy is to build a business because one employee is able to help his entire family. So, one employee is able to help five people, on the average, at least in the Philippines.”
Also for Naveen Jain, “Business is about helping people.”
Naveen wants to positively impact billions of people by solving the biggest problems of our world. For him the best business is philanthropic in nature, because it works to solve the great problems of humanity.
Any business that can solve a freshwater problem, energy problem, the food problem, any of these problems is a trillion-dollar problem. That means there is a trillion-dollar opportunity somewhere, and some entrepreneurs will solve it. So for me, business and philanthropy go hand in hand, doing good and doing well.
Billionaires employ social principles in their businesses and give their model of capitalism different names.
Business is about helping people.
— Naveen Jain #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
For Petter Stordalen, the ideal is sustainable capitalism.
I want the capitalism which is thinking in the long perspective. Because we can’t save the world if we are not thinking long-term. I believe in climate change.
I want to do something because one day, my kids will ask me, “So Papa, why didn’t you do anything?” Maybe I will say, “I had information. I see today I didn’t do enough, but I tried.” That’s my life. I always try. I will be a part of the change.
Narayana Murthy calls his model compassionate capitalism.
We demonstrated by our large stock option plan that it is possible to combine the best ideas of capitalism and socialism and create what I call Compassionate Capitalism.
For him, “Business is about making this a more comfortable world.” Infosys gives jobs to 200,000 well-paid employees, and Narayana wants to create a million jobs for people all over the world.
Frank Stronach is proud to have developed the Fair Enterprise system, which allowed him to create over 150,000 jobs in Magna.
And these are well-paid jobs, and people can participate in wealth creation.
Business is about making this a more comfortable world.
— Narayana Murthy #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Kim Beom-Su set up a project called C Program, which he describes as venture philanthropy that invests in child-care education programs.
We saw how children in the Korean education system lose all their creativity and autonomy and the like because of how the system is structured to test well in the college entrance exams. We realized that this was a big problem and that children need to play.
Philanthropy should never be about giving money, it should be about solving a problem, says Naveen Jain.
Social problems are a great playing field for business.
Kim Beom-Su shared with me his thoughts on this.
Ultimately, social problems are also problems to solve. When you hear about a problem, you set a hypothesis and then contemplate how to solve it. That’s why I argue that corporations are the most efficient organizations to solve problems. Especially with our company, I think we could help solve problems with technology, and so I want to try solving them with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Role Models
There are a number of role models in the field of philanthropy that billionaires follow.
Bill Gates is probably the one most often named by my interviewees.
Narayana Murthy explains why:
We all admire Bill Gates, not just for his business leadership but also for what he did later—giving away so much of his money for fighting malaria, AIDS, and other diseases that afflict the poorer sections of our world. It is truly extraordinary. He is a great role model for all of us.
There is an array of historic philanthropists that billionaires get inspiration from, among them:
- Henry Ford, who built hospitals and schools for the workers.
- John D. Rockefeller Sr., who, although very controversial, was one of the greatest philanthropists in history. He built schools for black people and two universities. His research institute developed many important vaccines.
- J. P. Morgan, who gave away over 80% of his wealth for philanthropy.
What is your attitude, dear reader? Are you grateful for what you have? Do you see abundance or scarcity around you? Do you help others or expect to be helped? How do you contribute to the people around you, to your society, to the world? Follow the example of billionaires and do good by paying it forward.
- Drifters have a receiving attitude toward society.
- Millionaires have the mindset of scarcity and sometimes give some of their hard-earned money to philanthropic organizations run by others.
- Billionaires have the mindset of abundance; they are givers aware of the social responsibility business has; they build philanthropic organizations for the causes they care for.
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