Melinda French Gates has shared her secret formula for handling conflict at work. She puts it off.
“If I’m unhappy with work you have done, you will hear from me within 48 hours,” French Gates told Bloomberg’s Leaders With Francine Lacqua podcast this week. “I’m not going to tell you right away, because I need time to think it through.
“If I’m angry about something [I do this] to calm down,” she added. “That‘s on me.”
This practice, she explained, is less about withholding criticism and more about delivering it with honesty, integrity, and grace. The flip side of the 48-hour clock is just as deliberate. If the window closes without any feedback, that means employees are in the clear.
“If they pass the 48-hour mark, they can be confident that the job they did was a good job,” she said. “You’re not going to get to your performance review and have a surprise.”
