Career changes can be hard, even for Bill Gates — who credits a simple, lifelong habit for his switch from a narrow-minded, decades-long focus on computers and software to international philanthropy.
"I had a long period from about age 18 to 40 where I was very monomaniacal ... Microsoft was everything," Gates, 68, recently told comedian Trevor Noah on the "What Now?
"I was lucky enough that as other people took over Microsoft, I got to go and read and learn about all the health challenges, why children die."
With even more time to read, he researched ongoing global health crises and decided to make the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation his primary focus, he said.
"Reading fuels a sense of curiosity about the world, which I think helped drive me forward in my career and in the work that I do now with my foundation," Gates told Time in 2017.
Persons:
Bill Gates —, Gates, Trevor Noah, Melinda French Gates, Melinda Gates, —, he's, It's, it's, Mark Cuban, Bill Maher's, Warren Buffett
Organizations:
Microsoft, Melinda Gates Foundation
Locations:
United States