Melinda Gates candidly details where she went 'wrong' with parenting
But she admits she has made mistakes before, and one of her first big 'failures' didn't happen in a meeting - it happened at home during an interaction with her youngest daughter Phoebe Gates.
In the How to Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast, Melinda, 60, opened up about a heated moment with her now-23-year-old daughter Phoebe that led to the mom-of-three learning an important lesson not only about parenting but about friendships as well.
She explained that while her older children, Jennifer, 30, and Rory, 25, were pretty good at following rules, her youngest was the 'toughest.'
'My third one just ran right through the rules,' Melinda, who is Microsoft found Bill Gates ' ex wife, told Elizabeth.
Melinda went on to describe a moment when Phoebe was in high school that the mother-daughter duo got into an argument because Melinda wasn't allowing her to go to a party.
'She was really mad about it, kept pushing and pushing and pushing on me and finally she pushed me over the edge and I lost my temper with her,' Melinda said.
She explained that while as parents you never want to lose your temper, it got away from her at that moment.
'We're all human, but I really lost my temper in a way I just shouldn't have and she was really angry at me and for good reason then, especially,' she said.
'I had not just a little bit raised my voice.
'I'd really raised my voice and I knew I was in the wrong.'
Melinda quickly realized that she had 'overdone it,' but Phoebe had already marched upstairs.
The mom quickly followed her upstairs to try and repair the situation - but Phoebe wasn't as eager for reconciliation as Melinda had thought she would be.
Melinda went up to apologize and had asked her daughter for at least a hug, but Phoebe refused.
'I had to learn that no from her, that putting her hand up saying, "no, mom," she needed longer till she was ready to repair and maybe what I wanted, she wasn't ready for and it,' Melinda said.
'We all repair or get over emotions at different rates and just because I'm ready doesn't mean she's ready and of course as I look back, I was also the one in the position of power.'
Elizabeth then asked Melinda if the reason she wanted to patch things up so quickly - or at least sooner than her did - was because she was uncomfortable with people being mad at her.
But Melinda said that that wasn't the case.
'I worked at Microsoft for nine years,' she said.
'People were mad all the time.'
Instead, she explained that it was because she knew she had overstepped, even as a parent.
But the situation, as well as one that happened a few years after where the two fought again, reinforced the idea that everyone needed their own time to be ready for repair in relationships.
'We learned from that and she also learned boundaries,' she said.
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