Melinda French Gates has a rule for conflict at work: Wait 48 hours before saying anything

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 Business‘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...