In some ways, it's easier to settle for someone else's version of success than to risk falling short at one's own.
Inside any important philanthropy meeting, you witness heads of state meeting with investment managers and corporate leaders. All are searching for answers with their right hand to problems that others in the room have created with their left.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the paradox of addressing problems created by powerful individuals within philanthropy meetings.
Peter Buffett's quote highlights the irony of philanthropic efforts where prominent figures, such as heads of state and corporate leaders, gather to solve issues that they themselves have often contributed to. It suggests a reflection on accountability and the complexities of addressing societal problems created by those in power, pointing to the need for deeper introspection about the role they play in creating solutions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation on social responsibility, you might use this quote to critique the motivations of corporate philanthropy.
More from Peter Buffett
All quotes →Similar quotes
There is never a humanitarian solution for a humanitarian crisis. The solutions for the humanitarian crisis are always political ones.
Believe nothing,_x000D_ _x000D_ No matter where you read it,_x000D_ _x000D_ Or who has said it,_x000D_ _x000D_ Not even if I have said it,_x000D_ _x000D_ Unless it agrees with your own reason_x000D_ _x000D_ And your own common sense.
Life in freedom is not easy, and democracy is not perfect.
To establish oneself in the world, one does all one can to seem established there already.
Oxford, the paradise of dead philosophies.
The trickiest thing about the double bind is that it operates imperceptibly, like shots from a gun with a silencer.