POLITICS

"My hope for everyone reading this is that you get in the habit of doing things that scare you." In this op-ed, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The New York Times bestselling author of  The Moment of Lift , explains how she gets over her fears. Hailing a cab. Giving a speech about  malaria  to a room full of experts. Using a chop saw. What do those three things have in common? All of them are things that scare me. Or at least, they used to. Here’s how I learned to overcome those fears. Use fear as fuel I’ve had three careers in my life. My first career was in tech. Then, when my three kids were little, I was a stay-at-home mom. Today, I’m the co-chair of the foundation I started with my husband, Bill, and I lead a company called Pivotal Ventures, which works to advance social progress in the U.S.—especially for women and girls. Along the way, I’ve had to get used to trying new things. The first time I hailed a cab, I was