“The Next Day: Transitions, Change and Moving Forward “ by Melinda Gates (2025) came out last month and is a memoir focused on her life, career at Microsoft, family life with Bill Gates and finding her calling to help those from disadvantaged circumstances. I first heard about the book after reading her previous book “The Moment of Lift (see my critique here),” which I found excellent. I really wanted to know what exactly happened with her and Bill that caused the marriage to fail, so I got my hands on the audio book (narrated by the author) as soon as it came out. Spoiler alert – the book does not go into immense marriage details, if that’s what you are looking for. What it does do, however, is walk us through Melinda’s history and personal development over time, and for that, this book was worth the read.
Overview: Melinda takes us into her childhood, catholic upbringing and mostly happy. We get more of her than in “The Moment of Lift” and for that, I am grateful. Clearly a perfectionist, Melinda loves organization and methodical planning. She attends Duke University and studies Computer Science, eventually landing a job with Microsoft and switching coasts for the west in Seattle. Here she meets Bill and her best friends, and eventually starts her own family, bearing and raising three children. Melinda provides multiple antidotes where guilt and self-doubt rule her and it isn’t until she is much older that she begins to listen and trust herself. She knew she needed to leave Bill, even though it meant splitting the family, telling her Catholic parents and announcing to the world. The book ends with her promise to her future, where her inner critic (or Despy, as I call it) no longer plagues her because she trusts that she can handle anything.
Key Message: She tells her readers that it is important to listen to your inner voice and to give yourself grace. Your inner voice won’t fail you if you pay attention to it and you can make it through any major life change if you learn to trust yourself and grow during the pause and the clearing. She has learned this over her 60 years on the planet that “what you do the next day gives meaning to who you are.”
Supplemental Information:
Where it Falls Short: I wish that she would’ve talked about where she felt like she (and Bill) failed in the marriage. While Melinda is very poised and private, which is very honorable, it felt like a heavily scripted memoir. Of course, all books are scripted but I associate memoirs with a deep level of transparency and raw authenticity. She clearly chose to hide vulnerability here.
Overall Assessment & Why: I rate it a 6 out of 10 in terms of a personal development book. She wasn’t specifically writing it in order to showcase her personal development, rather than show the world who she is separate from Bill Gates. I would say rather than use it for personal development, “The Next Day” is a good book template for writing and capturing life changing moments.