"The Future", courtesy of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett

Last week when I was flying home from California, I stumbled upon a CNBC program on the inflight television featuring Bill Gates and Warren Buffett discussing the theme of "Keeping America Great" to students at Columbia Business School. While the Town Hall style meeting is nothing new, there was something compelling about watching these bright young minds and these business icons answering questions on the global economy, capitalism, innovation, industry perspective, and providing larger philosophical guidance on values and contributions to society, in true Tribal Elder fashion.

I began watching midway through when Mr. Buffett was answering a question from a student and essentially interrupted himself to say, "And to cut corners, you know, everybody here has a wonderful future." There was an immediate applause from all the students and somehow, through the small TV screen, 30,000 miles up, you could almost feel the relief in the air, and then an electricity of optimism and possibility flowing through the room.

In addition to the importance of marrying the right person he later emphasized: "Find what turns you on. Find what you have a passion for....You will do well at whatever turns you on. There's no question about that. Don't let anybody else tell you what to do. You figure out what you are doing."

While I rarely watch anything on CNBC, I enjoyed watching the rest of the show before my flight touched down at JFK. The warmth and respect developed through the years between Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffett was certainly evident, as was their desire to impart a larger sense of purpose to this next generation of business leaders. A student had asked them what they admired most in each other, and while their answers aren't directly linked to their 'business', perhaps they are the outcome that's been refined through the years; wonderful examples of two way flow, like a vital body of water, of receiving and giving.

Bill Gates on Warren Buffett: "...I think I'd pick his desire to teach, his desire to teach things that are complex and put them in a simple form so that people can understand and get the benefit of all his experience, all his models of how the world works. He loves to teach..."

Warren Buffett on Bill Gates: "...He has this view that every human life worldwide is the equivalent of every other human life, and he's backing it up not only with his money, but backing it up with his time. And his wife, Melinda, is backing it up with her time. And they are really going to spend, you know, the last half of their lives or so using both money, talent, energy, imagination all improving the lives of 6.5 billion people around the world."

The students and larger TV audience may or may not have the 'next Bill Gates or Warren Buffett', but it was exciting to watch the seeds being planted.