Leadership-The Bill Gates Way

Early Life
• Born in 1955 to a father who was a lawyer and
mother who was a school teacher

• Started LPG (Lakeside Programmers Group) in

1968 along with his friend Allen and did
several freelance software projects

• Joined Harvard university in 1973

 Microsoft
• Provided BASIC software program to MITS who introduced
first micro computers

• Dropped out of Harvard in 1975 and started Microsoft in 1977

and introduced FORTRAN and COBAL following the success of
BASIC

• Supplied IBM with MS-DOS operating system which also

became a huge success

• By 2002 Microsoft’s worth was more than 29 bn US $

 Gates’ HRD policy
• Believed in having a talented rather than a huge employee
base
• Followed N-1 Recruitment Policy
Directly participated in hiring recruitment programs during
the early days of Microsoft

Employees were provided with a open work environment

Employees were rewarded heavily based on their contribution

with stock options and pay rises, By 1992 3400 Microsoft
employees were millionaires
 Gates as an eminent Marketer
• Bought DOS for a few thousand dollars renamed it and earned
huge profits

• Successfully predicted future trends

• Introduced several Innovative products

• Followed competitive pricing

• Followed the famous strategy of announcing product launch

even before years of actual release
 Strengths
• Great Risk Taker
• Is a great visionary
• Great Innovator
• Assertive
• Good technical knowledge about his business
• Never been complacent
• Positive image among the general public and
is known for his charity works through BMGF
 Criticisms
• Blamed of suppressing innovations in the
industry
• Practiced Monopolistic trade practices
• Stifled competitions in the industry
• Dominated the industry owing to it’s huge
market share
• Bureaucratic management style
• Though Bill gates took a lot risks during early
stages of his business, later on he became
more calculative and more risk averse and
Microsoft became more concerned about
stifling the competition rather than facing it.
Also, Microsoft failed to break it’s image of
being viewed only as an user friendly software
component but not as an efficient software.
 Conclusion
• Gates has been a very successful businessman
and his success could be attributed mainly
towards his visionary and assertive qualities.
He cannot be considered as a charismatic
leader. But his abilities to foresee , respond to
threats correctly and manage a company
company like Microsoft efficiently have made
him a leader of global repute.