COMSATS University Islamabad, Virtual Campus
MGT403 Entrepreneurship
Lecture # 29 Handouts
Lecture Topic
Documentary about Bill Gates
This lecture is all about the Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Focus is on his entrepreneurial and
leadership skills. In the same way that every truly worthy recipe has a couple of key ingredients that
make it unique and amazing, leaders also tend to have key qualities that enable them to shine. Such is
the case for Bill Gates. Along with Paul Allen, Bill Gates founded what is now one of the most
successful companies in the world, Microsoft. He frequents Forbes Top 100 lists, recently ranking as
the richest person in America. In fact, he previously appeared on the World’s Billionaires list by
Forbes for 12 consecutive years (CNN). In addition, he’s the recipient of numerous awards including
the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service,
Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society, Bower Award for Business Leadership and
more. He’s also become known for his significant role as a philanthropist. Nobody could deny that
Gates has had a significant impact on the world, and that he is someone worth emulating. Below are
some leadership qualities of Bill Gates.
COMSATS University Islamabad, Virtual Campus
MGT403 Entrepreneurship
Lecture # 29 Handouts
Who is Bill Gates? A Short Biography
From a very young age, Gates was fascinated by computers. In the eighth grade, he already showed an
unusual interest in computers and even skipped his Math class to pursue programming.
He went to Harvard College after scoring 1590 out of 1600 on the SATs. However, at Harvard, rather
than studying, he spent most of his time in front of computers. In 1975, he dropped out of college and
started Microsoft.
At his new company, Gates developed the program BASIC which was popular with many computer
hobbyists, but stopped its development because of widespread piracy of his product.
The breakthrough for Microsoft came when IBM approached Gates to develop software for their
systems. Eventually, Gates created the MS-DOS program for IBM. This was the beginning of the rise
of Microsoft. From there his company created and launched a retail version of Windows, which
quickly became the most-used operating system for home computers.
In 2006, Gates announced that he would step down from his day-to-day duties at Microsoft to focus
full-time on philanthropy. Together with his wife, he set up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and
has so far donated over $28 billion to charitable causes.
Leadership Qualities of Bill Gates:
Growing and learning –
After landing billionaire lists several times, it would be easy for Gates to become prideful or think he
knows it all. But he’s not that way. In fact, a recent Forbes article highlighted his efforts to improve on
his communication and public speaking skills (Forbes). Gates is also known for his wisdom in seeking
council from others. He often speaks of how much he has learned from Warren Buffett. Gates once
commented that Buffett has a “brilliant way of looking at the world” (BBC). Like a sponge, Gates tries
to soak in lessons learned from his mentor in order to become a better leader.
Having vision –
COMSATS University Islamabad, Virtual Campus
MGT403 Entrepreneurship
Lecture # 29 Handouts
Without a doubt, Bill Gates is a man with vision. It was vision that inspired him to pursue the creation
of a graphical interface that became Microsoft software. Looking back to his interviews about the
development of Microsoft, Gates says he always knew he wanted to have more than a single product.
The company wanted to hire in more software people and develop a full product line. From the
beginning, he recognized potential for growth and opportunity. His ability to envision goals also
reaches into his philanthropic pursuits. It can be seen in the malaria project he is now pursuing at the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal is to eradicate malaria, and he’s laid out a strategy to get
from A to B. His abilities to envision and strategize make it easy for others to follow him.
Caring about people –
It would be hard to talk about the life of Bill Gates and not discuss philanthropy and humanitarianism.
Along with Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates were the founders of the giving pledge, a pledge
taken by some of the world’s wealthiest people to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropic
causes or charitable organizations. Gates once said “I hope you will reflect on what you’ve done with
your talent and energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments
alone, but also on how well you work to address the world’s deepest inequities, on how well you treat
people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity” (Bloomberg
Businessweek). This is the kind of caring and empathy that causes people to stand behind a leader. He
is the type of person who isn’t working toward his own goal of personal gain; he is working to help
others grow. This is a key quality that successful leaders often embody.
Anyone who wants to inspire or lead can do so. The key is to not lose key qualities like a humble
attitude, vision, or empathy in the process. Great leaders like Bill Gates are successful in staying
grounded which enables success. His qualities and achievements set a great example for rising leaders.
Years and years of hard work precede success
Many of us, hearing that Gates started Microsoft out of his garage, would be inclined to think he was a
kid with no prior knowledge who managed to start a multi-billion dollar business from those little
experiments. But the truth is Gates had considerable experience with programming and coding prior to
COMSATS University Islamabad, Virtual Campus
MGT403 Entrepreneurship
Lecture # 29 Handouts
starting Microsoft. It was his vast knowledge gleaned from years and years of hard work that allowed
him to build the MS DOS software that launched Microsoft on its upward trajectory. Before we start
believing that overnight successes are possible, remember that even the richest man in the world got
there through countless hours of hard work!
Follow your passion
Gates didn’t work hard in programming because he was hungry to become a millionaire. He worked
hard because he was passionate about what he was doing.
He found programming software fascinating. That passion motivated him to do it long after school
hours. He even skipped some classes so that he could code! These many hours of coding gave him the
knowledge and experience he needed to start Microsoft.
If you want to become successful like Bill Gates, don’t chase money. Don’t pursue opportunity after
opportunity, searching for the million-dollar idea. You will lose focus on what you want for your own
life and set yourself up for failure. The truth is, money is abundant and there are many ways to become
wealthy. Passion for what you do will sustain you when things get tough and give you long-term
motivation to achieve success.
COMSATS University Islamabad, Virtual Campus
MGT403 Entrepreneurship
Lecture # 29 Handouts
This Blog has been featured by the West Orange Chamber of Commerce. Sources such as HLN have also been
home to publications by Dr. Farnaz Namin-Hedayati and she has been cited by the Orlando Business Journal.
http://www.leadershipgeeks.com/bill-gates-leadership-styl
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COMSATS University Islamabad, Virtual Campus
MGT403 Entrepreneurship
Lecture # 29 Handouts
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