essay that needs to be re written

Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1955. is the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation. When he was just 13 years old he began to take a strong interest in computer programming. As a young teen, Bill was highly competivtive and very curious about things. The school that he attended got their first computer and he became curious about how the computer worked. During his free time, he wrote a tic-tac-toe program in BASIC computer language. This program allowed players to play against the computer (biography, n.d.) It was around this time that he met Paul Allen. Not only was Paul a good friend but he became Bill’s future partner in business (biography, n.d.). In 1981 Gates started Microsoft Company as a partnership with his childhood friend Paul Allen (leadership-and-development)

Bill was able to build the largest software business in the world, Microsoft. He had a passion for technological innovation, keen business strategy and aggressive business tactics. All of these things together made Bill one of the richest men in the world. He is known not only for being rich but he is also known as one of the greatest philanthropist in the world and that is why he is considered as an inspirational and one of greatest leaders in our world today. Some of his fellow employees have labeled him as somewhat abrasive and very demanding. Even with that being said, many employees also said that he was the type of leader that encouraged the employees and allowed them to share their creativity with him. He was the type of leader that recognized everyone’s achievements that worked for him and it did not matter if they were in teams or if it was an individual. He was known for staying on top of things and often met with the employees on a regular basis to see what was going on and to see what they were working on. Gates often questioned their findings and facts, and he would interrupt them while they were speaking (leadership-and-development).

Bill Gates departed from his regular day to day operations at Microsoft. He and his wife wanted to focus on his charitable foundation, and to make contributions to worthy organizations and to address problems around the world. Although he is not functioning at Microsoft on a day to day basis, he is still considered their most valued consultant. Microsoft may call him when there is an important decision that needs to be made at the company. Gates made Microsoft a leading company and he took it to the top. He shows us that innovators can be great leaders. One of Gates strengths was being innovative and having a competitive spirit. Some of his main competition was with Apple and Google. He was probably in more competition with Apple than with Google because Apple and Microsoft were in the same type of software business.

The type of leader that Bill Gates would be considered is the authoritarian type. However, this was not his only style he used as a leader. A lot of well renowned leaders exhibit more than one type of leadership styles as did Bill Gates, and if any of them did, it would be considered rare. However, Gates dominant leadership style was autocratic and authoritarian leadership style. He was charismatic but at the same time he was tough, confrontational and aggressive. The very first person that he hired as president of the company was fired after only working for him for eleven months (encyclopedia, n.d.).

Authoritarian leadership styles do not always guarantee success on its own because it can hinder innovation according to Boj and Smith, (2010). When a leader is to controlling it can greatly hinder the staff from being creative and innovative. By incorporating other good leaders at Microsoft it allowed them to be the successful company that they are today.

Bill Gates claimed that most of what he did was lead and that managing pretty much applied to those that worked directly under him. He was very self willed and he liked playing the role of being the one that was in control. This can be seen by the way that he would interrupt the employees in meetings about their thoughts and their findings. Although he was controlling, he still made sure that he set an environment that was conducive for his employees to be innovative. Great leadership along with spirit of creativity and innovation are the reasons that Microsoft is successful and why it continues to stay on of the market.

Gates was considered a hard working man that often worked sixteen hours a day. He rarely ever took time off from the company. They only time that he would take was a few days off a year to spend with his family on vacation. That is why he was hard on those that worked for him. He wanted them to give the best that they could give (biography).

Bill Gates was truly a leader that sometimes exercised his managerial duties. For example, Gates would put emphasis on the significance for building teams and why working in teams was important. He treated all of his teams with respect and he made sure that he divided his time and attention to each of them, making sure that all of them felt like they were appreciated. He would call them by their names just to let them know that he let them know that he knew who they were. According to John Maxwell, a good successful leader is one that knows the way, shows the way and goes the way”. They must also be extremely well understood, implemented and designed. He was able to strike a balance between the managerial and the leadership role as expected of him (biography).

In the latter part of the 1990’s, Gates was faced with a testing of his leadership. Some of the challenges were because of his weaknesses as a leader. For one, he fired his first president of the company after only working their eleven months. Being the tough, confrontational person that he was, it caused him to fail to commit to agreements. After this incidence, he found it hard to handle nearly every one of his top level employees since they thought that if they disagreed with him, they too would be fired. This meant that employees did not have the courage to stand up to him and the innovative spirit stopped or was suppressed because of his attitude.

The challenges that Gates faced were because of his attitude and the style that he had adopted. In the beginning, he wanted to control every position in his company. Later, after many years, he came to a point where he was able to trust others to run his company. This happened after he added the other leadership styles besides to the autocratic leadership which is the one that he started with. The fear from the government was necessary as they tried to open up the market to allow others to compete. Although they were unsuccessful court, they changed Gates mind regarding competition. He starting accepting competition and became less abrasive with the attacks of his competitors (Cusumano, 2009).

Bill Gates greatest achievement was succeeding to be almost a monopoly not just in the United States but also throughout the entire world in supplying and production of computer software and operating systems. Since the latter part of 1990, Microsoft becomes a household name whenever a computer is mentioned. In Africa for example, many people deem Microsoft to be a computer brand name. When the people in Africa seek to buy a computer, they refer to it as a Microsoft. This shows Microsoft’s domination and influence around the world. Yet, perhaps the greatest achievement for Gates, as an individual, is being able to stay on top of the market for so many years and the company is still doing well. In spite of all the challenges that were faced, Microsoft still remains steadfast and unmovable.

Bill Gates is admired for his accomplishments and success for bringing Microsoft to the height it is right now. Scholars attribute Microsoft’s success to Gates leadership styles. He managed to modify his leadership style when needed and this is the most important factor that has helped him guide the company in the right direction. The international market and the software industry have experienced a lot of vibrant changes in the last few decades. Many of the changes demanded the CEOs to adopt a new style of leadership and Gates was flexible enough to change. Gates flexibility is Microsoft’s power base, it allowed him to apply his good leadership styles during the changing times the company has gone through (leadership & development).

Bill Gates was the first and as a result he has no predecessor. He is mostly compared with other CEOs that are successful such as Steve Jobs. They both used the same leadership styles; autocratic leadership style. Yet, Steve Jobs lacked flexibility. He believed that he was always right in whatever he did. This was the major difference between Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. and Bill Gates (Cusumano, 2009).

It is my own opinion that I believe that Bill Gates is more successful than Steve Jobs regarding their employee management styles and techniques. The main difference to me is the flexibility displayed by Bill Gates that ensured that his company remains on top. On the other hand, Steve Jobs struggled to keep Apple Inc. on top with other competition such as Samsung.

References

Cusumano, M. (2009). Technology Strategy and Management: The Legacy of Bill Gates. Communications Of The ACM, 52(1), 25-26.

http://leadership-and-development.com/bill-gates-leadership-style.

http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520#early-life