Bill Gates Research Paper

Bill Gates is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the world’s largest software business, Microsoft, through technological innovation and aggressive business tactics. He is a leader who has led his team, been committed to changing the world, and improving lives in it. This paper will present a brief introduction to Bill Gates’s early life. Subsequently, his leadership style will be examined using elements of leadership trait theory. Finally, his three major accomplishments and legacy will be considered.

Bill Gates’s Early/Formative Years Bill Gates (born William Henry Gates III, October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington) was the first son in a wealthy family. His father was a successful lawyer; his mother was a chairwoman,

Stevenson (2005, para. 2) notes that at the age of twelve, Gates “became interested in computers while working with the school’s room-sized computer...Gates began writing his first computer programs when he was thirteen.” Based on his father’s impact, his parents wanted him to be a lawyer, but he still spent more of his time in the computer lab than in class after he had enrolled at Harvard University (“Bill Gates Biography,” 2015). Also, according to the article “Bill Gates Biography”, his friend Paul Allen made a huge impact on Gates’s life. Reading about the Altair 8800 motivated them; soon after, Allen was hired at Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) and Gates soon dropped out Harvard to work with him. “In 1975, Gates and Allen formed a partnership they called Micro-Soft... [Microsoft Corp.] went public in 1986, making Gates a millionaire overnight” (Stevenson, 2005, para.

However, due to different views about Bill Gates, there are some arguments about the legacy of him. First, on the negative side, Cusumano (2009) points out that Gates “took too long to adjust to the position of power Microsoft attained and never quite understood the rules of competition differ a firm with a monopoly market share...He never realized it was unnecessary as well as illegal for Microsoft to cross the antitrust line to battle competitors such as Netscape” (para. 6). However, on the positive side, “Gates correctly foresaw the future when he dropped out of Harvard to co-found Microsoft based on the belief that every desktop would one day have a PC on it...[and] recognized the potential of the software products business...[He] early on understood the power of creating products that could become ‘platforms’” (Cusumano, 2009, para. 3-4). Also, without formal management training, Gates has led thousands of extremely talented people successfully; he is a truly charismatic leader, and “he led his company through at least two major technological transitions” (Cusumano, 2009, para. 5). Therefore, what Gates did is more than enough for any career; growing the PC software business should be his most enduring