How to Think Like Bill Gates

Daniel Smith

• Publisher: Michael O'Mara
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781782433750
• eBook ISBN: 9781782433743
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

Be inspired by Bill Gates and learn how to think big, manage a vast company, compete with the best and stay ahead of your rivals. A household name for his role in the founding of ubiquitous computer software company Microsoft, Bill Gates is one of the world's great businessmen. Creating software language was just the beginning of a journey that would eventually see Gates become the wealthiest man in the world, eventually turning away from the computer screen to combat injustices in the world and start his own charity.This fascinating guide: * reveals the key motivations, decisions and philosophies that made Gates a name synonymous with success. * studies how he honed his business acumen, faced down all competitors, overcame adversity and stood strong in the face of overwhelming odds* contains quotes and passages by and about Bill GatesWith this book you too can learn how to think like Bill Gates.

Landmarks in a Remarkable Life

1955		William Henry Gates III is born on 28 October to William and Mary Gates in Seattle, Washington. He becomes known as Trey by his family and as Bill to the wider world.
1967		Bill begins attending an exclusive private preparatory school, Lakeside, in the Haller Lake neighbourhood of north Seattle.
1968		A member of the school’s computing club, he writes his first program, using the BASIC language on a Teletype Model 33 terminal linked to a remote mainframe computer. A fellow club member is Paul Allen, with whom Gates will eventually found Microsoft.
1970		Gates and Allen write a traffic-surveillance program that they call Traf-O-Data, which earns the teenagers several thousand dollars.
1972		Gates works as a congressional page (an assistant to a member) in the US House of Representatives for the summer.
1973		After acing his high-school SATs, Gates enrols on Harvard’s pre-law programme. There he befriends Steve Ballmer.
1974		Gates and Allen spend the summer working for Honeywell, a New Jersey-based technology company.
1975		Gates and Allen produce a BASIC software package for the Altair 8800, a landmark personal computer produced by MITS. Gates drops out of Harvard to join Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in order to work for the company. The two co-found Micro-soft.
1976		Microsoft (as it is now known) is formally registered as a company. Gates publishes an open letter condemning software theft by computer hobbyists.
1977		The relationship with MITS breaks down over commercial disagreements. Meanwhile, Gates is introduced to Kazuhiko Nishi, who helps launch Microsoft in Japan.
1978		The company opens a Japanese sales office. Microsoft’s revenues top US$1 million for the year.
1979		The company relocates its US base to Gates and Allen’s hometown, Seattle.
1980		Microsoft agrees to provide an operating system for the personal computer being developed by industry giants, IBM.
1981		Microsoft is incorporated, with Gates assuming the posts of CEO and chairman. He takes a 53% stake in the company. Steve Jobs, boss of Apple, approaches Gates about designing software for the imminent Apple Macintosh.
1983		Time names the computer as its Machine of the Year. Paul Allen leaves Microsoft, having been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease.
1985		Microsoft launches its Windows operating system, which employs a graphical user interface.
1986		Microsoft goes public. Gates’s shareholding is valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
1987		Gates becomes the youngest billionaire in history. At an event in New York, he meets Melinda French, an employee who will become his wife.
1988		Apple unsuccessfully sues Microsoft, with Jobs accusing Gates of plundering Macintosh innovations in the creation of Windows.
1989		Gates establishes the Corbis digital image archive. Microsoft launches Office, a suite of applications including Word and Excel.
1990		Buoyed by the release of Windows 3.0, company revenues top $1 billion for the first time.
1992		Gates is named by Forbes as the richest person in the United States.
1993		The Department of Justice begins investigating Microsoft for anti-trust practices.
1994		Gates marries Melinda French. He also founds the William H. Gates Foundation.
1995		Windows 95 launches, along with Microsoft’s own web browser, Internet Explorer. Gates releases his first book, The Road Ahead. Forbes names him the richest person in the world for the first time, with a fortune just short of $13 billion.
1996		Melinda Gates gives birth to a daughter, Jennifer. Netscape, an internet browser company, requests the Department of Justice investigate the bundling of Windows and Internet Explorer.
1997		Gates and his family move into their custom-built Lake Washington estate.
1998		The Department of Justice charges Microsoft with anti-competitive practices.
1999		Melinda gives birth to a son, Rory. Gates publishes a second book, Business @ the Speed of Thought. Microsoft stock reaches an all-time high.
2000		Gates is replaced as Microsoft CEO by his old college friend, Steve Ballmer. Gates takes the title Chief Software Architect. A judge rules the company should be split in two – one part dealing with the Windows operating system, and another part with all other software. The decision is overturned a year later. Meanwhile, the William H. Gates Foundation is subsumed into the newly est...

Table of contents

• Cover
• By the same author:
• Title page
• Dedication and Copyright page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Landmarks in a Remarkable Life
• Engage Your Brain
• Gates’s Heroes
• Friend and Role Model
• Find Your True Calling
• The Birth of the Microcomputer Age
• Embrace Your Inner Geek
• Keep an Eye on the Big Chance
• Find Your Comrades-in-Arms
• Profile: Paul Allen
• Employ the Best
• Sleep is for Wimps
• Dare to Dream
• Microsoft’s Big Deal
• Innovate, Innovate, Innovate
• Stress-Test Your Ideas
• Gates and Intellectual Property
• Lead from the Front
• Learn from Your Mistakes
• The Internet: The One That Nearly Got Away
• Keep Track of the Competition
• Microsoft vs. Apple
• Business is Business
• Microsoft and Monopolies
• Realize That No Man is an Island
• Profile: Melinda Gates
• Enjoy the Trappings of Your Success
• The Richest Man in the World
• Take Time to Reboot
• Read Like Bill Gates
• Gates’s Favourite Business Book
• Give Something Back
• Redefining Philanthropy
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Creative Capitalism
• Bring Your Celebrity to Bear
• Philanthropic Aims: Providing Education and Equality of Opportunity
• Philanthropic Aims: Combating Disease
• The Fight Against Polio
• Gates and God
• The Gates Legacy
• Selected Bibliography