Episode 10: Bill Gates
Highlights:
Bill Gates is an outstanding example of another sort of guru,
the guru who preaches more by deeds than by words. He revels
in change and draws inspiration from a crisis.
His first book, 'The Road Ahead', was published in 1995. Gates famously
ignored the Internet at first. The Internet and its implications
dominate his second book, 'Business @ the Speed of Thought'.
But we can learn as much from Bill Gates by looking at what he does,
as a manager and a leader, than by reading his books:
1. Concentrate your effort on a market with large potential but
relatively few competitors
2. Get in early and big
3. Establish a proprietary position
4. Protect that position in every way possible
5. Aim for high gross margin
6. Make the customers an offer they can't refuse
Gates, with no previous experience, no MBA, and no mentors,
set about creating a new sort of organization, what he called a
knowledge company. The knowledge company's raw material is brainpower.
Vital to a knowledge company is what Gates calls the DNS - the Digital
Nervous System, the e-mails and computer systems that allow everyone
to learn everything they need to know.
Microsoft also has some very clear people policies, which give the
company its extraordinary vitality. Gates summarizes them as five
'E's:
Enrichment
Empowerment
Emphasis on Performance
Egalitarianism
E-Mail
The next guru on our list is Ricardo
Semler from Brazil.
Read Bill Gates'
biography
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