Bill Gates Leadership Style Analysis PDF

Business studies Topic: no 5 **[BILL GATES:]** William Henry Gates, who is better known simply as Bill Gates, is one of the most well-known leaders today. Having co-founded the software corporation of Microsoft and served as its leader for a long period (USA Today, 2007), he led the enterprise to...

Business studies Topic: no 5 **[BILL GATES:]** William Henry Gates, who is better known simply as Bill Gates, is one of the most well-known leaders today. Having co-founded the software corporation of Microsoft and served as its leader for a long period (USA Today, 2007), he led the enterprise to succeed in the global software market. In fact, over long years, Microsoft had been the monopolist in the computer software market, and it remains the largest software company in the world (Cohan, 2015). Therefore, it is paramount to discuss the style of Bill Gates' leadership, as well as to consider its possible adverse aspects and issues which might hinder the progress of an organization. He reserves his passion for ideals and the central objective of his company. When a leader's vision remains both clear and consistent, the daily tasks are constantly changing to accommodate; driving productivity and net profit. On keeping his team engaged, a 30-year-old Gates once said: "The work we're doing. it's not like, you know we're doing the same thing all day long. We go into our offices and think up new programs, we get together in meetings,....we talk to customers, there's so much variety and there are always new things going on. And I don't think they will ever come a time when that will be boring." **Leadership Style of Bill Gates, its Key Issues and Underlying Issues** It is stated that Bill Gates is one of the most successful leaders, or perhaps even the most successful leader nowadays (Cohan, 2015). It was, to a considerable degree, his efforts that led the corporation of Microsoft to its global success. Bill Gates himself was able to make a great profit thanks to this business and became one of the wealthiest persons on the planet (Cohan, 2015). Due to this major and long-lasting success, it might be possible to state that his leadership style proved to be most effective, and it may be likely that there are no crucial flaws in it. The style of Bill Gates includes such dimensions as focus and clarity of thought, the ability to "think big," passion, life-long learning, and giving back to society, in particular via charity organizations (Krishnamurthy, 2008). As for the leadership style of Bill Gates, it is stated that he was able to make successful business models (Microsoft monopolized the operating system market and stimulated hardware producers to collaborate with it), and think in the long term; also, he was always willing to analyze and doubt his ideas (Cohan, 2015). What is crucial is that Gates was able to hire and motivate talented and competent individuals to work for the company (Cohan, 2015). He employed the model of transformational leadership, which allowed Microsoft to adapt to several attacks from outside (SANS Institute, 2016). Critics speak of several issues that are characteristic of the Gates' leadership style. However, the key problem that played an important role in Microsoft is that intellectual criticism in many cases tended to turn into personal attacks (Cohan, 2015). This problem tended to significantly lower the motivation of the enterprise's workers, as well as to drive away talented employees (Cohan, 2015). This problem grew out of the practice that was common in Microsoft -- to challenge the ideas of one another, doubt them, and put them to the test (Cohan, 2015). Conclusion ---------- Bill Gates' being the leader of Microsoft allowed the business to grow and become the largest software company in the world. The leadership style of Bill Gates might be labeled transformational (SANS Institute, 2016). His leadership, however, had several negative aspects; one of the most important ones is that the criticism of ideas tends to grow into personal criticism, decreasing employee motivation, and driving away talented workers. To address this, it is crucial to use managers to encourage the criticism of ideas without the criticism of people, promoting the view that employees should view each other as business partners and treat them with mutual respect. This should also become part of the organizational culture.