Bill Gates as a Role Model

The role model that I choose is Bill Gates, an American businessman, investor, author, philanthrophist, humanitarian and best known as the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation. He launched Microsoft Corporation together with Paul Allen as his co-founder. He held the position as chairman, CEO and chief software architect in his organization and best-known as the entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution as he had primary responsibility for the company's product strategy. His organization has becoming the world’s largest PC software company throughout the world and grew into one of the great success stories of the personal computer era.

Bill Gates has the managerial role that describes him as the good leader. Firstly, the interpersonal role describes him for managing relationships with organizational members. For example, Bill Gates does his job as the leader in term of chairman and chief software architect. It is his responsibility to direct and coordinate the activities of his employees in order to achieve the goals of his organization. Gates once said that a leader gets in there and rolls his sleeves up because success it is not just about thinking up a good idea but it requires action and the passion to put the effort into turning that good idea into a sustainable revenue machine. At the same time, he acts as figurehead after establishing the private charitable foundation with his wife. As the figurehead, he is one good example of businessman that works to save lives and improve global health through his foundation. Gates has donates $35.8 billion worth of Microsoft stocks to his private charitable foundation.
Besides, the informational role describes his responsibility to gather and disseminate information to the stakeholder of the organization. Gates has this role as he needs to know all the information especially within the area involving the modern technologies. As his name is on the lists of billionaires several times, he shows his efforts to improve his communication and public speaking skills from his mentor in order to be a good leader. Gates is also known for his wisdom in seeking council from others. He often speaks of how much he has learned from Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and is one of the world’s wealthiest men. It is because Gates knows that success would not happen overnight but it will be the culmination of a lot of hard work. Even after Microsoft began gaining success, Gates worked long days and nights on understanding the target audience and developing the products that would speak to their business, education and consumer needs. This shows the responsibility of him to gather the information about the world’s news instead of only giving the wisdom to his employees to decide everything as the result of him knowing nothing about the world market.

Moreover, the last role of becoming the manager or a leader is decisional role which describes his responsibility to process the tremendous amount of information and reach the conclusions. This role has the relation with the conceptual skill of a leader. It is about the ability to process the information because as the leader, Gates needs to make a decision about the matter within internal or external environment as long as it is related to his organization, profit, and the competition in the market. It is important for him to decide everything as he needs to think the risks, benefit and the individuals that can be influenced in each of his decision. At the same time, Bill Gates is a man with vision. For example, it was his vision that inspired him to pursue the creation of Microsoft software. His ability to see the vision and share with the others make it easy for others to follow him. This may also describes him as the leader that can be accounted for his decision as he recognized the potential for growth and opportunity easily. Bill Gates is one who continues to look forward, unfazed by any barriers or missteps along the way. For other example, he did have to contend with anti-trust litigation claiming that Microsoft was a monopoly. In 2011, after a 21-year battle in the court system, the case was finally put to rest after numerous threats to break the company up. Throughout the battle, Gates continued to pursue the strategy that he had laid out and stayed the course, preferring to focus on the future rather than be distracted by present challenges. This shows the decisional role of him for being head up to face the problem bravely.

Next, Bill Gates also has the human skill which is the ability to work with others. For example, Gates was an executive who met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers. On their first meeting, the managers described him for being verbally combative. He also berated managers for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk. This shows that he is very straightforward person. But, his employees are able to adapt to his leadership style as he can guide his employees very well. But, he is the one who can be an admirable leader as he has taken charge to help others by guiding them in the right direction, imparting knowledge, and experience, or even providing the necessary resources that will improve the lives or careers of others. Gates has always taken a selfless approach to his leadership, spending considerable money and time in philanthropic efforts to give to others. In return, as a leader, he receives happiness by knowing he is providing benefits that can create the leaders of the future who will then shape the planet for those generations to come. This shows the ability of him to influence his employees as the result of working together with them.

Lastly, as the chief software architect, this shows the management skills that he has not only as the leader but also the technical skills that also important to live a life as a leader. Gates was an active software developer, particularly in the company's programming language products, but his basic role in most of the company's history was primarily as a manager and executive. It is important for the leader to have this skill because Gates is the one who established the Microsoft Corporation. So he needs to know the basis of his own organization as his employees may ask his guidance about something in their field and if Gates do not know on how to handle that problem, this may cause the problem to explode more.

In conclusion, as the leader Bill Gates leads his organization with the roles as the leader correctly. Every action taken by him shows directly how he can develop something new and guided his employees in the right way. Thus, without the managerial skills and managerial roles, a leader may not be able to lead the organization.

Bibliography

1. Domanska, A. (2018, January 23). Industry Leaders Aspiring Business Leaders Worldwide . Retrieved from 5 Important Lessons Leaders Can Learn from Bill Gates: https://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/5-important-lessons-leaders-can-learn-bill-gates/
2. Hedayati, F. (2014, May 14). Leadership Qualities Of Bill Gates. Retrieved from Center For Work Life Intelligence Outcomes for Success: http://www.centerforworklife.com/leadership-qualities-bill-gates/
3. Rampton, J. (2016, September 9). Retrieved from How Bill Gates Became a Leadership Legend : https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250607

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