Executive Summary

William Henry Gates III, more popularly known as Bill Gates, revolutionized personal computing. He is one of the most instrumental businessmen of our time with an exceptional knowledge of product development and corporate strategy. Many models of leadership draw on the close affiliation between leadership qualities and personality traits of leaders. One such model is the Big Five Model of Personality, which through probabilistic correlations, aims to identify five major dimensions of personality traits. This model will be discussed in light of Bill Gates’ personality and how he scores on those five major dimensions.

Gates’ role as a transformational and charismatic leader will also be discussed and supporting evidence will be given in the form of direct quotes from the industry giant himself. His role as a participative leader will be explained and how he was of the belief that communication needed to flow both ways at Microsoft. Gates was of the belief that only such a form of leadership would open avenues of communication regarding innovation and creativeness in the global computing industry.

1.0    Introduction:

This report has been put together with the purpose of exploring the leadership styles of Bill Gates, the individual who single-handedly revolutionized personal computing. The report will explore topics related to leadership skills and leadership styles as studied during coursework. The leadership styles of Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft are integral to the study of leadership because it can be justly said that his strong leadership styles contributed to the monumental success which is Microsoft. The success of the fairly young organization is so paramount that it suffered its first loss as a public company in nearly 26 years. This report will explore the personality traits which contributed to the billionaire’s continued success at Microsoft. The role of Bill Gates as a transformational and participative leader will also be discussed in greater detail.

2.0 Background:

William Henry Gates III, more popularly known as Bill Gates, revolutionized personal computing. He is one of the most instrumental businessmen of our time with an exceptional knowledge of product development and corporate strategy. Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1995 in Seattle, Washington and began computer programming at the tender age of 13 (Bill Gates Biography 2015). His first program was a tic-tac-toe program in BASIC language in which the player could play against the computer (Bill Gates Biography 2015). Bill Gates went to Lakeside School, a preparatory school in Washington and befriended Paul Allen, a friend who was soon going to become the co-founder of Microsoft (Bill Gates Biography 2015). Despite his earnest appeal to begin a company at the age of 15, Gates’ parents insisted he enroll in Harvard University and study to become a lawyer. Bill Gates, however, was passionate about computing and dropped out in 1973 after only completing 2 years towards his degree (Bill Gates Biography 2015). In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed a partnership with the moniker, Micro-soft. The pair later dropped the hyphen and changed the name to Microsoft (Bill Gates Biography 2015).

Bill Gates has known to be an aggressive competitor and this has allowed him to remain ahead of intense competition in a fast paced and innovative industry. Bill Gates engineered the success of Microsoft in its formative years. In the span of three years, 1978-1981, the staff at Microsoft went from 25 employees to 128 employees (Bill Gates Biography 2015). The company’s revenue sky rocketed from $4 million to $16 million. At the time, Gates was serving as the President and Chairman of the company (Bill Gates Biography 2015). In 1983, the company went global and nearly a third of global personal computers were running on Microsoft (Bill Gates Biography 2015).

After marrying, Melinda French in 1994, the power couple pooled resources and combined several family foundations to form the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill Gates Biography 2015). Gates recognized the need to focus on his philanthropic efforts and thus stepped down from the day-to-day operations of Microsoft in 2000. In February 2014, Bill Gates also stepped down as Chairman of Microsoft and continued to work with the organization in the capacity of a technology adviser (Bill Gates Biography 2015).

3.0 Big Five Model of Personality

Many models of leadership draw on the close affiliation between leadership and personality traits of leaders. One such model is the Big Five Model of Personality, which through probabilistic correlations, aims to identify five major dimensions of personality traits (Srivastava 2015). These traits are: Surgency, Agreeableness, Adjustment, Conscientiousness and Openness. It is important to understand that these are broad categories of traits and therefore include more specific traits. For example, Surgency is known to include: dominance, extraversion and energy. Agreeableness is composed of sociability and emotional intelligence. Adjustment includes emotional stability/narcissism and self-confidence. Conscientiousness is made up of dependability and integrity. Finally, openness is composed of flexibility, intelligence and locus of control (Srivastava 2015). The Big Five Model of Personality essentially maps which traits go together when describing an individual’s personality (Srivastava 2015). Here, we will study the Big Five Personality Traits as they relate to Bill Gates.

3.1 High Surgency

Throughout his career, whether it is in the computing industry or in philanthropy, Bill Gates has always scored high on Surgency. Gates exudes dominance by the sheer knowledge and expertise that he possesses, especially in computer programming and related technical fields as well as his business acumen. Gates wrote his first computer program at the age of 13 and just knowing that he is a genius leads us to portray him as a dominant personality. Gates has also been very energetic and passionate about his profession and field of choice from the very beginning. At Lakeside School, Bill Gates was known to feverishly code into the late hours, take a quick nap beneath the desk and then return to writing computer programming code (Young p. 249 1998). Another incident cites a new secretary who came into work on a Monday to find Gates sprawled on the floor beneath his desk. The secretary was then made to understand that Gates had been up all weekend coding and was taking a quick nap to reboot (Rosoff 2011). On the other hand, however, it is interesting to see that Bill Gates is introverted and unlike extroverts, ‘typically recharges through solitude’ (Schocker 2013). Susan Cain describes one of the richest men on Earth as “…quiet and bookish, but apparently unfazed by others’ opinions of him: he’s an introvert but not shy” (Schocker 2013).

3.2 Moderate Agreeableness

We all know that Bill Gates is a highly competitive and driven individual and that quality alone can attribute to his paramount success. However, it is also important to note that with this competitive streak came a management and leadership style that did not make him agreeable to many around him. Especially those who tried to present new ideas to him regarding their organization. Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft revealed in a recent interview for 60 Minutes that “Some days working for [Bill Gates] is like being in hell” (IBTimes Staff Reporter 2011). Allen continued on, saying that Bill Gates was notorious for making personal attacks on employees when they came in with ideas. However, he goes on to defend this attitude by saying that “Gates was fair – he wanted to arrive at the best decision, and if you convinced him you knew what you were talking about, Gates would eventually back down” (Rosoff 2011).

However, former employees at Microsoft also admit that they were allowed to work in a creative and freeing environment allowing them to be more productive as opposed to if they were to work in a strictly corporate atmosphere. Davenport (2008) writes, “Gates earned the appreciation of his employees by leading an office as casual as a college campus and encouraging free thinking, which allowed him some leeway to exercise tough love when necessary”.

Interestingly, a YouGov survey in 2015 which polled individuals across 34 countries identified Bill Gates as the most admired man around the world (Stanger 2015). Therefore, we can agree that Gates scored moderately agreeable on this scale of the Big Five Personality Traits.

3.3 High Adjustment

The Adjustment scale on the Big Five Personality Traits accounts for emotional stability/narcissism and self-confidence. Bill Gates is widely known for possessing an extremely assured self-confidence, a personality trait which allowed him to succeed even at the age of 13. Even at the start of his career, Gates was known to have a very pointed and straight vision of where he wanted to be and how he could get there. He understood his passion for computing and programming and made momentous decisions with that single vision in mind. For example, he dropped out of Harvard after only completing two years because he believed that his knowledge would be better utilized on computer programming instead of studying to become a lawyer. This enviable self-assuredness of Gates stems from a self –confidence that he was able to and willing to do whatever to achieve his goal. For example, when IBM first asked Bill Gates to design an operating system for its first personal computer, Gates readily agreed despite the fact that he didn’t have “the experience nor the resources to put one together”. However, his self-confidence, which some might refer to narcissism did not disappoint and in a few weeks the computing world was introduced to MS-DOS ( Davenport 2008).

Many researchers agree that Bill Gates was a narcissistic leader, and contribute this personality trait for his incredible success in the computing world. Michael Maccoby, a Leadership expert realizes that successful leaders need to possess a certain level of narcissism in order to succeed (Riggio 2012). He dubs these leaders as “productive narcissists” and reveals that “it takes a healthy dose of narcissism for leaders of nations or huge corporations to have great visions and achieve them” (Riggio 2012).

3.4 Moderate Conscientiousness

The conscientiousness attribute primarily relates to responsibility and dependability. It also includes traits related to achievement. Individuals who score high on the conscientiousness scale are willing to put in extra hours and work diligently to achieve their goals. We have ample evidence of the long hours that Bill Gates would put into developing and writing computer code to the extent that he would go days without sleeping. He was driven and felt that it was his responsibility to take the organization forward and to keep it ahead of competition at every turn. Although we are given to understand that Bill Gates was highly dependable on Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, other reports suggest that the relationship was not on equal footing. In his memoir, Idea Man, Paul Allen recounts that “From the time we started in Massachusetts, I’d assumed that our partnership would be a 50-50 proposition…But Bill had another idea” (Helft 2011). Allen recounts that he was forced to give up stakes in the company until he and Gates had 36% and 64% respectively (Helft 2011). We must, however also note that these accounts were discredited by individuals at Microsoft who knew both gentlemen and asserted that they had an amiable relationship throughout their career as partners together (Helft 2011).

Moreover, Bill Gates recognizes the importance of forming partnerships and remarked, “I’d have to say my best business decisions have had to do with picking people. Deciding to go into business with Paul Allen is probably at the top of the list…” (Australian Business Solutions 2012).

3.5 High Openness

The openness trait is closely related with flexibility, intelligence and locus of control. Openness influences people’s ability to acquire new skills relatively quickly (Florida 2012). We know that Bill Gates was an extremely intelligent and gifted individual even from a young age. At the age of 13, he wrote a program for the game, tic-tac-toe in BASIC language (Bill Gates Biography 2015). Apart from programming skills, Gates had good knowledge of product development and corporate strategy, two factors which led to his continued success from the minute Microsoft was conceived (Bill Gates Biography 2015). Moreover, Bill Gates was always open to new ideas and new people as long as he was convinced that the ideas brought to him were foolproof. Gates continued to innovate and it can be argued that his incessant desire to innovate and develop new products came as a direct result of wanting to outrun competition. Bill Gates had an internal locus of control, a trait which allowed him to take control and responsibility of his failures and thus learn from his mistakes (Buffet & Clark 2010). However, it is important to note that Gates had an authoritarian sense of control in that he even signed off expenses of Steve Ballmer, who was in fact second in command (Gilliard 2014).

 

4.0 Transformational and Charismatic Leadership

Bill Gates, an American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer and inventor, is the epitome of a transformational leader. In essence, transformational leaders have the natural or acquired ability to gain the trust of followers and thus establish oneself as a role model and undisputed leader of the group (Eagly et al. 2003). Eagly et al. (2003) write that transformational leaders are often “skeptical of the status quo, they innovate, even when the organization that they lead is generally successful”.

Bill Gates has been an exceptional transformational leader whether it has been at the helm of Microsoft as a programmer and businessman or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a philanthropist. For example, as regards to eradicating diseases with high global incidence, Bill Gates writes, “The world is better than it has ever been. But it still is not as good as we wish” (Gates 2013). Bill Gates has a constant desire to innovate and is always assuredly working towards something which is beyond the forseeable horizon. In regards to continual learning and innovation, Gates once exclaimed, “I think the idea that innovation is slowing down is the one of the stupidest things anybody has ever said. Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace (Friedman 2014).

Moreover, we are given to understand that adaptability is one of the primary traits of transformational leaders. Such individuals are constantly seeking to respond to changing external environments and they clearly understand that if they sit still, competition will pass them by (Hogg 2012). Another important trait possessed by transformational leaders is visionary. Effective leaders in this case do not only encourage others to work towards a shared vision but are also able to “work toward that vision by communicating with passion and clearly emphasizing the direction they want the company to pursue” (Hogg 2012).

One of Gates’ more famous quotes regarding transformational leadership and bringing everyone on board, reads as follows. “As we look ahead on the next century, leaders will be those who empower others”

Gates’ vision can be summed up by an impressive statement he made during the formative years of Microsoft. Gates clearly stated, “a computer on every desk, and in every home, running Microsoft software”. Some researchers say that the statement was trimmed so as to not include ‘running Microsoft software’ because it indicated heightened aggressiveness at competitors’ products.

While some researchers argue that transformational leadership and charismatic leadership can go hand in hand, still others believe that transformational leadership encompasses traits and qualities which are significantly broader than charismatic leadership. However, research does show that individuals who score high for transformational leadership, also do so for charismatic leadership. Bill Gates, through his career at Microsoft was able to carry out both leadership styles, albeit at different periods during the organization’s life. For example, at the outset, Bill Gates was a visionary leader with a certain charisma to get people excited and on board to one of the most successful organizations ever. However, as time passed and the organization grew rapidly, Gates had to shift gears and become a transformational leader to drive forward the vision that was Microsoft and foster continual innovation (Guo et al. 2008).

Meryl Davids, a research was envisaged the success of Microsoft and attributed it to Bill Gates’ leadership style. “…the wonderful innovations that have come out of Microsoft since its inception have everything to do with Bill Gates’ leadership style, which encourages suggestions from all ranks and debate of all ideas” (Guo et al 2008).

4.1 Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire – Form 5X (MLQ-5X)

The MLQ-5X or Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire is the most widely used measure of transformational and transactional leadership (Eagly et al. 2003). The instrument measures transformational leadership by five subscales, transactional leadership by three subscales, and laissez faire leadership by one scale. Each of the nine resulting measures are then represented by four items each (Eagly et al. 2003). The measures for transformational leadership are as follows:

4.1.1 Idealized Influence (attribute and behavior)

Bill Gates has always demanded respect from those around him whether they be friends, employees, or executives at competing firms. It can be argued that competitors were forced to respect him just by the sheer acumen and skill that he possessed in the field even though he was an excruciatingly aggressive competitor. The late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and Gates were childhood friends, a relationship with morphed into an arch-rivalry as the two geniuses fought to gain recognition and acceptance in global markets. However, Gates admits to using Jobs’ help in some areas of the business and remarked, “But we always retained a certain respect and communication” (Dickey 2013). And although employees may have had to face a difficult time, especially when introducing new ideas to him, they had utmost respect for him. Even today, years after Bill Gates left Microsoft, people around the world are in awe of him and his ability to steer an organization that has always been successful, since the time it was conceived.

Throughout his career at Microsoft, Bill Gates was always trying to stay ahead of the competition and he expected his employees to have the same drive and dedication to the company (Bill Gates Biography 2015).

4.1.2 Inspirational motivation

Transformational leadership can also be described as “the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower” (Northouse 2013). In a memo to employees written in 1998, Bill Gates’ closing remarks are as follows:

“The future makes me very excited about my job and working with all of the Microsoft team to continue to surprise the world with our achievements. We can all be incredibly proud of what we’ve built so far. But the future opportunities will far surpass everything we’ve achieved to date. I’m more enthusiastic about and committed to Microsoft than I’ve ever been.” (Gates 1998)

Reading the above quote, no doubt inspires the reader to do more for the organization as it continues to mark unprecedented success in its niche industry.

Gates also insisted that feedback, whether positive or negative is a great source of motivation for individuals. He is known to have said, “We all need people who give us feedback. That’s how we improve”

4.1.3 Intellectual Simulation

It has been chronicled that Bill Gates enjoyed the intellectual simulation that he received when interacting with others. He was otherwise an introvert and used social settings primarily for the intellectual simulation that they provided (Bank 2001). This may be one of the reasons, Gates would relentlessly grill employees when they would present him with new ideas so as to determine the thought process behind the idea and gain insight into new and upcoming trade and market information.

Moreover, Bill Gates had a remarkable vision and in more than one instance he was able to predict what users needed before they could even explicitly express that need. For example, at the time of his retirement from Microsoft in 2008, Bill Gates prophesized that “Tablet PCs, Internet TV, and natural user interface would be thriving in the future”(Scheidies 2015).

4.1.4 Individualized Consideration

Individualized consideration is a trait which measures how a transformational leader focuses on the development of followers and their personal, individual needs. Fortune magazine once remarked that “Microsoft has been led by a man widely recognized as a genius in his own right, who has had the foresight to recognize the genius in others” (Australian Business Solutions 2012). It is a remarkable quality for a man who has constantly appeared on Forbes’ list of most wealthy individuals around the world, to admit and effectively recognize individuals that have potential. As such, Gates’ realizes that hiring the best people is the only way forward to further advancement and innovation of the Microsoft organization (Australian Business Solutions 2012).

Moreover, Bill Gates realized the need to provide employees with an organizational culture that would fuel productivity and foster innovation. The sprawling offices and casual college campus atmosphere in its Redmond, Washington is a direct testament to just that (Australian Business Solutions 2012).

5.0 Participative leadership

Although many incidents would indicate that Bill Gates was an authoritarian leader, there is still more evidence to indicate that he was indeed a participative leader who encouraged input from employees. This style of leadership “involves engendering ownership amongst the follower group so that they feel jointly responsible for the direction taken and its achievement” (Team Technology 2015). Gates was constantly trying to foster creativity among his employees and sources indicate that he was always quick to reward innovation within the company. One of the prime examples of participative leadership from Gates’ time at Microsoft comes in the form of ‘ThinkWeek’. What started as a personal retreat for the multi-billionaire to explore and study innovation outside of Microsoft, turned into a process during which executives at the company critically analyzed and discussed papers written by the firm’s employees (Microsoft Research 2015). Authors who contribute to ThinkWeek are often “asked to share their ideas and perspectives within the company, creating a meaningful dialogue that is frequently the catalyst for change and collaboration between product, sales, and research teams” (Microsoft Research 2015). Gates encourages ThinkWeek in hopes that it will continue to foster innovation through unstructured dialogue and shared perceptions of ideas across all levels of the organizations.

Gates, himself emphasizes the need to listen to employees to better understand the dynamics of the growing organization and its micro and macro environment. He states, “Sometimes, I think my most important job as CEO is to listen for bad news. If you don’t act on it, your people will eventually stop bringing bad news to your attention and that is the beginning of the end” (MyTopBusinessideas.com 2013). Therefore, Bill Gates openly encourages participative dialogue within the organization and creates an environment conducive to discussion, whether it is good or bad.

Conclusion

Bill Gates has proven to be a remarkable leader and has been idealized by millions around the world. While some attribute Gates’ monumental success at Microsoft to pure luck, it is easy to understand that Gates worked tirelessly to bring the organization to the forefront of software development in an industry which is highly dynamic. Through the course of his highly successful career at Microsoft, Gates was conscious of imparting leadership styles which were appropriate to the time and situation of the organization as it related to its internal and external environment. He began Microsoft as a charismatic leader, a leadership style that was quintessential as he tried to get members on board and show them of a vision of an organization that wasn’t very tangible at the moment. As the industry developed and the organization grew, Gates had to adopt a transformational leadership style in which he could carry his employees and those around him to a shared vision of the organization. He understood the importance of participative leadership as he tried to fuel creativity and innovation at Microsoft and was conscious of the fact that all ideas could not be generated at the top. He needed the support and input from employees to constantly outpace competition and remain a market leader in the computer software industry.

Bill Gates continues to carry his leadership styles forward as he and his wife Melinda Gates, run a colossal philanthropic effort under the banner of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. No doubt, Gates will have adopted suitable leadership styles to create another roaring success.

List of References

Australian Business Solutions 2012, Business the Bill Gates Way: Secrets from the World’s Richest Business Leader. Available from: < http://absmagazine.com.au/2012/04/03/business-the-bill-gates-way-secrets-from-the-worlds-richest-business-leader/ >. [September 12, 2015].

Bank, D 2001, Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumbled the Future of Microsoft. Simon and Schuster 2001.

Bio., Bill Gates Biography, Available from: < http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520 >. [Accessed September 13, 2015].

Buffet, M & Clark, D 2010, Warren Buffet’s Management Secrets: Proven Tools for Personal and Business Success, Simon and Schuster, 2010.

Davenport, H 2008, How to be the Next Bill Gates, Forbes, Available from: http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/23/gates-microsoft-career-oped-gates08-cx_hd_0623howto.html . [September 15, 2015].

Dickey, MR 2013, Bill Gates gets Emotional Talking About His Latest Visit with Steve Jobs. Available from: < http://www.businessinsider.com.au/bill-gates-on-steve-jobs-2013-5 >. [September 16, 2015].

Eagly, M, Johannesen-Schmidt, MC & van Engen, ML 2003, ‘Transformational, Transactional and Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles: A Meta-Analysis Comparing Men and Women’, Psychological Bulletin, vol. 129, no. 4, pp. 569-591.

Florida, R 2012, The Psychology Behind Why Creative People Cluster. Available from: < http://www.citylab.com/housing/2012/07/psychology-behind-why-creative-people-cluster/2243/ > [September 16, 2015].

Gates, B 1998, Bill Gates’ Memo to Employees. Available from: < https://news.microsoft.com/1998/07/21/bill-gates-memo-to-employees/ >. [September 16, 2015].

Gates, B 2013, Bill Gates: Here’s My Plan To Improve Our World – And How You Can Help. Available from: <http://www.wired.com/2013/11/bill-gates-wired-essay/>. [September 14, 2015].

Gilliard, M 2014, Bill Gates Leadership Style, Available from: < http://leadership-and-development.com/bill-gates-leadership-style/ >. [September 12, 2015].

Guo, C,  Ruane, SG, Galli-Debicella, A,Nguyen, PA, and  Manz CC 2008, ‘Dynamic Leadership: Toolbox for the Values-Based Entrepreneur’, The Journal of Values Based Leadership, vol. 1, issue 2.

Helft, M 2011, Paul Allen Writes Off Plots and Slights at Microsoft. Available from: < http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/technology/31soft.html?_r=0 >. [September 15, 2015].

Hogg, B 2012, 10 Characteristics of Transformational Leaders. Available from: < http://www.billhogg.ca/2012/03/10-characteristics-of-transformational-leaders/ >. [September 16, 2015].

IBTimes Staff Reporter, 2011, Paul Allen: Working With Bill Gates Was Like Being in Hell. Available from: < http://www.ibtimes.com/paul-allen-working-bill-gates-was-being-hell-280441>. [September 15, 2015].

Microsoft Research 2015, About ThinkWeek. Available from: < http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/thinkweek/about.aspx >. [September 16, 2015].

MyTopBusinessideas.com 2013, How to Motivate Your Employees. Available from: < http://www.mytopbusinessideas.com/motivate-your-employees/ >. [September 16, 2015].

Northouse, P.G. 2013, Leadership: theory and practice (6^th edition). Los Angeles: Sage Publications, Inc.

Riggio, RE 2012, Are All Leaders Narcissists? Available from: < https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201212/are-all-leaders-narcissists >. [September 15, 2015].

Rosoff, M 2011, 10 Crazy Stories about Bill Gates from Paul Allen’s New Book, Available from: < http://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-bill-gates-2011-4?op=1 >. [Accessed September 11, 2015].

Rosoff, M 2011, Paul Allen Trashes Bill Gates Again, Says Early Days of Microsoft Were Like “Hell”. Available from: http://www.businessinsider.com/working-with-bill-gates-was-sometimes-like-being-in-hell-2011-4 >. [September 15, 2015].

Scheidies, N 2015,  Top 10 Business Lessons from Bill Gates. Available from: < http://www.incomediary.com/top-10-business-lessons-from-bill-gates >. [September 16, 2015].

Schocker, L 2013, 16 Super Successful Introverts, Available from: < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/08/15/famous-introverts_n_3733400.html >. [Accessed September 15, 2015].

Srivastava, S. 2015.  Measuring the Big Five Personality Factors. Available from: < http://psdlab.uoregon.edu/bigfive.html >. [Accessed September 15, 2015].

Stanger, M 2015, The most admired people in the world. Available from: < http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-admired-people-in-the-world-2015-2 >. [September 12, 2015].

Team Technology 2015, Participative leadership. Available from: < http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/leadership/styles/participative/ >. [September 16, 2015].

Young, JS 1998. Forbes Greatest Technology Stories: Inspiring tales of the Entrepreneurs and Inventors who Revolutionized Modern Business. John Wiley and Sons 1998.