billg

I recently read the book buisness@speed of thought by Bill Gates. Very inspiring. Talks about how different industries can benefit from the digitization of information. The gyan is more useful for the chief executives. To me its something that adds more substance to the belief, quoting Bill Gates from yet another book, "Its a great time to be alive."

This yet another book is Bill Gates Speaks by Janet Lowe. Its a compilation of various anecdotes and comments of Bill Gates and his acquantainces, compiled to create a biographical sketch. Here are some excerpts:

Part of his problem was that Gates couldnt decide what he really wanted to do with his life:
"... everything seemed so attractive, and when you had to pick a specific one you had to say no to all the others. Id think, well, if I went to that law firm some partner might not like me, and they might assign me to these crummy cases, and I would think well, God, that could be crummy." - Bill Gates.

As a result, Gates spent a lot of time brooding:
"... sitting in my room being a philosophical depressed guy, trying to figure out what I was doing with my life." - Bill Gates.

Gates doesnt seriously wish he'd taken a different career path:
"I dont waste much time ruing the past. I made my decision, and the way to do it best is once you make it, you just dont waver at all. You dont think, gosh, what a doctor I would have been, what a tennis player, playboy, poker player I couldnt been. Being hardcore and forward looking about what you do is a ncessary element of doing it well". - Bill Gates.

"Dont make the same decision twice. Spend time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you dont revisit the issue unnecessarily. If you are too willing to reopen issues,
it interferes not only with your execution but also with your motivation to make a decision in the first place. After all, why bother deciding an issue if it isnt really decided?" - Bill Gates.

"If Microsoft were a car, it would have a large gas pedal and small but workable brake. It would not have a rear view mirror". - Mike Murray, Microsoft Vice President of HR

Bad news, says Gates, can be acted upon.
"We never waste a lot of time talking about what we are doing well. It just isnt our culture. Every meeting is about 'Sure, we won in seven of the categories, but what about that eighth category?". - Bill Gates.

"It doesnt matter if we bang our head and fail. We keep right on banging and banging and banging and banging and banging".
- Steve Ballmer.

"We tell people that if no one laughs at at least one of their ideas, they are probably not being creative enough." - Bill Gates.

"But we can afford to make a few mistakes now, and we cant afford to not to try. Because of the scope of opportunity, and with shareholders' expecatations for us to keep sales and profits growing, everything's about big horizons at Microsoft now. But, hey, we can tackle big horizons. We're expected to tackle big horizons. We love big horizons." - Bill Gates.

From the book: Bill Gates Speaks:
Gates is as frugal with time as he is with money. From when he first started Microsoft, Gates was always in a hurry. If his airplane left at 10 am, he would leave the office at 9:50, racing to the airport and dashing onto the plane just as the door closed. He still hates wasting time.

"For example, when I go to a meeting, I keep specific objectives in mind. There isnt much small talk, especially if I am with colleagues I know well. We discuss accounts we lost or where overhead is too high, and then we are done. Bang! There are always more challenges than there are hours, so why be wasteful?" - Bill Gates.

"Because there arent enough hours in the day, its tempting to try to do two things at once. Right now I'm perfecting reading a newspaper and riding an excercise bike at the same time - a very practical form of multitasking". - Bill Gates.