Bill Gates speaks is a book from Janet Lowe. It’s a collection of thoughts, ideas and moments from the Microsoft founder.

The book is a bit old. The first edition was published in 1998 and the one I have is from 2005. Therefore, it doesn’t include what I’m most interested in about him, which is his philanthropy.

Nonetheless, Bill Gates is one of the most prolific business man in the history of this planet. Not only he has amassed one of the biggest fortunes ever; but also his company has revolutionized technology and changed the world, whether you like it or not. So, there’s probably a lot to learn from him.

Here are the notes I took while reading the book. They are not in any particular order or connected in any particular way. This isn’t supposed to be a summary, review or essay. It may even have some key information or examples missing. They are just thoughts and direct quotes that caught my attention and I felt like marking or writing down to try to retain them in my memory. 

People.

Companies’ success is truly about the few highly talented people that are part of the team. As Gates said, in that regard, Microsoft follows the Pareto Principle: 80% of  its success is thanks to 20% of the people.

It seems obvious, but besides looking to work with highly intelligent people that can come up with great ideas, you should be teaming up with people that are open and eager to learn new things all the time.

Management style.

Microsoft follows a philosophy very similar to a famous quote by Peter Drucker: the best way to have access to strategic technology is to create it yourself.

It’s not surprise that Microsoft’s management style is kind of “darwinian”. The ability to adapt to change and react quickly is paramount to survive in the organization and even prosper. There are reports that state that they fire 5% of their worst performers in order to have on their team only the best of the best. As a results, employees know that their coworkers are as good as them and willing to put in the effort (or changes are made otherwise).

At the core of every important decision, there’s conflict. Microsoft is a company that is constantly at war, both with outside organizations and within itself. This is because Bill Gates built a culture where “yes-people” were not welcomed. Challenging ideas or decisions is expected, even the ones he makes. One of Gates’ qualities that his coworkers admire is his ability to accept his mistakes and his willingness to learn better methodologies or technologies if they are brought to his attention.

Business model.

You have to make sure that you are the one who replaces your product, instead of letting others do so. As a matter of fact, Microsoft invests billions of dollars in research and development, because they know the products they sell will become obsolete every couple of years.

According to Gates, these are the keys to manage product development:

• Hire smart people.
• If you want to create creative products, foster a creative environment.
• Work with small teams.
• Give people time to think.
• Don’t make a decision twice. Take the time you need (but not too long) to nail it on your first try.
• Establish a quick feedback-loop, specially if you are working with clients.
• Learn from your mistakes.

Another maxim at Microsoft is to always be aware of your competition or who might take a shot at theme. Therefore is imperative to always be thinking about what could missing in themselves that could take them to the top.

What others think about him.

Bill Gates is a revolutionary, but many think that he can’t be considered that because the ideas he popularized were not his own. However, as Bob Lewis wrote, Gates spent his career recognizing good ideas, transforming them into products and selling them with great success. Most revolutionary people have similar stories. They usually aren’t theorists, pioneers or investors. Those are other people. Important people, but not revolutionaries. Revolutionaries are the ones that change the world putting those ideas into practice.

The technology gap and its effect on society.

It’s obvious to everyone that younger generations are more adept to technology in general and in particular Internet. We grew up with it, or, in the cases of even younger people, were born with it. However, older generations, regardless of their education level, struggle a bit more and are not as exposed to  it. And with all the benefits and opportunities that technology and internet bring ti the table, it also comes with some drawbacks. It can create different perceptions of the world between different generations, and even parts of society, which causes confusion, dissent and widens the “gap” between people.

Final thoughts.

What matter is the future, so you shouldn’t look back so often to the past. Only to learn from mistakes, but not to dwell on decisions or shortcomings.