Bill Gates, co-founder and chairman of the world's largest software company, Microsoft Corporation, is also the world's richest man. His personal wealth has been estimated at $50 billion (Rs 225,000 crore). Interestingly, he has been ranked the world's second most influential management guru just behind the legendary Michael Porter, who heads Harvard Business School's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, and just ahead of our very own C K Prahalad. Amazing for a man who does not have a college degree, having dropped out of Harvard to establish Microsoft. Chairman Gates has always interesting things to say and we present some memorable Gatesian observations:
[*]"I wish I wasn't (the world's richest man). There's nothing good that comes out of that. You get more visibility as a result of it."
[*]At a chat show for a television channel in New Delhi in December 2005, he shared the platform with Infosys Chairman N R Narayana Murthy. When the mike was handed over to Murthy to test, he said, "One, two, three..." into it and gave it to the Microsoft czar, who promptly said, "One billion, two billion, three billion..."
[*]"I certainly will never be a politician. For every reason. I wouldn't like it, I wouldn't be elected. I'm better at what I'm doing."
[*]"My success, part of it certainly, is that I have focused in on a few things."
[*]"I like my job because it involves learning. I like being around smart people who are trying to figure out new things. I like the fact that if people really try they can figure out how to invent things that actually have an impact."
[*]"I find golf very relaxing. It's a way to get away from work and get outside. It's a lot of fun, and once you get going it's almost kind of addictive."
Bill Gates is greeted by Infosys Chairman N R Narayana Murthy during a visit to Infosys' software facility in Bangalore. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
[*]"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose."
[*] "If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure."
[*]"Life is not fair; get used to it."
[*]"Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many chances as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself."
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. You will not make $40,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Bill Gates delivers a speech at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, June 28, 2005. He received an honorary science doctorate from the university in recognition of the major contributions he has made to the university.
'When the Internet came along, we had it as 5th or 6th priority'
'When the Internet came along, we had it as 5th or 6th priority'
[*]"Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana."
[*]"In this business, by the time you realise you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running scared all the time, you're gone."
[*] "Competition is always a fantastic thing, and the computer industry is intensely competitive. Whether it's Google or Apple or free software, we've got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes."
[*]Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.
[*]Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
[*]"Sometimes we do get taken by surprise. For example, when the Internet came along, we had it as a fifth or sixth priority."
[*]"As I look forward, I'm very optimistic about the things I see ahead. As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."
Chinese President Hu Jintao jokes with Bill Gates and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (centre) during his visit to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington state, April 18, 2006. Hu first met Gates before he flew east to meet his American counterpart, George W Bush, in Washington, DC. The Chinese leader was given a tour and had dinner at Gates' high-tech home.
[*]"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."
[*]"There will be 'two societies' in the future: high-paid knowledge workers and low-paid service workers."
[*]"There are people who don't like capitalism, and people who don't like PCs. But there's no one who likes the PC who doesn't like Microsoft. People everywhere love Windows."
[*]"Every day we're saying, 'How can we keep this customer happy?' 'How can we get ahead in innovation by doing this, because if we don't, somebody else will.'"
[*]"Kids are taking PCs and the Internet to new heights. They're the ones that are designing the cutting-edge web sites. They're the ones that are pushing forth things like digital music, digital photos, instant messaging; and they will take this tool in directions that we don't even expect."
Bill Gates watches children at their computers in a primary school in Tokyo. He was at the school to teach children 'the dream of science.'
"Like almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it weren't so irritating." "Does the e-mail say it's about 'enlargement' -- that might be spam. Spam will be a thing of the past in two years' time." "Software suppliers are trying to make their software packages more user-friendly... Their best approach, so far, has been to take all the old brochures, and stamp the words user-friendly on the cover." "Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight." Bill Gates shows off his honorary knighthood with his wife Melinda outside Buckingham Palace, London, March 2, 2005. He was presented with the honor by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contributions to improving health and reducing poverty in parts of the Commonwealth and elsewhere in the developing world. Last July he donated his entire annual dividend from Microsoft -- over $3 billion -- to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help fight disease in the Third World. It is the largest charitable donation in history.
[*]"Microsoft is not about greed. It's about innovation and fairness."
[*]"Is the rich world aware of how four billion of the six billion live? If we were aware, we would want to help out, we'd want to get involved."
[*] "As you improve health in a society, population growth goes down. You know, I thought it was... before I learned about it, I thought it was paradoxical."
[*] "AIDS is a disease that is hard to talk about. The ideal thing would be to have a 100 percent effective AIDS vaccine."
[*] "I have drifted away from thinking about these philanthropic things. And it was only as the wealth got large enough and Melinda and I had talked about the view that the wealth wasn't something that would be good to just pass to the children."
[*] "I'm serious when I do my work. I'm not serious when I'm home with my kids."
[*] "If you're asking whether I intentionally mess up my hair, no, I don't. And certain things, like my freckles, they're just there. I don't do anything consciously. I suppose I could get contact lenses. I suppose I could comb my hair more often."
Bill Gates administers an oral polio vaccine to Nikunj Kumar, 5, of New Delhi as Madhu Krishna, programme officer for the Gates Children's Vaccine Programme in India, looks on. Gates then announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was awarding two grants totaling $30 million to benefit children and students in India.
