5 Experiential Learnings of Mr. Bill Gates
Well, we all know how big Microsoft is. Just to give a sense of how BIG it is: it’s the 4th most valuable company in the WORLD with a market value of $750+ Billion. Windows, Microsoft’s desktop based OS, runs in more than a billion devices across the globe.
All the credit goes to the perseverance and brilliance of this person — Bill Gates. Bill Gates started Microsoft in 1975 from a garage, which now has subsidiaries across the globe in more than 109 countries. Bill Gates was officially the youngest billionaire when he reached this astounding feat in 1987 at the humble age of 31.
Crazy right? Sounds like that we can definitely learn a thing or two from such a phenomenal personality. Here are the top 5 experiential learnings of the man himself from which we, working professionals and entrepreneurs, can learn about the required qualities and skills to create a path of building our own Microsoft in life:
1. How to motivate people to act (or maybe buy your product / service)
Easier said that done. What usually happens is companies first show the solution and expect people to act. Sounds familiar? Remember the time when you kept selling and selling the idea/product/solution to prospective clients. Remember? Don’t go that way.
Tell people the problems that your solution solves and they will be more driven to act and take up the solution. Have a product? Think whether it solves any problem for people or not. Not just push it to people.
Selling a dog collar to people who don’t have a pet dog at home isn’t the right way.
2. Success could be a lousy teacher (one success doesn’t mean you can’t fail)
We should not get into the thinking that we cannot lose even if we achieve success after success. Such thinking can lead into serious troubles. Certainly, we all should agree with Mr. Gates on this, shouldn’t we?
3. Dream big (and work hard to achieve that dream)
For achieving greater things in life and building something big, the least we need to think is dream big and then act to achieve it.
Bill Gates started Microsoft from a small garage with big dreams. Do you think Mr. Gates would have been able to do this for years to make Microsoft this big and create such a big impact on lives of the people globally, without dreaming about it? No. Right?
Set your vision and path towards your dream. Here’s another saying that complements this quote:
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.
4. Be a good employee (go for skills not school)
Mr. Gates believes more in the skills of an individual than his academic credentials. When it comes to hiring someone for your company, we make credential like premium universities and b-school a criteria for selection — this makes a lot of people with required skills but not the degrees, already disqualified for the job. This, at the end, is a loss for the company.
And to the learners out there, learn from wherever you feel comfortable — smart people can be found by good employers
5. Run for values not money
While creating a company, see if you are creating it because you want to make an impact or create a value in the ecosystem, not just because you want make big bucks. It has been said by Mr.Gates and a lot of other successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders — money has value only till a certain point.
Lets summarize this with the help of a small video:
Hope you guys find these learnings inspiring and useful (because we certainly did).
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Be inspired and achieve your dreams, just like Mr. Gates did! Cheers!
