Bill Gates Follow 1 Simple Rule
Bill Gates Follow 1 Simple Rule. Bill Gates has had plenty to say about achieving success over the years. The co-founder of Microsoft, an avid reader of about 50 books a year returned to his alma mater, Lakeside School, to help celebrate the prep school’s 100th anniversary.
Speaking to high schoolers about what type of mindset is required to build your own success, Gates offered up plenty of great advice, including having an unquenchable desire to learn and a sense of wonder and curiosity about how things work.
Gates said, “For the curious learner, these are the best of times because your ability to constantly refresh your knowledge with either podcasts or [online] lectures is better than ever.”
Success means having to delegate
The top takeaway that I found useful for entrepreneurs juggling intense workloads and schedules came from an early lesson Gates had to learn: delegation.
In the early days of Microsoft, Gates recalled, he was doing what he had been most passionate about since the age of 13–writing software. He would do most of the code and edit most of other people’s code. But he knew his obsession with programming wasn’t sustainable if the company was to scale, so he chose to trust in other people’s coding skills and let go of the rein.
As the company grew, he had to delegate what he knew to be one of his weaknesses since he was a kid to other people’s natural strengths. In this case, it was people management.
Being that it is the job of any leader to navigate the human side of the business, Gates brought in the exuberant Steve Ballmer, who “really liked people and management,” says Gates. Ballmer took the helm as chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014.
