I’ve suspected for a long time that Bill Gates would one day step away from Microsoft and devote more time to his charity work. But the announcement today that he would end his day-to-day working with Microsoft came as a surprise nonetheless.
I met Mr. Gates a couple times in the context of group situations at Microsoft. The first time was when I was an intern in 1992. We went to his house on Lake Washington in the Sandpoint neighborhood. It was nothing like his new house in Medina. The company was still pretty young and it was an honor to have him address our small group of 50 interns or so. He seemed to very much enjoy talking with us at the beginning of our careers. A few years later, I went back to Microsoft full time. It was 1995 and Windows was taking off like a rocket. This time, the setting was at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Seattle. I was there with about a hundred or so other new full-time hires. The reaction was much different. Mr. Gates had just released his book The Road Ahead. People wanted him to sign copies of the book and treated him like a celebrity. I found the reaction odd. From his demeanor, I think he did as well. He had become a larger than life figure even to the people working for his company. Maybe this happens for all the other “celebrity” CEO’s.
I never worked on anything that was directly influenced by Mr. Gates. He provided the company overall direction but the truth is that Microsoft was and is an incredibly complex network of factions. There is no way that any one person can control everything at any degree of depth. I always found it amusing when people would criticize Mr. Gates for something in a product when he had zero direct involvement in it. People understand the role of CEO’s in non-tech industries much better. They don’t seem to realize that a software CEO is like any other CEO in that he has nothing to do with day-to-day details of the product. He is however known for picking up on what people were doing incredibly fast and asking the toughest, hardest questions. Presenting to Bill is a rite of passage that puts you into a special group at Microsoft.
I hope that Microsoft views the change as a crossroads. It is a chance to form a new identity and to go in new directions. Mr. Gates alluded to the fact that his public persona far outweighed his real role in the company. I think that being formally detached from the company will allow business to be conducted differently. Under Mr. Gates watch, the company was extraordinarily successful. Many including myself feel that success has come unfairly at the expense of competitors. I think that Gates and Microsoft have the played the game better than anyone else. It is indeed unfair but the problem is in the nature of the business climate. If you create an environment where it is kill or be killed, the best at it will rise to the top. I’d like to think that the climate has changed and this is why Microsoft has found it more challenging recently. Unfortunately, it is probably an illusion. I find myself agreeing with much of what Ray Ozzie has said since he joined Microsoft. He is an outsider than can take the company places Gates could not. His personality and impact will never be like Gates but that could be the right person for the company now.
No matter what you think of Microsoft, there is no denying that Bill Gates has impacted his industry like few have before him. Whether the impact is good or bad is open for debate. Regardless, his philanthropic work may prove to leave a far greater legacy. Mr. Gates is positioned to do any number of incredible things. His passions for technology in education and relief in Africa are very real. I hope that his new work is of clear benefit to all.
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