Business Leader:Microsoft - Essay Example

Introduction: There are few business personalities whose are embodiments of leadership, innovation and tena Bill Gates is one of those personalities. Known around the world as the founder of windows and Microsoft, Gates hails from Seattle, Washington. Gates belonged to a well to do family. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a business manager herself. Gates, however, had the passion of excelling in technology. He was an outstanding student and had the propensity to excel beyond the curricular jurisdictions.

Gates went to the Lakeside school and he later went to the Harvard University. He dropped out of Harvard and wanted to work full time on projects that would go on to change the landscape of the world of technology (Leadership-With-You, 2011). He and his partner Paul Allen, went on to build the World’s largest software business, Microsoft. The development was centered around technological innovation, business strategy and competitive tactics. Gates had the knack of identifying market needs and working beyond the obvious.

Gates’ acumen for business development and innovation placed him at the forefront and as a the company’s voice. His diligence was never compromised and he often personally reviewed and rechecked every line and code. The big breakthrough came when, in 1980, IBM was looking for software that would operate its upcoming personal computer. IBM approached Microsoft, who was led by a very young and impressive Bill Gates. Gates’ brilliance was proved when despite not developing the basic operating system, Gates convinced IBM to formulate a partnership with Microsoft.

His vision and foresight led him to refusing to hand in the source code to IBM and propose licensed copies of MS-DOS instead. This allowed Microsoft to attract other PC manufacturers along with fulfilling the needs of IBM (Life of Excellence, 2008). Organizational Structure: Microsoft has a formal hierarchical structure whereby the Chairman and the CEO are the two incumbents of leading offices. They are followed by business division heads (including Strategies and Policy, platform products and services, Entertainment Devices, etc) and sales and operations heads.

The heads of all of these departments are followed by vice presidents of specific functions who coordinate with the respective business divisions heads. The heads of business divisions report to the chairman and the CEO. It is important to note however, that some employees of the organization come in direct contact with the chairman despite presence of hierarchical stages. This indicates that while Bill Gates believed in delegation of responsibility and division of labor by virtue of core competencies, he also coordinated and worked with people for projects wherever possible.

This organizational structure hence cannot be characterized as bureaucratic; however it is also not an informal organization. Some of the key positions of strategic and functional leadership include Chairman, CEO, Senior VP, Co-Presidents, President of Business Division and Chief Operating Officer (Directions on Microsoft, 2006). Leadership Style: Vision is the core differentiating factor of Bill Gates’ leadership. When he stated that ‘every business and household must have a computer and must run a Microsoft software’ he was derided as delusional and unrealistic.

Today, however, his vision has materialized. These were tough times and skeptics doubted the existential longevity of Microsoft, Gates however never doubted himself or his organization and proved everyone wrong (Biography.com, 2012). Vision must be complemented by passion. Bill Gates eat, drank and slept software. He dropped out of school to pursue his dream of providing software to every computer in the world. His passion for software, coding and technology drove him forward and made him the richest person of the world (Northouse, 2011).

Treating failures as learning lessons was a hallmark of Gates’ leadership. He was never afraid of losing and, despite failures, he continued to innovate and experiment. He states that ‘It is fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure’. Alertness and ability to pounce on to opportunities are important characteristics of successful business leaders. He often took the responsibility of handling opportunities himself; not to deride his employees, but to teach them the art of pouncing on to something that has potential.

He created opportunities for himself and the firm and would often go far beyond what would be deemed necessary to capitalize on opportunities. While taking responsibility is essential, trust is also important for successful business leadership. From the inception of Microsoft, Bill Gates was very open to new ideas. He was not afraid of providing others the opportunity of leading the company and proved this when Steve Balmer was appointed as the CEO of the firm Gates founded. Bill Gates often kept himself updated with the progress of his employees on relevant projects.

His policy of delegation also facilitated this process as he gave responsibility of business division heads and asked for updates frequently. Business division heads were then responsible for finding progress and reporting back (Ward, 2003). Bibliography Biography.com. (2012). Bill Gates. Retrieved from Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520 Directions on Microsoft. (2006). The Microsoft Corporate Organization. Retrieved from http://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/sample/DOMIS/orgchart/sample/orgchart.

html Leadership-With-You. (2011). Bill Gates- Leadership Case Study. Retrieved from Leadership-With-You.com: http://www.leadership-with-you.com/bill-gates-leadership.html Life of Excellence. (2008, 6 27). 7 Key Lessons from Bill gates. Retrieved from Life of Excellence: http://lifeofexcellence.com/lessons-from-billgates Northouse, P. (2011). Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice. SAGE. Ward, A. (2003). The leadership lifecycle: matching leaders to evolving organizations. Palgrave Macmillan.