Reaching the Pinnacle of Success and Lending a Helping Hand to Society

A leader in corporate and product innovation, Microsoft essentially helped pave the way for computer technology on a global scale.  The founder of the company is the current Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates, who is recognized by many for his ingenious mind and as one of the wealthiest people in the world.  Bill Gates is a Harvard dropout who left college because he wanted to concentrate more of his efforts to his business of Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen.  Bill Gates made this drastic life change, which he obviously benefited from, because he had the vision to see computers as being a valuable asset for future society.  Gates was then able to translate this vision into his company of Microsoft by implementing dynamic organizational behavior and strategy.  This corporate strategy and objectives have obviously has been working as Microsoft reported net revenue of 19.95 billion dollars at the end of the last quarter.  The decision to drop out of college has proven to a success as Gates and Paul Allen established a solid organizational structure for the company’s objectives and behavior.

Microsoft’s mission under the influential leadership of Bill Gates has been to advance and improve software technology by making it easier, more cost-effective and enjoyable for people to use computers.  Over the years Microsoft has been able to achieve many organizational strategies because of the development of innovative products by following the listed organizational objectives which were established by Bill Gates.  Many of the objectives and strategies, along with issues he faced while trying to meet these goals at Microsoft are discussed in his book titled “Business @ the Speed of Thought.”  The company has also differentiated itself since the early days of selling BASIC and MS-DOS computer systems as Microsoft products can be found in several different areas of the technology sector.  Gates decided there would be consumer demand for products outside of computers, so Microsoft then launched its browser Internet Explorer, video game system X-BOX, along with software such as Microsoft Office or Windows Vista.  As Microsoft diversified its product base, Gates then centralized himself at the top of the company and implemented a tall structure organizational structure.  Below him separate departments, such as X-BOX or Windows Vista, work hand in hand with one another in order to meet the customer satisfactions criteria established by Bill Gates.  Microsoft employees are expected to have the general mental ability for the job they are assigned, dress to company code, and interact amongst each other accordingly.  In Microsoft employees are encouraged to openly discuss ideas with managers whom transfer the information up the tall structure chain before thoughts are turned into products.  This system has proven to work as employees feel motivated to openly discuss ideas, because they are typically rewarded extrinsically with stock options and other benefit packages.  Bill Gates has found exponential success for his company by establishing a solid organizational structure, and allowing employees to coordinate ideas amongst one another as guided by his overall company mission.

Bill Gates has found great success to come with vast responsibility as he has up and quit his job as Microsoft CEO to commit to his foundation full-time.  However, he is still a great part of the company as he holds the high ranking title of Chairman and Chief Software Architect, although he has found a greater calling in his foundation.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is geared towards helping all people lead healthy, productive lives with the belief that every life has equal value.  You can read more information about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at:  http://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/Pages/foundation-fact-sheet.aspx.  Billions of dollars have been donated to the foundation from various sources, influential leaders such as Warren Buffet, and Bill Gates.  Bill Gates has even vowed to donate a great majority of his savings to foundations, while leaving some money for his family.  This demonstration of social responsibility only speaks volumes about the company that he has run for over thirty years.  The organizational behavior and corporate social responsibility of Microsoft is only on par with the leader who dropped out of college to create the vision for a company which continues to innovate in a highly competitive field.  In a time which CEO’s seek immense power through corrupt behavior in recent scandals, such as AIG or even Enron, Bills Gates has demonstrated there are still influential and ethical leaders in the business world. 

Are there any other leaders of change that you can think of who have demonstrated influential social responsibility?  Do you believe that Bill Gates may start a trend of leaders being more involved with the well being of society as a whole?
-Zach Seibel