07-03-2002, 07:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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All You Need Is Love, $50 Billion, and Killer Software
http://www.fortune.com/indext.jhtml?channel=print_article.jhtml&doc_id=208505
Love him or hate him, Bill Gates is a man who has accomplished a great many things in his life. This article paints the picture of the post-CEO Bill Gates, and he seems to have found the groove he was looking for. Despite some of the questionable things Microsoft has done under Bill's leadership, I really admire the man. And I truly hope they make Longhorn a "breakaway" product that radically changes the way our computers operate. But back to Bill...
"The old Bill, the one we all know, thought he could do it all--and pretty much did. He built the most profitable tech company in history, almost single-handedly transforming the rarefied, clubby computer industry into a mass-market enterprise. He plotted what may prove a successful legal strategy to thwart federal trust-busters. Along the way, he wrote two bestselling books, developed into a mean bridge player and passable golfer, got married and fathered two children (with a third in the offing), took singing lessons, and after an intensive and exhaustive study of global health issues, founded and funded the world's richest charitable foundation. Let's see--are we forgetting anything? Oh, right. In 27 years he claims he has never called in sick or missed work. Not even once.
The new Bill, the one we met when we spent a dozen hours tagging along at meetings and speeches and hanging around his office, is a man who is noticeably older, weirdly wiser, and maybe even a little humble. This new Bill is ... well, let him speak for himself, as he did in his office one day in June: "I've always liked multitasking. But there are incredible limits to what I can do--like how much time there is in a day, and how much I like going home at night and having a lot of things to cogitate on." He stands and begins to pace around his chair, just like the old Bill. "You know, the notion that a kid who thought software was cool can end up creating a company with all these smart people whose software gets out to hundreds of millions of people, well, that's an amazing thing. I've had one of the luckiest situations ever. But I've also learned that only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are." Source: pt
Psst - in a brazen display of copyright violation, I've created an ebook of this article. I think it makes for great reading, and it's long enough to make a decent eBook. Even if you download this eBook, go to the Fortune site at least once to register the fact that you're viewing the article. I wish all new sites would allow the download of their articles in eBook format!
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