How do you get the next Bill Gates, or better, without inviting the kind of controversy that his success has spawned?

The issue is not Bill gates but Entrepreneur. Who made hime Bill Gates? The name was given by the parents but the fame by the entrepreneur himself through his contribution to innovation and entrepreneurship as well as to business and society at large.Technical, managerial and strategic contribution is laudable as far as business is cincerned. Yes, younger generation can emulate his example but can one become entrepreneur of his stature by just emulating? The issue is how to fire one's belly towards entrepreneurship? Can it be fired by the family, friends,society or by himself? The answer is obvious the fire has to be genereted from within, the other sources can add fuel to it. We, as educators and builder's of society, have to find a process by which we are able to help the young students in generating fire within themselves. There can not be a magic formula for all as each individual is different. If the faculty gets into one on one mode with the students, perhaps, it can succeed in creating another Bill or even better.

Why can’t governments spend 1% less on defense and use the money to improve living conditions for the poorest of the poor?

True Govts. can spend less on defense but it is possible only if all Govts. do? Unitary action is neither feasible nor politically viable. After all, Govt. is created by the society through an electoral process. Every Govt. has an agenda of poverty removal but at the end of the day all processes for poverty removal is through its machinary which is huge, inefficient and expensive. Surely, Govt. should allocate more resources to poverty removal than to defence expenditure but businesses and individuals who have amassed wealth, too, should come forward for this cause. Businesses worth salt have started putting a fraction of profit in CSR activities and today philanthropic activities are shifting to strategic CSR where it is purely awin win situation as both the business as well as society gains. However, in spending directly or through foundations, Businesses should be careful that they donot get in the business of distributing money to the poor like Govts. but should spend for capacity building of the poor. In this regard, Mother Teresa's words are very meaningfu, "Don't give them fish, give them fishing rod". Whichever method we adopt, absolute poverty, perhaps, can be removed but relative poverty will always remain. Once we elect the Govt. all noises made falls on a deaf ear. Once the Govt. is installed, where should be focus? On Govt., business, wealthy people?

I read somewhere that as a percentage of the GDP, Rockfeller gave more tha Gates to charity. This is an unfair comparison. The real question should be: What percentage of his wealth did Rockfeller give? On this count, Gates stands head and shoulders above all the other titans. In a highly competitive world, where wealth creation is often the only way success is measured, Gates created wealth like no one else. And yet, realizing the ancient aphorism "Dust thou art..." he decided to give it away for worthwhile causes. I would anyday root for Gates, the manner in which he has created wealth, and the manner in which he has decided to make use of that wealth, as opposed to someone who may create wealth without too much controversy but then decides to keep everything to himself.
Regarding the second question, why can't the US take the lead in this? Cutting US defense expenditure by 1% may hardly be noticed but the amount would be staggering and could help many worthy causes. Once the US does this, its allies and others are likely to follow.

Sir,
I would like to respond to the first question.
We may get another Bill Gates but, I am sure that even though that person will be ethical in terms of achieving the goal, there will be some kind of controversy. Because, what appears ethical to one person may be unethical from the perspective of another person. I believe that there is no absolute ethical way. Even Narayan Murthy of Infosys who is considered as ethical in Business dealings was questioned about his (Infosys) greed for the land, when Infosys purchased large chunks of land in some select cities in India. Any Business leader who is ethical in ends as well as means to achieve it will face allegations. So, controversy is eternal and no human being can avoid it.

But, the greatness of Bill Gates lies in donating 85% of his wealth for addressing the problems/threats which endangers the survival of human beings on this earth. Over a period of time as any other human being even Bill Gates will die but he will be remembered by generations to come for his outstanding contribution to the society more that his Business accomplishment.

I am posing two questions to the world’s richest people

Is it possible for you to carry the wealth that you have amassed when you die?

You want to handover the wealth to your children, just because they are born to you accidentally and then they start fighting among themselves for sharing the wealth and in that process they may even curse you for discrimination or not creating enough wealth?

Suresh.B

Bill Gates: Entrepreneur, Manager, and Leader
I think after having billions and giving this away deserves a better header. THE DONOR.
He was all that you state and many are that but to give out needs the greatest of the great heart. Sirs and you missed that header. That I think is an insult to Bill as he departs to give. The past was, the present is, he is a donor.
Skill has nothing to do with donating cash. Entrepreneurships have nothing to do with donations. Leader is politics or the manager who does not give sick leave when the wife is pregnant.
Bill gives the Windows and doors.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla MBA PhD
P.O.Box 6044
Dar-Es-Salaam
Tanzania
East Africa

Sir,
I am interested in the second question.
If the governments of many governments reduce less than 1% on defence and promote anti poverty measures, the world will be a better place to live in.
It is estimated that one child is losing its life in one second in the world.Most of the crimes are due to poverty and related acts.
Your article on BIll Gates is comprehensive and excellent.
You have covered all aspects of this century wonder man.
S.Prabakaran
Princeton

The ideal would be an innovation so we had no need for another Bill Gates...in the future...

However we do need a few rich initially to do tyhe obvious.

..." THE RICH GIFT THE POOR THE MEANS TO ENTER WORLD MARKETS"

The technology now exists,the business people and educators have all they need; It's now a matter of utilising the intellectual capacity of the poor, It just needs the Billpreneurs (they have the resources and money to do it )to formulate an amalgam and focus their passion using the NGO's as contact points .

Posted by Prof. Arun Sahay:

I agree with your sentiment Re: Mother Theresa. Certainly capacity building is the only viable solution in alleviating poverty. It is an age-old truth that people do not value that wheich they did not work for. Thus giving handouts to the poor is an extremely short term solution that may do more harm than good, by builidng a culture of entitlement and destroying capacity.

Rather than spending the 1% of defence spending on alleviating poverty - spend it on education and healthcare. Healthy, educated people are usually able to get themselves out of trouble.

I also agree with K joseph that the US must lead the way in this. Their soft power in exporting ideas and culture has an enormous influence over the world - developing and developed alike. It is hypocritical of the US to be both the world's richest nation and to have such great poverty within it's borders. The elitist and heirarchical nature of the US education and health systems should be an embarrassment to their leaders and population.

In particular, the existence of 'working poor' is a blight on the face of US democracy. No person should be unable to feed, house, clothe and educate themselves and their families on a full-time income.

Bill GATEs obtained his success in entreprenurship through hardwork and great innovations. Mr Bill Gates has its own individuality distinct from others same as others have its own distinct capability different from Bill Gates and yet acquired the top level of success in the business arena and even marked in the society at large. I do believe that nobody can step up the ladder of success without experiencing failure and controversy, peharps it is part and parcel.
It may not be an obligation for the wealthy people to share what they have with the unfortunate sector (the poorest among poor people) in the society through creating a foundation, but it is a call for human kindness, conscience and social responsibility.

REgarding the second question, i agree on one of the commentators that if the US reduce the spending for defense and instead augment the allocation for health care, food and education then perhaps wealthy nations will follow. It is an obligation for the government to look out the living condition of his people, the focus on how to alleviate poverty and giving so much importance about health care and education. Because of so many foundations have been created by the wealthy people and business enterprise, it somewhat presumed that the government has passed on their responsibilities to these wealthy people and business enterprise in granting aids and assistance which should not be the case.

BVK

Bill Gates is indeed the greatest business innovator of our times. We have to give the devil its due. But his philistine pursuits to kill competition and uncontrolled ambition to be the numero ono has left many good companies dead and many other innovators disappear in to oblivion. A simple Google search will reveal the list of companies that went Kaput because of unfair competition from Mr. Gates & co.

Thanks to Google - Microsoft gave a miss to SEARCH technology in the internet. Otherwise all of us will be paying Mr. Gates US$20 to per month for searching the free internet as envisioned by Tim Berners Lee & team! Tim Lee deserves a better place in the world of computing than Mr. Gates.

A large number of highly competent IT innovators disagree that Mr. Gates is a pioneer in office automation. He was a copy cat.
It is his financial success that made him a poster boy of IT and he is trying to catch up with his karma by his philanthropic activities now to wash away his sins. May be.

Bill never invented anything - DOS was taken from the attic of Seattle Computing company. Word, Excel are all borrowed ideas.

As Walpole said - World is a comedy for those who THINK, and a tragedy for those who feel.

For those who feel - Bill Gates is a human tragedy and for those who think - he is a super rich comedy.

Best
Jagan Vaman
(Opinions expressed are personal and have nothing to do with my company- SECUDE India)

I would like to quote few examples before we argue about the innovative credibilities of Bill Gates.

Even though so many people worked for years on finding vaccination for Smallpox, it is Edward Jenner who completed it. No matter, whether he really invented it or his associates. But to world, it is Jenner.

Same way, the most important equation E=MC^2 (which is of so much importance today). It is Einstien who finally invented it.

Irrespective of whether its Bill Gates's idea or a stolen one from other sources, it was he who dreamt big, which is every common man should be able to use computer. He achived greatness for this vision more than anything.

I would say Bill Gates innovative credibility can never be argued upon. May be he chose different methods to overcome his competitors. But he stood by his vision and achieved it.

The other thing is, he is spending his money for good cause. If it is argued as karma or something, then most people in the world can commit crimes and do karma to get rid of it. Is that what happens... G.O.K (God only knows, if one such exists).

Lets need not do what Bill Gates can do. Atleast support people like him for the benefit for humans.

Why can’t governments spend 1% less on defense and use the money to improve living conditions for the poorest of the poor?
Uh, folks, redirecting taxpayers money to the poor does not help. Governments do not help pull people out of poverty - businesses do by providing jobs. Governments actually hinder the creation of jobs by taxation and regulation. Third world countries kill businesses by corruption. Want proof? In the US, look at the "war on poverty" - trillions spent and yet here we are 40 years later still arguing that more is needed? How the trillions sent to Africa over the past 30 years? Has that helped? No, that part of the world is still the most poor and most corrupt. Communist countries take this concept to an extreme and look at how well that turns out. China is seeing prosperity now because they are introducing capitalism - the more they introduce, the more prosperous they seem to be. But again, corruption is a limiting factor. The purpose of democracy is to limit corruption by making governments accountable (as much as possible).
People earn "living" wages by everyone being allowed to keep what they earn and making it easy for people to start and run businesses. Period.

Addressing the first question, I believe the educational institutions all over the world, starting from the middle-school level upto the Undergraduate level atleast, MUST include mandatory classes/workshops/training programs speicifically oriented toward learning the Success Principles of Life. Doesn't matter what the color, race, ethnic background, age, region, etc... Success Principles do not change. I honestly believe, unless the younger generation is exposed to a program that teaches them Success principles, it is very hard to see any REAL entrepreneurial spirits blossom because, it has to come from within and that can happen provided they are aware of the principles behind success through Entrepreneurism. Great leader, Narayan Murthy from Infosys, once said, there are only two major things that decide where you will be in future: 1. the kind of books you read and 2. the kind of people you associate with. Hence I believe we need to re-visist the educational institutes' operational program and help the upcoming generation realize their potential through a properly designed learning program.

Secondly, I opine that if a man(or woman) has plenty of money and a good heart, then he (or she) will do good to improve the society and help other people. I firmly believe the people who run the Government (atleast most of them) lack the second point. Thats my opinion. They simply don't care enough. Also, great leaders of peace have always said that if an individual is happy and helpful toward others, he will have a good family. If the family is happy, then other families can be helped to be happy. This way, we can affect few families leading to happiness in the society leading to happiness & helpful nature to multiple societies leading to state leading to the nation and so on. But remember, it starts with just ONE person. Everyone needs to understand, especially those with ability and heart to help others, that its more important to teach a hungry man how to fish rather than providing him with a fish. If this quality is developed by everyone and implemented in daily life, things will start improving. Leaders of political sections will need to be shown examples of such leadership by common people and only then will they stop ignoring the common man and start helping the poor and needy. Thats my feeling on this.

Three decade ago when Bill Gates came in the business and excel and how he successes, those days are gone. Today the World has Changed, its been a challenge to be successful and survive for a long time. The key ingredient of the success of any leader or entrepreneur is the “VISION” he had.

It is important to create and develop awareness and responsibility among the people of the world and primarily from the wealthy people to contribute for the betterment of education, health, food and environment of the world
at large and which should be started from the poorest countries.

Three decade ago when Bill Gates came in the business and excel and how he successes, those days are gone. Today the World has Changed, its been a challenge to be successful and survive for a long time. The key ingredient of the success of any leader or entrepreneur is the “VISION” he had.

It is important to create and develop awareness and responsibility among the people of the world and primarily from the wealthy people to contribute for the betterment of education, health, food and environment of the world
at large and which should be started from the poorest countries.

bill gates was a good business man ... but not a good technologist ... the last computer code he wrote was way back in 1980s... he dint touch computer compiler after writing basic... he and his company pretty much copied macintosh and charged too much for windows and office... he exploited the market to his favour by stealing peoples money and killing good companies... he had no vision in computer business . he owes everything to Apple and steve jobs. when compared to him bill gates is nothing. nobody knows the truth in india and u give him undeserved praise. u talk bout his foundation giving money to people but anyone knows how many people have died because of him. you know how he has throttled great inventions because of his selfish needs. ask SUN microsystems. ask Novell. Ask netscape they will tell u the truth. he was a smart selfish businessman. for ur information computer age is in dark ages still . Windows s one of the pathetic operating systems .how much ever he donates his wealth to his so called foundation in order to grab name his sins wont be forgotten...
microsoft wont survive...
Bill gates: selfish arrogant with no vision...

As we say good buy to Bill a whole new world says hello, a world of the needy and ill. Bill knows that if he can inspire innovation buy his contribution in both personal, professional and financial support he will make many examples for many to follow.

Reaching his goals was not the only thing Bill was able to do, he transformed the way we work and he proved that there is no limits to potential, our potential in doing our work or live our life better.

Only Steve Jobs can give a similar example, these two Gurus of the future world shall one day meet again like they did 20 years ago and gave their joint yet different vision of the future.. when Jobs and Apple fell, Bill gave a hand not just a financial hand but we all know that he was behind some of the new achievements Jobs was able to do in Apple. am I wrong ? does any body see it differently ?

Marwan

As we say good buy to Bill a whole new world says hello, a world of the needy and ill. Bill knows that if he can inspire innovation buy his contribution in both personal, professional and financial support he will make many examples for many to follow.

Reaching his goals was not the only thing Bill was able to do, he transformed the way we work and he proved that there is no limits to potential, our potential in doing our work or live our life better.

Only Steve Jobs can give a similar example, these two Gurus of the future world shall one day meet again like they did 20 years ago and gave their joint yet different vision of the future.. when Jobs and Apple fell, Bill gave a hand not just a financial hand but we all know that he was behind some of the new achievements Jobs was able to do in Apple. am I wrong ? does any body see it differently ?

Marwan

How do you get the next Bill Gates, or better, without inviting the kind of controversy that his success has spawned?

I see this question in two parts: First, how do you get the next Bill Gates or better and second without inviting the controversy along.

Entrepreneur is the change agent. He is the source of creativity & innovation in processes if not necessarily in products. He is alert to unnoticed opportunities & sees the economic potential of an invention. He does all this by the way of lateral thinking.

Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs or Inventrepreneurs, all can be born in an open environment where participative & experiential learning is nurtured. This process has to start at the primary level of education & continue through the person’s working life and beyond. Institutions should inculcate within children a culture of discipline with a focus on principle centric entrepreneurship. At the organization level, let the “maintainers” be replaced by entrepreneurs or Intrapreneurs.

Such an environment will generate more principle-centric and visionary professionals for whom the need for commitment and perfection would reign supreme.

All said and done, we can get next Bill Gates or better by the way of providing all possible entrepreneurship opportunities to them with their own space to grow. Only then can we see more heroes of capitalism emerging.

for the first question, I guess there's nothing wrong with how Mr. Gates run his company. There's nothing more I could add for this wonderful aspiring figure. Just to say that it takes a Gigantic vision to do that . He spotted things which companies he threw into bankruptcy failed to see. Unethical it sometimes be, but history tends to overlook such small detail, isn't it?

And for the second question,I assume the condition in and here in Indonesia is pretty much the same. For me, and I guess for many people living in both countries. We're both rich countries (at least in natural resources) where fifty percents of its population lives by merely $2 dollars a day (or less). While people high up in the government enjoys luxurious facilites. Sometimes a house or a car worth more than $20.000 dollars. Well I guess you can scoop as many dollars you like in those philantrophist acts, but if the money goes to those greedy corrupt hands, there wont be anything left for the poors. Will large developed countries give a hand for people in poor countries? I guess they surely would. But instead of giving fish, to the needy, give them fishing pole. Will those countries give aids to businesses in poor countries (and hoping it to be the motor of development) without being afraid that it would come back at them(like China). It would be better to allocate a million dollar to form one company that could compete at the global stage (and feeds many people eventually) than two give the same amount to a million people that would be used up in a night.

Ryan N.
Indonesia