Bill Gates

I have a fascination for the man named Bill Gates. He has certainly transformed the way the world operates with his marketing of the personal computer. And he has been very successful in life and is internationally-renowned for being the richest person on earth for a long time coming until he was superseded by Carlos Slim in 2010.  What is it about such people that make them what they are? Where do they get the vision and know-how to achieve such things? Now, I know that Bill Gates has many detractors and critics, from competitors and consumers, who frown upon his anti-competititon marketing tactics, and in terms of his products, he has received criticism for not ensuring better security when coming up with his operating systems. He has also been described as not having the most pleasant of behavior or character as a boss when it comes to work, having a rather forceful and intemperate disposition. But he has also built a humane public image with his humanitarian endeavors to fight poverty and diseases in third world countries.

I have read about psychologists giving their opinion that Bill Gates has the autism spectrum disorder known as Asperger’s Syndrome. Time magazine once compared Gates’ traits to those linked with autism, such as his reluctance to make eye contact, and his tendency toward repetitive or automatic movements, such as spasm, tics, or rocking. Bill Gates has neither sought to confirm nor deny this allegation. And even if he does have an autism spectrum disorder, he seems to be relatively able to operate well in the working environment and even to handle the media. That is a condition that I have been diagnosed with as well by a psychologist. I would say though that I am rather skeptical about the veracity of such conditions within the diagnostic manuals of psychologist, and I am skeptical about whether I or Bill Gates truly have Asperger’s Syndrome. But I suppose Bill Gates does provide some measure of inspiration for those who similarly struggles with the experiences of being on the autism spectrum, though I would have to caution that based on my observation, Bill Gates’ autism seems relatively mild compared to the severe cases that I have seen, so I would not say that Bill Gates’ experience might representative of a person who does experience with a cold hard case of Asperger’s Syndrome.

I once watched a DVD movie titled Pirates of the Silicon Valley which featured the various prominent figures in the competition in the personal computer race in the 1980s. Featured as characters were the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Paul Allen, and Steve Balmer. According to the film, Apple founder Steve Jobs had the upper hand in the computer race, being the forefront runner with his computer prototype that he had cobbled up, partially stealing technologies from Xerox which had failed to appreciate the technologies that its engineers had come up with. Gates, on the other hand, was relatively unknown as the CEO of Microsoft, and was snubbed by Jobs at a San Francisco computer fair when he attempted to introduce himself. But Bill Gates craftily offered to collaborate with Jobs in order to obtain copies of Macintosh software and then, with his company Microsoft, cobble together the Windows operating system. Word of this eventually reached Jobs more than once, but no matter how angry or accusatory Steve became, Bill could always calmly explain away any such fears, weathering any of Steve's tirades meekly, placating Steve into, once again, believing that Microsoft was no threat. Eventually, Gates obtained the upper hand when he marketed his software internationally.

Steve was given concrete proof that Microsoft did replicated software from the Macintosh and when he confronted Bill with it, Gates famously replies with, "You and I are both like guys who had this rich neighbor - Xerox - who left the door open all the time. And you go sneakin' in to steal a TV set. Only when you get there, you realize that I got there first. I got the loot, Steve! And you're yellin'? "That's not fair. I wanted to try to steal it first." You're too late."

Indeed, the business tactics of these individuals are less than admirable. They do use underhanded and draconian means to gain the upper edge in the computer industry. But I am sure that these individuals are innately highly intelligent themselves and have the vision and insight on how to leverage on the intelligence of other human beings, and how to orchestrate the various elements to take their company forward.