Innovator of the Week: Bill Gates
Known as: the chairman of Microsoft
Know him as: the guy who was too cool for school
If there’s one thing we kids can learn from the legendary Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, it’s “college degree, schmollege degree.” No, seriously. We all know how Gates stopped college to continue with Microsoft, but more than letting his story call out to our inner college-drop-out-turned-billionaire fantasies, we can take the inspiration to fearlessly take on the real world, with or without a diploma in hand, from it. Gates showed us that the road to ‘billionairehood’ is not always determined by the degrees we have to show, but by the skill and savvy we bring to the real world. Three such things are:
1. The guts to stick to what you have
Was it easy for Gates to drop out of Harvard University to build up Microsoft without knowing it would become the empire it is now? We don’t know. But what matters is, Gates had the courage and the confidence in his computer and business skills to carry him through. It isn’t easy to go against the pitch of the “good college – good job – good life” sequence so it’s an easy kudos to the people who make it the way Gates did.
2. The ability to strike whilst the iron is hot
The world was just warming up to computer technology when Gates stepped in. He basically changed the way we view and access computers today! With the ease of use and effectiveness of Microsoft programs, technology isn’t limited anymore to just professional purposes but has made its way to our everyday routines. The only problem here is, Gates opened the door to a mass market and many have done as he did in pouncing on the opportunities.
3. The smarts to innovate
The problem above necessitates this third point. Gates would have faded into the background if he let younger blood take over but he didn’t – by constantly innovating and marketing new and improved products, he solidified his empire and name into history. We either are or have been at one point loyal to the Microsoft brand simply because it delivers. Technology evolves at a scary pace but with how Gates has kept up with the trends, demands, and new technologies that run the market, it’s easy to mistake his genius as effortless more than hard-earned.
None of what is written so far is an argument to the value of education nor the value people will always have for it but the point is, never underestimate the power of what things like skill, passion, vision and action can bring to the table – these are all keys to success that Bill Gates can prove are just as important as studies. Of course, we may really just be diploma-reliant mortals next to him and hitting it big like him may be a tad bit too far-fetched to most of us, but it doesn’t hurt to take the wisdom out of the story and build our inspiration from that, right?
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