Bill Gates, as any outstanding personality is unique. However, today we will not argue with those who criticize him. We will apply the golden rule of business, which reads: "Learning should be from the successful people." We will talk about what events from the biography of Gates and the quality of his character helped him to become what he is.
He is the legendary founder of Microsoft, who is also the richest man in the world for over ten years. He is a charismatic business leader, innovator, has a knight title in the UK and is the father of three children. The future computer tycoon was born Oct. 28, 1955 in Seattle, the largest city in the US northwest. The family of William Henry Gates III, the name Gates was given at birth, was quite safe. His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother taught at school, was engaged in charity work and was a member of the board of the local university (Demuth & Hammond, 2013).
Since the correct approach to family values is laid in childhood, it can be said that Bill was very lucky in that sense. He had two more sisters, and the parents, according to Gates, paid attention to all their children. Indeed, sometimes, in the carousel of everyday life, parents forget that next to them individuals are growing. Moreover, sometimes, it is necessary to set aside time to talk with the children, not only on everyday topics, such as checking of homework, but also to communicate as an equal Bill gladly talked on "childish" topics, and rejoiced at the opportunity to show his talents in the business. At age 11, he won a competition held by a local pastor, having memorized the "Sermon on the Mount." The reverend was fascinated by Gates’s ability to reason: "a thorough discussion of this section reveals a deep understanding of the text" (Demuth & Hammond, 2013).
However, not everything went smoothly for Bill. He began to "rebel", played the role of a school clown and did not have time for some classes. It is said that a resident of the United States, who has the money and a problem is going to see a psychiatrist. Parents took the restless child to a specialist, and he advised them "not to force Bill to the traditional behavior or obedience." Parents have heeded his advice and decided not to act "as necessary and accepted", but "what's best for the child's development." Gates was transferred to a more suitable Lakeside School at the age of 12 (Demuth & Hammond, 2013).
At this elite private institution Bill got excellent knowledge of mathematics. The teacher noted the originality of the student, "Bill saw the shortest way." This is where there was a landmark when Gates met the computer for the first time. "Being given the chance to work with the computer at the end of the sixties in Seattle was something!" – Bill recalls with youthful enthusiasm, saying "thank you" to Mothers Club School, which collected the money to buy a computer for school. At that time, computer technologies occupied entire rooms, and was very slow. Bill and his school friend Paul Allen, in the future, Microsoft's co-founder, spent all their time at the "iron monster", and would sit in school until 4 am. His first program was the tic-tac-toe game, which Gates wrote at the age of 13.
At this point, Bill's parents showed a more sensible approach to education. Gates says: That's another ingredient in the formula of success! After all, the principle of education is not to be given everything at the ready, but to encourage the ability to independently achieve objectives necessary to learn. Before you give a child all at once, you need to think about: whether it will encourage his development?
Gates is distinguished by respect to any work, and to this he invites all teenagers: "Frying burgers at McDonald's is not beneath your dignity. Your ancestors would have called any – even this work – a good chance." At the age of 15 years, he and Allen wrote a program to regulate traffic, and got paid $20 000 dollars. At the age of 17, Bill has developed a program for the distribution of energy of the Bonneville Dam, and earned another $30,000 dollars. In 1973, Bill goes to Harvard, though he was not particularly interested in it. He played a lot of poker and did not really know what "to do with his life," (Demuth & Hammond, 2013).
That all changed one day in 1975. Paul Allen brought his friend the magazine "Popular Mechanics", the cover of which adorned the first computer for the mass market, "Altair-8080". This was their chance to develop a language for a simple machine that had no software. The competition was great, and they had to be the first to cope with this task. Gates, like anyone else, understood that he needed to "strike while the iron is hot." The ability to feel the moment and not miss the chance is a useful feature for the modern man (Wrightsman, 1994).
Running the risk of failure the friends promised the program before it was ready. The habit of "working one’s head off" paid off real well for Gates. Presentation of the program written in the language of "BASIC" was a success, and this was the beginning of their new life.
In order to analyse the personality of Bill Gates, it is feasible to approach the matter through the viewpoint of a number of theories. The Freudian theory of psychoanalysis focused on making the unconscious thoughts conscious can clearly be applied due to the way Bill’s parents developed his unconscious desires and made them conscious by giving them an integral push. Though neoanalytic theories are contrasting the Freudian concepts, Adler’s idea that behavior is motivated by striving for superiority can be applied. Gates always wanted to be the first in the IT sphere as it is his passion and greatest desire for self realization (Little, 2016).
Erikson’s psychosocial theory was significantly influenced by Freud However Erikson focuses on the ego. The role of culture, society and conflict played an immense role in the development of Bill’s personality in his youth years when he got easily bored and played the school clown. Erikson’s idea is that the personality develops (ego) once all the crises are resolved.
The evolutionary theory revolves around Bills’ parents who did manage to provide their son with a wonderful education, and their special approach in his upbringing allowed Bill to develop his specific and personal traits. This theory gently flows into the biological perspective where the parents have a direct influence on the development of their child. Of course, Bill Gates had a lot of falling out with his mother, nevertheless the dual effect his father and mother had on him allowed him to develop the family value he is implementing in his own family.
Knowing that Bill Gates is a true mastermind I the field of IT technologies, we cannot omit the use of the cognitive theory of personality development (Wrightsman, 1994). It presupposes that humans have the ability and capacity to organize he information in the mind. The peculiarity of the sphere Bill Gates found himself n is direct proof that this theory was used (Little, 2016).
Considering behaviorism, Bill Gates was only passionate about his work. This is what he did and did well. However the behaviorism theory implies the creation of certain associations which were hardly made when Bill Gates was studying and performing such difficult tasks as the program for the distribution of energy of the Bonneville Dam. Therefore, behaviorism theory cannot be fully used here. The same can be sad for the social learning theory. Bill Gates was never really companion like at school. Though there was a slight period of rebelling, he did not really make a ny fiends he could learn from (Wrightsman, 1994). Except maybe from Allen.
The last set of theories was provided by Maslow and Rogers, who claim that the development of personality has specific and distinctive tasks required for the implementation of this theory. Awareness and acceptance of themselves, openness and spontaneity, the ability to enjoy work and see work as a mission to fulfill, the ability to develop close friendships without being overly dependent on other people, a good sense of humor. All these were inherent in Bill Gates, however he never really was friends with anyone besides Allen.
Bill Gates has a unique personality that developed throughout the years with the help of his parents, role models and specific upbringing has managed to become a person who has almost everything in real life.
References
Demuth, P. & Hammond, T. (2013). Who is Bill Gates? New York: Grosset & Dunlap, An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Little, B. (2016). Me, myself, and us: the science of personality and the art of well-being. New York, N.Y: Public Affairs.
Wrightsman, L. (1994). Adult personality development: theories and concepts. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.
