Leadership and Governance: A Critical Study of Bill Gates

This report analyzes the leadership qualities of Bill Gates, focusing on his style, strengths, weaknesses, and impact on the business world. It examines various leadership theories and their relevance to Gates' leadership style. The report also discusses the importance of ethics, teamwork, diversity, and change in leadership. The critical study highlights Gates' successes and limitations as a leader, and concludes with suggestions for improvement.

Institutional Affiliation(S)
[Course title]
leadership and governance
Student Name

P a g e | 1
Introduction
Various explanations, theories, classifications and definitions about leadership exists in
contemporary literature. According to Khan, Nawaz & Khan (2016), “a person does not
become a leader merely by virtue of the possession of some combination of traits” (p. 1).
Indeed, even Kruse (2013) confirms the above statement and defines leadership as a process
that has social influence which maximises the efforts created by others for achieving a
specific goal. To analyse the process and significance of leadership, ethics, teamwork,
diversity and change, this report will analyse a case study of one of the most inspirational and
charismatic leaders, Bill Gates. Gates leadership has been constantly among top featuring
topics in Forbes and he has been ranked as one of the richest American recently. In fact, in
one of the articles, Gates himself gave a strong message for contemporary leaders saying, "As
we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."(Kruse,
2013). There is no doubt that Gates is a strong leader who has strong impact on the business
world and thus, this paper will analyse leadership quality of Gates. The story of Gates about
how he dropped out of Harvard University to start his own company, that later proved to be a
great success is probably known to the world. However, in this report, critical analysis of his
leadership style will be made from the lenses of academic research and theoretical models
and conclude with a note on how might he could improve his leadership according to
weakness seen in some areas.
Literature review
Leadership is a process in which a person influences others for accomplishing a goal and
directs originations towards the direction which gives coherent and cohesive outcomes. This
definition is very close to Sharma & Jain (2013) where the authors define leadership as a
process in which leaders apply personal knowledge and leadership skills to achieve an

P a g e | 2
objective. Great man theory is one of the oldest leadership theories in literature and with
passing years, many subsequent events revealed that this model of leadership is flawed
morally as seen in the case example of Napoleon. With time, Great man theory of leadership
became irrelevant due to subsequent growth seen in organisations and trait theory came into
existence opined by early theorists that leaders born with certain personality characteristics
and traits distinguished from other non-leaders. Trait theory neglected assumptions on
whether leadership trait was acquired or genetics. Max Weber defined charisma as one of the
revolutionary forces that was capable of providing a completely new orientation with the help
of followers and entire devotion to leaders perceived by them endowed leaders with magical
superhuman powers and qualities. Nevertheless, this theory also failed to detect traits which
was carried by every effective leader that resulted in development of contingency or
situational theory (Khan, Nawaz, & Khan, 2016).
Contingency theory suggests that no leadership style can prove to be precise and a
stand-alone concept since leadership style used for different situations is reliant upon several
factors like quality, number of followers, situation and other significant variables. Though
situational leadership theory emphasised strongly upon leaders, it focussed more upon
teamwork and group dynamics. Style and behavioural theory acknowledge the importance of
necessary leadership qualities that aids leader as an enabler for performing an act while
illustrating its parallel previous capabilities and making suggestions prior to act. As one fit
does not suit all, similarly one leadership style may not prove effective for every situation.
Therefore, three leadership styles were introduced by authors: laissez faire that considered
leading a team of motivated and skilled people, democratic leadership that displayed higher
degree of creativity, satisfaction and motivation while working with enthusiasm irrespective
of absence or presence of leader and autocratic leadership that focussed mainly upon greater
output quality (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015).

P a g e | 3
Process Leadership Theory is another leadership theory that focuses on servant
leadership, charismatic leadership and principal-centred leadership style with others emerging
each year. According to current literature, the process leadership theory has emerged with
certain aims and often suggest that leader’s role is to contribute well-beings of the other,
focussing upon social responsibility also. Transactional theory began from early 1980’s that
described leader as a leader-follower association that were grounded on series of agreements
made between leaders and followers according to which they concentrated towards their
practices. Few studies state that transactional leadership showed discrepancy in regards to
level of leader’s relationship with followers and their action. Transformational leadership
theory was evolved later on the basis of earlier and modern theories to align greater good of
every theory which raised morality and motivation among both leaders and the followers. In
literature, it is considered that transformational leaders participate in interactions with their
followers based upon common goals, values and beliefs. Transformational leaders are also
known as “visionary leaders who seek to appeal their followers” (Khan, Nawaz, & Khan,
2016, p. 3) and move them towards more and higher universal needs while fulfilling basic
purposes.
Leadership and teamwork are the base of organisations as one cannot survive without
the other in a workplace environment comprising groups of individuals. Teams generally are
referred to as temporary organisations which have specific strategic goals, resources and
timeframes. According to Sohmen (2013), leadership and teamwork are “two sides of the
same coin”, that draw inspiration for achieving victory from each other. Hence, poor
leadership cannot motivate teams for success in comparison to strong leaders who build
strong teams. Successful teams comprise group of individuals who work on cooperative
manner and remains goal-oriented to achieve common objective. In today’s knowledge
intensive world, leaders are the ones who motivates and influences teams where they do not

P a g e | 4
show coerciveness and develops a shared communication and vision to teams whilst inducing
passion among team members (Aldoshan, 2016).
Leadership signifies relationship between leaders and followers in organisational and
situational context. According to Mihelic, Lipicnik & Tekavcic (2010), leadership in
normative organisational ethics can be defined with regards to how people must behave in an
organisation. Ethical leadership is a crucial element and a vital point that provides direction,
enabling organisations to fulfil their mission and vision ethically for achieving organisational
objectives. Ethical leadership can be considered as an important factor in management of
organisations reputation in external environment and while comparing with other
competitors. Firm’s moral health is characterised by its leader and chief executive officer and
thus senior leaders must enable two key responsibilities: ensuring ethical decisions are
executed and developing organisational climate where ethical followers conduct can be
fostered. Similarly, for an ethical leader, it becomes necessary adhering universal standard
representing moral behaviour (Lawton & Pa´ez, 2015).
Diversity in organisations has become one of the prime concerns for today’s leaders.
With increase in globalisation and demographic changes among labour market, ongoing
transformation along with making it faster-more paced has raised pressing concern about how
to build organisational capabilities for responding to it and tackle the situation adequately.
With this endeavour, leadership has been taken as an essential component for developing and
upgrading organisation as per challenge seen and today, most of the resources are spent for
building managerial capacity required for effective leadership (Mujtaba & Sungkhawan,
2009). Change seen among organisations can also be made relevant here as both, change and
diversity are equally responsible for bringing remarkable upgradation within organisations. In
fact, Hao & Yazdanidafrd (2015) has well documented that effective leadership is an
essential part of organisations that helps businesses sustain while facing various challenges

P a g e | 5
caused due to rapid change seen in economic environment. Although change has always been
a challenge in organisations as it is hard for humans to accept something which pulls out of
their comfort level and forces to change their regular habits, making things uncomfortable.
Therefore, great emphasis is given upon leaders during change within organisation as without
effective leader no changes can be carried in productive and clearer way (Skripak, 2016).
Critical study
Bill Gates from his early childhood remained fascinated by technology and computers. Most
of his time was spent in learning about programming and slowly he became aware that
success cannot be achieved overnight and demands lot of hard work (Rampton, 2016).
Following the passion within him, Gates spent most of his time in garage, writing and coding
programs. After setting Microsoft for initial tasting, Gates did not stop learning and started
giving more time to understand the basic needs of his targeted audience to develop his work
that could speak to his business. Bill gates became aware that a leader cannot be static and
must poses dynamic capabilities and to remain in leadership position, he has to evolve
continuously to enable change and diversity within his business setting. According to past
history, it is evident that Gates understood what he followed and constantly brought new
product ideas that helped him in creating a successful company (Silva, 2014). Leadership
critical study reveals that Gates had earned and experienced tremendous success with
Microsoft through his clear mission and vision where he made other relish the success as
well. He possesses traits that are carried by great leaders and very few traits of him
hindrances his leadership effectiveness like willingness to take his anger over his control of
actions along with using strong languages. Another hindrance seen in his leadership is during
his early years when he used to follow charismatic or autocratic leadership style under which
he used to insist on micro-managing his organisation. Nevertheless, his success can be
documented due to his strong visionary capabilities, coupled with aggressive business passion

P a g e | 6
and relentless ambition. This combination transformed him into more powerful yet ethical
leaders, provided that situation spoke of his personality ( Sakthikumaar & Kiruthika , 2014).
Looking upon situational and contingency leadership theory, leaders’ traits and
behaviour along with leadership style chosen by him/her is employed by leader for
communicating followers (Bhagat & Shukla, 2013). With regards to it, Gates followed
autocratic leadership style as seen in past history since he followed precise chain of command
within his organisation. Gates usually employed direct approach towards individuals and
preferred telling his employees what to do and what not to, thereby giving them little freedom
to work under their own excellence. As mentioned in the literature review about great man
theory that leaders are born to lead and they cannot be created. Gates certainly is a strong
leader who exhibited leadership skills from the beginning, however, according to contingency
theory, effective leaders remains contingent due to matching style according to the
organisational setting and leaders must adapt leadership style that suits every fit ( Sharma &
Jain, 2013). As per adaptation to diversity, entrepreneurs and business leaders are expected to
hire someone who is “culture fit” so that they are able to move tech companies more quickly
so that their team’s gel squabble jointly and swiftly. Rather than looking for individuals who
had sense and purpose of their own, Gates hires someone who has the tendency to manifest
his vision only. As Gates believed that “great minds don’t think alike”, he agrees that he
lacked diversity management skills (Price, 2018). Earlier years of Gates revealed his
transactional leadership style to some extent, but with passing years when change and
diversity within organisations became evident, he transformed more into a transformational
leader after analysing its significance for bringing success in his company (Rampton, 2016).
Gates leadership style shows his exceptional leadership trait, however, as per
teamwork and ethics theory, Gates leadership shows few limitations in it. Gates has always
been dominant in nature, not allowing other members participate in core decision making

P a g e | 7
which shows he lacked teamwork spirit. Additionally, all his subordinates felt exertion of
pressure by him and thus made him unpopular among his subordinates. Even though Gates
showed charismatic and transformational leadership style, he lacked employee relationship
qualities. Since employee relations is an important aspect that needs to be present among
leaders, Gates stature showed unethical behaviour here to some extent. Along with it,
Microsoft had many litigations in the past and lost many cases that leads questioning Gates
regarding his ethics philosophy in business. One significant criticism can be seen in
Microsoft company that the company lacked few innovative areas and people often criticised
that Gates updated existing products only rather than inventing new ones (Holley, 2016).
Another criticism can be applied in the case of Gates where people says that gates believes in
winning only and never allowed competition to build in marketplace as he either purchased
competing companies at initial stages or completely kill the competition. Nevertheless,
positive aspect of Gates leadership style reveals that although being autocratic in nature,
Gates never made threats to his employees or even used coercion for personal gains. Gates
enjoyed high level of expertise due to his extensive knowledge in his subject and extensive
skills in leading the company. Gates relish referent power even that means he manages
effective relationship with other significant and influential leaders. Other than this, Gates is
always seen giving keen attention to minutest detail thereby creating an environment of high
efficiency and effectiveness. Moreover, Gates has always seen making internal changes
within his company according to current market demands and administered techniques that
needs to be carried. Microsoft has always been top rating and most admired company and
enjoys market boom particularly due to the management style followed by gates (Microsoft,
2019).

P a g e | 8
Conclusion
Leadership attributes of Bill Gates have undoubtedly led a great example in front of the
others according to the critical discussions made in the above report. The leadership theory
followed by Gates suggests that he is a leader with multiple followers. In this regard, it can be
said that Gates is an efficient leader since most of the world not only looks for his
suggestions while following him, but also places him in high esteems. The mindset and
exceptional skills make Gates poses qualities that most influential transformational leader
requires extensively in 21st century. He proved to be one of the visionary and charismatic
leaders in early years as he knew what he desired to achieve, focussing on his core
capabilities. In a nutshell, Gates proves to be a great leader alive who leads Microsoft in
becoming one of the most prominent companies worldwide. However, few flaws can be seen
in his teamwork and ethical leadership principles according to the above case study made.
According to an old saying, nobody is perfect, Gates also showed few imperfections
especially seen in response towards change and diversity adaptation. Gates can be more open
to fresh ideas. Although Microsoft entailed change management many times internally, he
could have developed it further looking upon other external influences as well. He shows
caring nature also as seen doing charity by him for poor people, but his rigidness seen
towards employees require him to consider their personal perspectives as well so that passion
and ambition remains consistent within his organisation’s employees. Looking on the flaw
related to ethical decisions for removing market competition, it can be suggested that Gates
needs to be more flexible in making significant decisions along with considering corporate
responsibility standards thereby allowing world with developed and updated products
(Bhagat & Shukla, 2013). On concluding note it can be said that Bill Gates is a global citizen
who touches millions of lives through his generosity and exceptional leadership quality. The
leadership quality seen in Bill Gates is a result of his strong vision and his passion for the

P a g e | 9
work which he does along with influential reactions that help in energising people who
follows him.

P a g e | 10
References
Aldoshan, K. (2016). Leadership Styles Promote Teamwork. International Journal of
Scientific & Technology Research, 05(06), 1-4.
Bhagat, S., & Shukla, A. H. (2013). Dynamics of Creative Leadership in Modern Context:
An Analytical view. International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management,
02(06), 474-480.
Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How Effective Leadership can Facilitate Change in
Organizations through Improvement and Innovation. Global Journal of Management
and Business Research, 15(09), 1-6.
Holley, P. (2016, 02 03). The crazy thing Bill Gates used to do to monitor workplace
productivity. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/02/03/the-crazy-thing-
bill-gates-used-to-do-to-monitor-workplace-productivity/?utm_term=.0e2e09ea5af2
Khan, Z. A., Nawaz, A., & Khan, I. (2016). Leadership Theories and Styles: A Literature
Review. Journal of Resources Development and Management, 16, 1-7.
Kruse, K. (2013, 04 09). What Is Leadership? Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/
#13654a305b90
Lawton, A., & Pa´ez, I. (2015). Developing a Framework for Ethical Leadership. Journal of
Business Ethics, 130(03), 639-649.
Microsoft. (2019). Different perspectives help to achieve more. Retrieved from
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/default.aspx

P a g e | 11
Mihelič, K. K., Lipičnik, B., & Tekavčič, M. (2010). Ethical Leadership. International
Journal of Management & Information Systems, 14(05), 31-42.
Mujtaba, B. G., & Sungkhawan, J. (2009). Situational Leadership And Diversity
Management Coaching Skills. Journal of Diversity Management, 04(01), 1-12.
Price, D. (2018, 08 10). Bill Gates Reveals His Biggest Weakness and Teaches a Valuable
Lesson in Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/dom-price/if-you-can-be-
better-than-bill-gates-at-1-thing-let-it-be-this.html
Rampton, J. (2016, 09 09). How Bill Gates Became a Leadership Legend. Retrieved from
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250607
Sakthikumaar, J., & Kiruthika , P. (2014). Leadership: Meaning and Purpose. Online
International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 04, 669-678.
Sharma , M. K., & Jain, S. (2013). Leadership Management: Principles, Models and
Theories. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, 03(03), 309-318.
Silva, A. (2014). What can we learn from great business leaders? Journal of Leadership
Studies, 08(03), 52-57.
Skripak, S. J. (2016). Fundamentals of Business. Virginia: Virginia Tech.
Sohmen, V. S. (2013). Leadership and Teamwork: Two Sides of the Same Coin. Journal of
IT and Economic Development, 04(02), 1-18.