MGT5LIC : Leadership Innovation And Change

This Assignment discusses Bill Gates, his leadership style, and how he established the largest technological empire in the world. The Assignment provides an introduction to leadership and how it encourages subordinates to work toward organizational excellence and achieve goals. The author describes how Bill Gates became a great leader in business and technology, with an intense interest in computing, remarkable analytical abilities, and excitement. Gates is known mainly for transformational leadership throughout his career but effectively used transactional leadership when starting to grow Microsoft. The Assignment evaluates Bill Gates' leadership approaches and how he improved his leadership skill by applying four key components of his chasing style, such as idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration.

ASSIGNMENT 2
Submitted by
MGT5LIC
LEADERSHIP INNOVATION AND CHANGE
Date 09/10/2022
Word Count - 2640
School of Business
College of Arts, Social Science & Commerce
La Trobe University
Bundoora, Victoria, 3086
Australia
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Bill Gates and the way he approaches his main leadership style.................................................................4

Evaluation of Bill Gates Leadership Approaches..........................................................................................4
Bill Gates’s leadership style characteristics.................................................................................................6
Transformational leadership Skills of Bill Gates and how they affected his success....................................6
Bill Gates’s weaknesses in his leadership style and the solutions................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References.................................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Leadership is one of the most significant concepts in the study of organizations and human
resources. Leadership is the process of encouraging subordinates to work toward organizational
excellence and achieve goals (Beare et al., 1997). Outstanding leaders have long-term goals for their
organizations. According to Crawford, Kydd, and Riches (1997), exceptional leaders have a vision of their
ideal future that they share with all the institution's participants and that serves as a model for the
learning programs as well as the plans, mission objectives, policies, and processes that spread through
the institution's daily activities. A leader oversees a distinct organization or collective and is first and
foremost responsible for determining the direction and course for the shared task. Furthermore, they
are inspiring persons who undertake ideological work, motivate others’ actions, and generally benefit
society. Thus, a great leader possesses not only the capacity to manage but also a wide range of abilities,
knowledge, and experience worthy of serving as a model for everyone’s research and cultivation, as well
as a model of analysis. Bill Gates – chief executive officer (CEO) of giant Microsoft corporation – is a
multibillionaire who is well-known for being a great leader in business and technology. His leadership
abilities, managerial skills, and impact on the globe are highly regarded, in addition to his status as the
founder of a well-known technological business. This essay will give a brief background of the brilliant
leader Bill Gates, discuss the primary leadership style he employed to establish the largest technological
empire in the world, discuss its benefits and drawbacks, and analyze how Gates improved it to make it
even better.

Bill Gates and the way he approaches his main leadership style
In the 21st century, Bill Gates has been one of the most inspiring and compelling leaders. Bill
Gates made a big impression on people when he was young due to his intense interest in computing,
remarkable analytical abilities, and excitement. He became well-known in contemporary software
development because of his love of quantitative mathematical models (Snyder, 2013). Due to his
affluent upbringing, Bill Gates was encouraged to explore life and improve the lives of others he
encountered. Recognizing the distinct differences, Bill Gates linked up with Warren Buffet, a brilliant
investor, to collaborate on commercial endeavors and philanthropy. His commercial enterprises, such as
partnerships and humanitarian ideas, were all geared toward making him a better leader. He frequently
appears on Forbes' Top 100 rankings and most recently held the number five spot in the list of the
wealthiest Americans (Dan, 2022). Additionally, he has received numerous prizes, such as the Bower
Award for Business Leadership, the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and others. It is
undeniable that Bill Gates has made a significant effect on the globe and has always taken the lead. The
success of Microsoft and the software industry, in general, has been primarily related to Bill Gates' vision
and foresight regarding personal computing. Only because of Bill Gates' outstanding leadership does
Microsoft Windows continue to be the most popular operating system in the world today (Mumford,
2013). Everyone is certainly familiar with the tale of how Bill Gates, a Harvard University student, quit
his studies to found one of the most successful companies. Nevertheless, this study will focus on the
leadership traits that Bill Gates possessed and which contributed to his success.
Bill Gates is a typical leader in success, combining leadership styles in the corresponding stage.
With a professional leader, it would be conservative to adhere to a single leadership style in order to
expand a major organization from the ground up effectively. Different leadership philosophies based on
objective and subjective aspects of the company's operation should always be understood by the leader.
Bill Gates is known mainly for transformational leadership throughout his career. However, in the
beginning, Bill Gates effectively used transactional leadership when starting to grow Microsoft (St.
Thomas University, 2018). Still, he eventually adopted transformational leadership and was well-known
for combining the two leadership philosophies and then gradually changing his style to transformation
based on the demands of each period (Gates & Nadella, 2021).

Evaluation of Bill Gates Leadership Approaches
Bill Gates has made incredibly genuine efforts in his quest to approach and enhance his
transformational leadership ability. Bill Gates approached and improved his leadership skill by applying
four key components of his chasing style. First, by acting as role models for their followers, leaders with
“idealized influence” assist them in developing a sense of confidence and trust (Bono & Judge, 2004). Bill
Gates continuously gets the admiration and confidence of his followers through his own activities. He
regularly puts the needs of his employees' needs before his own, upholds high moral standards, and
prioritizes their needs over his own. Leaders with incredible “inspirational motivation” can push
employees with high requirements, convey confidence in achieving goals, and give the project at hand
purpose (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). In the instance of Bill Gates, he had a very distinct vision that he had
previously constructed at an early age. He envisioned personal computers in every household,
workplace, and educational institution from the very beginning. And he never wavered from this desire
throughout his entire life. He tried to inspire his staff members with this idea. He urged them to
concentrate on software to make the PC more widely used. Bill Gates created his whole enterprise
based on this distinct vision. And Microsoft still has this as its vision today.
Gates is praised for supporting the creativity of his staff. Gates does what is referred to as
"intellectual stimulation," one of the four essential elements of the transformational leadership style,
instead of forcing himself to come up with ideas. (Hay, 2006). He motivates and enables people to utilize
creativity when it is required. More innovative brains mean more problem-solving options. Moreover,
Bill Gates, a visionary, views education and training as a long-term process. Even though the software is
his area of expertise, he has been open to learning about and experimenting with other methods in
order to diversify his skill set. A culture of relentless competitiveness has emerged as a result of this
notion of continuous learning. Bill Gates also used to say that “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces
smart people into thinking they can't lose." to encourage his staff to constantly study and enhance their
individual skills (Laura Garnett).
Bill Gates never be a person who put a limit on his goals. During his time as CEO of Microsoft, Bill
Gates never pressured his team members to accomplish a certain level of achievement but instead
encouraged them to achieve as much success as they could, even though it could take a long time. Gates
has emphasized to his team the necessity to learn from these failures in order to move forwards
iteratively. Despite his upper-class, Gates is seen as a kind individual outside his charitable activities. He
values "individual consideration" Instead of expressing gratitude to the entire team at once for a job

well done, he expresses gratitude to each individual team member to convey to his employees that each
of their efforts contributed to the project's success. Moreover, all follower's requirements are given
special consideration by transformational leaders. They take on the role of a mentor or coach and pay
attention to the wants and worries of the follower (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2001). This component was
one of the most crucial features of transformative leadership in Bill Gates' eyes. Every employee in the
organization needs a mentor who can lead them and assist them in producing the most outstanding
outcomes.
Bill Gates’s leadership style characteristics
Transformational leadership guarantees that leaders are acutely sensitive to raising their
colleagues' response to what is expected of them and encourages their capacities to provide their best.
Motivational leaders pursue their business partners with a new feeling of purpose that goes beyond
trade incentive programs for the rendered services (Avolio, 2007). Bill Gates showed initiative as a
change leader in his own way. He tried to maintain above-average performance while maximizing
organizational development. He included evolving skills, attitudes, passion, and values in his growth
plan. In assessing the stages of evolution of Microsoft Company Associates, he was able to persuade
Microsoft Company Associates to strive for tremendous heights of performance while upholding the
highest standards of morality and ethics. Transformational leaders are also easily identified by virtue of
their distinct ability to instigate innovation and change inside the company (Pillai & William, 2004). Not
only did Bill Gates' organization benefit from innovation and change, but also the entire globe. After
creating "Windows," he did not merely stop his search; instead, he took on the difficulties of a
constantly changing environment and launched several new products, demonstrating the achievement
of his company via his capacity to shift in the face of change. He can inspire confidence, pride, and
respect in his team members as a transformative leader, and he can successfully convey the goals and
objectives of the company he manages.
Transformational leadership Skills of Bill Gates and how they affected his success
Bill Gates' transformative leadership has not only earned him popularity throughout the world,
but it has also had an influence on his enterprise. Bill Gates has a great idea to integrate organizational
and employee interests. By giving employees widely affordable stock options, Bill Gates brought
employee interests and business objectives into alignment. The connection between firm employees will

become mutually beneficial when each employee owns stock in the company. As a result, the park's
employees will naturally become more motivated to work and more productive.
Bill Gates encouraged Microsoft workers to pursue training opportunities in order to foster
personal development and stay current with technology advancements. This encourages workers and
gives them the information they require to make decisions that are advantageous to the company. From
there, he will adopt employee empowerment when his staff has acquired the necessary expertise to
function autonomously. The most intriguing aspect of the transformative leadership style is this. Team
effectiveness grows as members' levels of empowerment increase (Özaralli, 2003).
Bill Gates is a proponent of justice for all and is deeply concerned with the well-being of people.
This is demonstrated by his decision to form the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a philanthropic
organization whose mission is to advance learning and health standards by supporting student
scholarships and sponsoring medical research.
Being a creative and imaginative person, Bill Gates constantly urged his staff to embrace their
individuality and originality to raise the caliber and productivity of their work. He fostered a culture
where all staff members felt free to contribute their ideas for the organization's expansion. This inspired
Microsoft workers to generate outcomes and find innovative solutions to issues. Microsoft uses many
employee suggestions in the software it creates.
Bill Gates’s weaknesses in his leadership style and the solutions
Everybody has their own weaknesses. It also happens to every leader once and again. In order
to get better, leaders must be aware of their own shortcomings. Ignoring one's imperfections shows that
one is not yet ready to take the reins of leadership. Following is a summary of the primary shortcomings
that Gates has identified as part of his larger leadership philosophy. It is true that when someone is
enthusiastic and educated about a field, they will unintentionally easily become arrogant. In the case of
Bill Gates, He communicates ideas or convictions that he regards as true. He will pursue his
recommendation if he thinks it is the best course of action. Even if other ideas are put out for
consideration, if that strategy does not pan out, his manner of working can wind up being a drawback.
Sometimes Bill Gates is dominated by emotions overshadowing his reason and rational thoughts. Gates'
strong competitiveness with various rivals compelled him to personalize Microsoft's commercial
"battles." Winning is essential to Bill Gates, and he will go to any length to defeat his opponent. Thus, he
may pressure his staff in the most impolite way sometimes and then lead to accusations from his

employees. As a person with a great vision beyond the times, it cannot be helped that Bill Gates has the
above characteristics. However, he needs to be restrained in expressing his emotions negatively and
expressing his desires rudely. This will greatly reduce the pressure on his subordinates and increase the
employees' sense of respect and recognition when working at Microsoft, which will directly lead to
increased productivity.
Most transformative leaders place a higher priority on results than on systems and procedures.
However, Bill Gates occasionally ignored the sequential steps in the process. He regularly chased after
outcomes and occasionally believed that the ends justified the means. Because he was focused on
achieving the objectives and disregarded what he had planned for himself and his staff, he lost track of
those steps. To improve this aspect, Bill Gates must pay more attention to the procedures as well as the
time it takes to implement the strategies he desires because haste makes waste. However, he has a
professional team, and empowering people in accordance with the transformational leadership style
would make it simpler for his employees to implement Bill Gates' strategy in a disciplined and standard
manner.
Connecting with their followers is the main objective of transformative leaders. The goal is to
ensure that everyone on the team is dedicated to attaining a particular goal, objective, or vision. But
whenever he could, Gates avoided conflict rather than face it head-on because he found it
uncomfortable. It can be said that this is a wise way to avoid direct conflict. However, negative energy
may burst and surround a team with its impact when there is a refusal to tackle a problem. Bill Gates
needs a direct secretariat to act as a bridge for him in order to overcome this. Whenever a conflict
arises, the subordinates who work closely with the boss, the person who understands their leader best,
must speak up on their employer's behalf so that he may successfully address the problems and refrain
from promoting miscommunication between the two sides.
Those mentioned above are some of the significant flaws that Bill Gates must overcome in order
to become an ideal transformative leader. Nevertheless, these flaws are minor and will not derail his
road to becoming a great leader.
Conclusion
This essay examines Bill Gates' leadership qualities and approach and there is a lot to learn from
his leadership skill. It is challenging to assess a leader's success without followers. In that sense, Bill
Gates is a successful leader since he is respected and followed by practically everyone. Bill Gates is one

of the most prominent transformative leaders of the 21st century because of his exceptional abilities
and perspective. He has shown to be a compelling and forward-thinking leader. He concentrated all his
energies on achieving his goal since he was clear about it.
Being a transformational leader, Bill Gates persuades their followers to adjust their ambitions to
match the organization’s goals. He is an excellent leader who made Microsoft a market leader under his
leadership. Bill Gates was a visionary leader who encouraged staff to support the company's aims and
objectives. In addition, he promoted innovation and creativity inside the company by leading the
execution of fresh initiatives. As opposed to most other leaders, Bill Gates chose not to use dispute
resolution techniques and instead followed his own recommendations that he thought were acceptable
for the business. But Gates did believe in giving back to society, which emphasizes the rationale for
starting a charitable foundation in the 1990s. Summing up, there are still a few flaws, but given what he
has accomplished, there is no doubt that he will always be regarded as an excellent transformative
leader.

References
Avolio, B.J., 2007. Promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theory-
building. American psychologist, 62(1), p.25.
Beare, H.E.D.L.E.Y., Caldwell, B.R.I.A.N. and Millikan, R.O.S.S., 1997. Dimensions of
leadership. Leadership and teams in educational management, pp.24-39.
Bono, J.E. and Judge, T.A., 2004. Personality and transformational and transactional leadership:
a meta-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 89(5), p.901.
Crawford, M., Kydd, L., and Riches, C., 1997. Leadership and teams in educational management.
McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Dan Moskowitz, 2022, The 10 Richest People in the Word. Retrieved in
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/012715/5-richest-people-world.asp#toc-5-bill-gates
[Accessed 01 October 2022].
Den Hartog, D.N. and Koopman, P.L., 2001. Leadership in organizations. Handbook of industrial, work, and
organizational psychology, 2, pp.166-187.
Judge, T.A. and Piccolo, R.F., 2004. Transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic test of
their relative validity. Journal of applied psychology, 89(5), p.755.
Hay, I., 2006. Transformational leadership: Characteristics and Criticisms. E-journal of
Organizational Learning and Leadership, 5(2).
Laura Garnett, 27 Quotes That Will Change the Way You Think About Success. Retrieved in
https://www.inc.com/laura-garnett/27-quotes-that-will-change-way-you-think-about-success.html
[Accessed 01 October 2022].
Mumford, M.D., Partlow, P.J. and Medeiros, K.E., 2013. Charismatic leadership in crises: Its
origins and effects on performance. In Handbook of research on crisis leadership in organizations (pp.
67-91). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Gates, B. and Nadella, S., Leadership and Change Management.
Pillai, R., and Williams, E.A., 2004. Transformational leadership, self efficacy, group‐
cohesiveness, commitment, and performance. Journal of organizational change management.

Snyder, S., 2013. Leadership and the art of struggle: How great leaders grow through challenge
and adversity. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
St. Thomas University, 2018. What is Transactional Leadership? How Structure Leads to
Results. [Online] Available at: https://online.stu.edu/articles/education/what-is-transactional-
leadership.aspx [Accessed 01 October 2022].
Van Eeden, R., Cilliers, F. and Van Deventer, V., 2008. Leadership styles and associated
personality traits: Support for the conceptualization of transactional and transformational
leadership. South African Journal of Psychology, 38(2), pp.253-267.
Özaralli, N., 2003. Effects of transformational leadership on empowerment and team
effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.