MGT5LIC : Leadership Innovation And Change

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).