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In 2000, during the high road of Microsoft’s success, Bill Gates wrote and published the book Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy. Within he wrote about four leadership tips that he applies:
1. Take two “retreats” every year.
“Leave your office to develop long-range strategies.” Leadership transcends the tactical management and leads the strategic initiatives. A great way to refresh and refocus is to get out of the mold, so you can gain a different perspective on where things are heading.
2. Read books on other topics.
“Read books on topics that don’t pertain strictly to your business or industry. It’s the best way to maintain a broad perspective.” Leaders need to open up broad channels of input; you need to assess what other industries are doing as they impact yours. Microsoft did not attain its level of success by forgetting about their customers were doing. Their customers were small and medium businesses in healthcare, government, finance, and “mom and pop” shops, etc. All these other industries are intertwined with all the rest of the world.
3. Identify problems early.
“Identify problems early by tracking “exceptions,” such as sales figures that suddenly sag for a particular product. Jump on them right away.” Know what to expect and you will find anomalies. Once you found an anomaly, you have found a potential problem worth exploring. But, all in all, you need metrics in place to track anything.
4. Stop at the end of each day
“Stop at the end of each day to analyze how well you used it. If you wasted time on things you didn’t need to do, eliminate them tomorrow.” Just imagine how much more efficient and effective you will be!
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Sylvia khavere // Oct 15, 2008 at 4:30 am
The information you are giving out is very important and iwould like to be receiving such leadership tips on my yahoo mail.The tips are much building and if there could be samples of magazines on such you can also send to(address removed for privacy).for further references.Thanks and happy to have that.
2 Jonathan Frye // Oct 15, 2008 at 7:46 am
Hi Sylvia,
I signed you up to get updates in your email; anyone can subscibe at no cost by clinking on the link at the top, right of front page of this blog about leadership where it says, “Click here to get updates in your email inbox.”
Also, sorry, but at this time, I do not have any magazine samples.
Thank you,
Jonathan Frye
3 scintillating1 // Nov 1, 2008 at 8:59 pm
What is the thread here, that you find interesting? I’ve not found general missives like this (biographical ’successories’ — nuggets from a life) to be particularly interesting or relevant. I am most curious why you take the time, here and now, to regurgitate these bits of Bill Gates wisdom?
4 Jonathan Frye // Nov 2, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Well, I have found it to not only be interesting, but also valuable to listen and learn from people who have achieved notable success. While someone who may attempt the exact steps that Bill Gates took in starting Microsoft would, today, probably never achieve any success, let alone, similar success; it is still valuable to know what Bill Gates breaks down to routines that he has found to benefit him over the years.
Humans are creatures of habit and those habits can either compliment success or become obstacles. What Bill Gates mentioned in his book are things that I never learned before, but rather only learned about around the same time that I posted this article. I would guess that there are probably several other readers of this blog who have never heard these tips from Bill Gates, but are interested in reading about them – whether they follow them or merely use them as “food for thought” in their own habits for success.
5 Brian Tracy Videos // Nov 6, 2008 at 8:37 am
The information you are giving out is very important , thank you
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