From a short stint at Harvard to a friendly
rivalry with Steve Jobs, today we look at
the Truth About Bill Gates.
Number 8.
Clever Youth
Prior to becoming one of the richest, most
successful men on Earth, Bill Gates was still
incredibly intelligent, even at a young age.
While in private school, he had access to
a school computer long before the majority
of the United States.
He used General Electric to write his first
computer program, which was a simple version
of tic-tac-toe for users to compete against
the computer.
Gates' naturally quick-learned programming
skills led to his school allowing him to plan
the class schedule.
But with great power comes great responsibility,
the likes of which Gates might not have been
mature enough to handle.
He used this deed to place himself in classes
with "nice girls", citing his "below average"
social skills when talking to girls.
Number 7.
Ambitious Dropout
Though his brilliance took him to Harvard
after high school, Gates was destined to lead
the front of the computer revolution...or
so he thought when he chose to drop out at
just 19 years old.
Thanks to various programming opportunities,
Gates and friend and future Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen had saved up a good sum of money,
and when the time was right they decided to
follow their gut and start a company.
Providing initial funding, including enough
to hire a handful of employees, they began
their epic foray into running a business,
learning as they went.
"We got to make a lot of mistakes because
it was all new," Gates said of their beginnings.
"How do you go do business in Japan?
I'm hiring people who are older than me, and
I can't even rent a car because I'm not 21
years old.
So it was really frantic."
One of his strategies for dealing with this
brand new stress in his life, and how to handle
problems as they sprout up, was driving his
first car, a Porsche 911, through hills near
New Mexico his home.
This worked fine until one night, Gates ran
a stop sign while driving without a license.
He has since built a cleaner driving record,
though his rebellious youth still pops up
as a topic in interviews from time to time.
Number 6.
Competitive Nature
Gates has always strived to do the best he
can do and be the best he can be, and with
that level of ambition comes a healthy sense
of competition.
One story tells of Gates's time at Atari when
he was shown a simple computer game by Fred
Thorlin, the Director of the Atari Program
Exchange in the early 80s.
Gates initially lost 35 out of 37 games, but
a month later, he was able to either win or
tie with Thorlin every game after studying
it thoroughly.
Another tale from Thorlin speaks of a time
when Gates was scheduled to speak to a user
group.
Filled with feelings of trepidation, he went
to the venue ready to deliver a half-hearted
speech...until he witnessed a crowd of more
than 2,600.
Rising to the challenge, Gates swiftly changed
his perspective and delivered an astounding
presentation.
Once asked if he considered himself ruthless,
Gates responded, "No, only if you define having
super-low prices as ruthless.
It's hard to compete with somebody who's betting
on the volume and saying, 'Hey, we're going
to have these super-low prices.'
That's very intimidating and in that sense,
yes we were aggressive."
Perhaps the most famous rival to the Microsoft
founder, Steve Jobs enjoyed an adversarial
friendship with Gates.
They began working together as Microsoft would
provide software for the Apple II PC before
Gates would release their own Graphical User
Interface, known as Windows, to compete with
Apple in 1985.
But their contention remained in good spirits,
and after Jobs became ill, Gates states their
relationship became more mellow, saying "it
was more of a friendship that was reflective".
Number 5.
No Days Off
Today, Microsoft has more than 144 thousand
employees, with a headquarters stationed in
Redmond, Washington.
However, back when the company first began,
there were so few employees that Gates was
able to commit their license plates to memory...which
he did to keep track of when employees would
arrive to and leave from work!
His focus on success and progress kept him
glued to his work.
"I worked weekends, I didn't really believe
in vacations," Gates tells.
"I had to be a little careful not to try and
apply my standards to how hard [others at
the company] worked."
As the company grew, this level of surveillance
would ease up, and the billionaire would quit
his scrutinizing observations.
Gates was so infatuated with his work at one
point, that he almost missed his shot at love!
While in his twenties and most of his thirties,
he confesses, Gates was committed to letting
his life revolve around his job, leaving no
room for frivolities like marriage or children.
But then he met Melinda French, and everything
changed.
After falling for her, he made the decision
to rethink his priorities, and has enjoyed
a much more relaxed schedule since, though
he believes his past self "would look at [his]
schedule now and find it very wimpy indeed."
Number 4.
Valuing Knowledge
As a youth, Gates thoroughly read the World
Book Encyclopedia in its entirety, finding
joy in the nonfiction works his elementary
school library provided.
He has many favorite books, but one of them
that's stuck with Gates since his teenage
years is "The Great Gatsby."
This novel, he claims, is the one he rereads
the most and shares his love for the book
with his wife Melinda.
Each year, Gates makes sure to read at least
50 new books, keeping his mind, and wit, sharp
as he tackles new problems, in the tech world
and society alike.
With a knack for reading, studying for tests
was a breeze, as shown by the 1590 out of
1600 score he received on his Scholastic Aptitude
Tests, or SATs, that would get him into Harvard
College.
His thirst for knowledge was so great in college
that he devised an unusually varied course
schedule during his short time there.
Choosing to major in pre-law, he would also
study mathematics and enroll in graduate level
computer science classes, and spent the majority
of his time on school computers.
During his second year at Harvard, Gates would
develop an algorithm to solve a mathematical
problem known as pancake sorting, crafting
a solution that would hold a school record
as the fastest version for more than 30 years.
So while he may not have been there long,
Bill Gates's brilliance left a lasting effect
on the prestigious college.
Number 3.
Personal Wealth
Through his efforts, Bill Gates has built
a legacy and fortune that can only be rivalled
by a handful of people throughout history.
Gates had hoped to become a millionaire by
the time he was 30 years old, but was off
by a year, hitting his goal at the age of
31.
His current net worth is 103 billion dollars,
and is just behind Amazon's Jeff Bezos as
the list of the world's richest people.
When he briefly eclipsed a net worth of 100
billion dollars in the 1990s, the media even
tried to coin a new term to describe his wealth,
referring to him as a "centibillionaire" for
a short time.
Despite this, he's attempted to remain fairly
frugal with his expenditures, having ridden
in coach seating up until 1997, well after
becoming a billionaire.
But eventually, he caved in and went the complete
opposite direction when he purchased his own
plane, a Bombardier BD-700, at a price of
40 million dollars!
He also owns a 125 million dollar mansion,
a massive collection of luxury cars, and a
collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci
called the Codex Leicester , which he bought
for 30.8 million dollars in 1994.
While his riches might be tremendous, Gates
has said that he doesn't intend on leaving
it all to his children, stating his plans
to leave a modest 10 million dollars to each
child after he's gone.
Number 2.
Philanthropic Pursuits
With more money than they know what to do
with, the Gates family have turned their attention
to charity and philanthropic pursuits for
the last two decades.
In 1999, the couple founded the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation and have spent the following
years pouring a good percent of their fortune
towards a collection of noble causes.
Through their own wealth, along with funds
raised through extravagant events, they've
turned their Foundation into the largest private
philanthropic institution in the world.
Collectively, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
has put forth over 40 billion dollars towards
objectives like fighting diseases like AIDS,
malaria, and tuberculosis.
They've funded the construction of libraries
in the United States, as well as agricultural
development in poverty-stricken countries,
providing sustainable crops to the foreign
nations.
In 2010, Gates convinced colleagues Mark Zuckerberg
and Warren Buffett to pledge half of their
fortunes to charity when they signed the "Gates
Giving Pledge".
Gates is so devoted to making a difference
in the world that in 2014, amidst the chaos
of the viral Ice Bucket Challenge that had
gained popularity on social media, he answered
the provocation of Zuckerberg, withstanding
a bucket of ice water to help raise awareness
and funds for ALS research.
Of course, he made sure to do it in classic
Bill Gates fashion, engineering a device to
dump the freezing water in a video that has
since garnered nearly 29 million views.
Number 1.
Other Passions
While being a billionaire, tech genius, family
man, and philanthropist can keep him busy,
Bill Gates still attempts to make time for
his other passions.
Along with his aforementioned love for reading,
Gates also enjoys staying active.
He's an avid bridge, golf, and tennis player,
and he's enjoyed playing against an impressive
list of opponents.
Gates has competed doubles tennis matches
with partner and 20-time Grand Slam champion
Roger Federer against Pearl Jam's Mike McCready
and John Isner , as well as the Today Show
host Savannah Guthrie and Jack Sock for charity.
He regularly faces off with fellow billionaire
Warren Buffett at the bridge table, having
shared an instructor in two-time international
bridge champion Sharon Osberg.
Gates also enjoys popular board games like
"Settlers of Catan", and generally enjoys
rock music, citing his favorite bands as Weezer
and U2.
