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How to Think like the World's Greatest High-Tech Titans

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How to Think like the World's Greatest High-Tech Titans

Business Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, Carly Fiorina, Steve Jobs, Scott McNealy and other Titans of the High Tech World

McGraw-Hill,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Bill Gates, Andy Grove, Carly Fiorina, Steve Jobs and Scott McNealy. Need we say more?

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Erika Brown profiles 16 computer and Internet industry leaders in this informative and entertaining book. A senior reporter for Forbes, Brown brings a journalist’s insight to each profile and seeks to extract the ideas and strategies that made each of these over-achievers successful. She packs plenty of information into chunks that seem a bit short for a book, but are at least longer than today’s standard magazine profiles. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of her profiles is the way many of them reveal the dynamics between two powerful leaders at companies like Microsoft and Intel. getAbstract com recommends this book as a brief introduction to the men and women whom history will record as the titans of turn-of-the-century technology.

Summary

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

Best friends since college, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have worked together at Microsoft since 1980. While Gates’ first partner, Paul Allen, helped launch Microsoft, Ballmer helped Gates make the company into a multi-billion dollar powerhouse. In 1998, Ballmer was named president of Microsoft, and then in January 2000, Gates made his partner CEO and director. Gates remains chairman and chief software architect of the company.

Ballmer and Gates have very different leadership styles. Both are mathematicians, critical thinkers and perfectionists, but Bill is merely demanding while Steve "rules with an iron fist." They have learned a lot from each other over the years. Ballmer helps Gates see things from a marketing and logistical perspective. Gates empowers Ballmer to be "somewhat of a visionary." The New York Times wrote, "The relationship between Mr. Gates and Mr. Ballmer... will make the organizational changes work." Gates told Business Week, "We love working together on hard problems. We trust each other and we each understand how the other one thinks."

Paul Allen and Bill Savoy, Vulcan Northwest

In 1983, Paul...

About the Author

Erika Brown is a senior reporter for Forbes, covering local business trends and Internet-related stories in Silicon Valley. She has also worked on the Forbes 400.

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