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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Business Lessons Series:
Bill Gates
A company's ability to respond to an unplanned event, good or bad, is a prime indicator of its ability to compete.
– Bill Gates
Use your dominating position to get rid of your competitors
After Gates licensed his operating system to most personal computer manufacturers, he then set out to dominate the world of personal computer software by developing Word and Excel.
After taking off, find out how you can dominate the emerging industry.
Adjust your business to revolutionary innovations that can threaten your company
One criticism levelled at Gates, especially by many information technology professionals, is that Microsoft used its dominance to stifle many evolutionary innovations. This criticism is valid, but does not reflect the nature of evolutionary innovations. A dominant company can acquire an evolutionary innovation (as Facebook has done with WhatsApp), imitate it (as Microsoft did with Excel and Word) or do nothing because the innovation does not have the firepower to be threatening. The evolutionary innovation may be like developing a better knife for a gunfight. It may work if you have also developed a better strategy.
But revolutionary innovations like the internet may require a massive response. The emergence of the internet and the launch of Netscape threatened Microsoft's dominance. By adjusting to the internet and destroying Netscape, Gates kept Microsoft in the game and in the lead.
Jump on new emerging trends when they threaten your existence and dominate them.
Invest to make history
Gates and Jobs brought personal computers into the modern age when they used the graphic user interface (the mouse) that was originally developed by Xerox. This innovation made personal computers easier to use and allowed all of us who know how to click to use it. Jobs introduced the Macintosh. Gates prevailed with Windows. This took him to the top of the computer world and hurt both IBM and Apple. Jobs was kicked out and built Pixar. When he returned after four failing CEOs at Apple, and Apple was on its last legs, Gates invested in Jobs (Apple). This enabled Jobs to turn Apple into one of the world's great companies.
Invest in great people
Contributed by
Oye Jolaoso
PAGE 4 INSIDE ACCESS | SEPTEMBER 2020 1ST EDITION