Bill Gates and The Road Ahead

This post is revisited to remember the birthday of Bill Gates, October 28.

BIll Gates' The Road Ahead

Bill Gates: Microsoft Co-Founder, Technologist, Business Magnate, Philanthropist

A Quote from Gates’ old book The Road Ahead

One of the books written by Microsoft’s co-founder, Bill Gates, that has inspired me and most likely a lot of information technology folks out there, is one of his earliest books, The Road Ahead. I was then an IBMer when I got hold of this motivating book.  Somehow, I never forgot his message about ‘failure’ – or – on the positive note, forging the road ahead.

I’m quoting Gates, which I think is appropriate, as we occasionally psyche our minds especially when our careers seem stymied or in a slump.

Mr. Gates said:

“When I was nineteen I caught a look at the future, based my career on what I saw, and I turned out to have been right. But the Bill Gates of nineteen was in a very different position from the one I’m in now. In those days, not only did I have all the self-assurance of a smart teenager, but also nobody was watching me, and if I failed – so what? Today, I am much more in the position of the computer giants of the seventies, but I hope I’ve learned some lessons from them.”

~ Bill Gates, American co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, philanthropist, business magnate. The Road Ahead, Viking Penguin, New York, 1995.

Bill Gates is a leftie, didn’t you know?   —  Lefty Bill Gates

This post was originally written June 15, 2011.
Post updated October 28, 2011