Name: Bill Gates
Occupation: Former chief executive officer of Microsoft (currently a part-time non-executive chairman), current co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Career Highlights: Turned a gift for writing programming code into an operating system that revolutionized computing and had a great deal to do with the rise of personal computers in the United States. Built Microsoft into a global empire fully deserving of the term, designing their products for non-technical consumers. Managed to guide his company through anti-trust lawsuits, industry criticism, and clunkers like Microsoft Bob. Amassed nearly incalculable levels of personal wealth, to the point of becoming a "centibillionaire" for a brief period of time. Is now a dedicated philanthropist.
Dominant Pattern(s): Driver, which shouldn't surprise anyone considering Microsoft's market dominance. In fact, he was responsible for the company's product strategy during most of their expansion. Unfortunately, he was as temperamental as his pet operating system, berating Microsoft's senior managers and program managers during meetings with them; jabs like "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" and "why don't you just give up your options and join the Peace Corps?" were commonplace during meetings. He has since left Microsoft to focus on his philanthropy, but he remains a very defensive guy, if his response to criticism of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is any indication.
Recommendation(s) for Improvement: Collaborator exercises, and pronto. Bill has shown that he can delegate (however combatively), but like Vince McMahon, he needs to learn how to calm down and take things more in stride. Unlike Vince, Bill doesn't have a public record of goofball antics to build from. It might also behoove Bill to keep his Visionary mojo flowing with peripheral vision and breathing exercises. Not to say that Bill isn't an inventive and curious person - he is - but keeping his approach open and expanded will help him in this new stage of his career and make him easier to be around, as well.
