Lesson #4: Make A Strong Recovery
Lesson #4: Make A Strong Recovery
The path to becoming the richest man in the world and chairman of the world’s largest software company was not without its challenges. From customers going bankrupt in Microsoft’s early days and defaulting on their payments to the company designing machines that were never released, Gates experienced his share of professional failures. Whether it was a product that failed or a hire that didn’t work out, Gates knew what it was to make a mistake. But, in moving past his errors, Gates learned the importance of a good recovery.
A long-time project of Gates’, an APL interpreter that he had almost finished designing, never actually got its feet off the ground. Despite Gates’ hard work, it was decided that there was too small a market for the product. Gates eventually got busy on another project and the APL faded into the past without ever having been shipped. On another similar occasion, Microsoft was contracted to write a code for machines manufactured by Texas Instruments. While they completed the product on time, Multiplan was a failure in the home computer market and the line was discontinued.
Gates learned from this mistake of creating software for 8-bit machines instead of the up and coming IBM PC generation. From that point on, whenever the idea for a new product line came about, Gates would ask himself, “Are we aiming too low, in terms of system requirements…is this another case like Multiplan?” With full confidence in his product, it was his strategy that Gates knew was flawed. And, it was that mistake that allowed Gates to make “one of the best decisions” he ever did. Gates chose to leave the world of DOS and focus solely on Windows and the future of graphical user interfaces.
Gates also admits to having made a number of critical mistakes when it came to retail marketing. Initially using agents in certain countries where Microsoft wanted to expand into, he regards this as a key mistake, preferring now to take a long-term approach and employ his own people. “You should hire people in all the countries you are going to be in and make sure they are there cementing long-term relationships – not just short-term commissions,” he now warns. “I think we learned that one pretty quickly.”
Reflecting on his early mistakes, Gates considers each and every one a part of the learning experience that got him to where he is today. For Gates, making mistakes was simply a natural part of the experimentation process. He always kept his calm and rationalized that every mistake was “correctable”, with the important thing being to “wake up and see what the results were.” What has always been significant for Gates is not the mistakes that he made along the way, but what he learned each time in bouncing back from them. And, there was always something to be learned.
Lesson 4 Make A Strong Recovery
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“There were a lot of missteps in the early days, but because we got in early we got to make more mistakes than other people,” says Gates.
The path to becoming the richest man in the world and chairman of the world’s largest software company was not without its challenges. From customers going bankrupt in Microsoft’s early days and defaulting on their payments to the company designing machines that were never released, Gates experienced his share of professional failures. Whether it was a product that failed or a hire that didn’t work out, Gates knew what it was to make a mistake. But, in moving past his errors, Gates learned the importance of a good recovery.
A long-time project of Gates’, an APL interpreter that he had almost finished designing, never actually got its feet off the ground. Despite Gates’ hard work, it was decided that there was too small a market for the product. Gates eventually got busy on another project and the APL faded into the past without ever having been shipped. On another similar occasion, Microsoft was contracted to write a code for machines manufactured by Texas Instruments. While they completed the product on time, Multiplan was a failure in the home computer market and the line was discontinued.
Gates learned from this mistake of creating software for 8-bit machines instead of the up and coming IBM PC generation. From that point on, whenever the idea for a new product line came about, Gates would ask himself, “Are we aiming too low, in terms of system requirements…is this another case like Multiplan?” With full confidence in his product, it was his strategy that Gates knew was flawed. And, it was that mistake that allowed Gates to make “one of the best decisions” he ever did. Gates chose to leave the world of DOS and focus solely on Windows and the future of graphical user interfaces.
Gates also admits to having made a number of critical mistakes when it came to retail marketing. Initially using agents in certain countries where Microsoft wanted to expand into, he regards this as a key mistake, preferring now to take a long-term approach and employ his own people. “You should hire people in all the countries you are going to be in and make sure they are there cementing long-term relationships – not just short-term commissions,” he now warns. “I think we learned that one pretty quickly.”
Reflecting on his early mistakes, Gates considers each and every one a part of the learning experience that got him to where he is today. For Gates, making mistakes was simply a natural part of the experimentation process. He always kept his calm and rationalized that every mistake was “correctable”, with the important thing being to “wake up and see what the results were.” What has always been significant for Gates is not the mistakes that he made along the way, but what he learned each time in bouncing back from them. And, there was always something to be learned.
Lesson 4 Make A Strong Recovery
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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