How did gates become the chairman of the board of

How did gates become the chairman of the board of directors?

just after a thousand years, Bill Gates, then 44, was surprisingly good at damping and vibration damping. Unexpectedly, he announced that he would hand over the CEO of Microsoft, who had been in charge of Microsoft for 19 years, to his friend Steve Ballmer of the same age, while he himself changed the position of chairman of the board of directors and concurrently served as the chief designer of Microsoft. The fact that Microsoft maintained growth in the next few years proved that this move not only made Gates realize that timely giving up means more ownership, but also made more and more competitors respect him. As chairman of the board, Bill Gates and his Harvard alumnus Ballmer joined hands to continue the myth that Microsoft empire dominates the world software industry: in fiscal year 2005, Microsoft created a total profit of $16.5 billion, and still has a cash reserve of $35billion after paying a dividend of $33billion

gates, who ranks behind the chairman of the board of directors, also seeks his government in his position. He carefully constructed the board of directors of Microsoft, because he knows the value of an efficient and professional board of directors to the lasting foundation of Microsoft, and he should be responsible for the composition and operation efficiency of the board of directors

the role of the chairman of the board of directors

Sir Ralph wahan Williams once made an appropriate metaphor - the chairman of the board of directors is like a conductor in a symphony orchestra, "the symphony orchestra must be separated from the accidental concentration of a group of players. Without an overall corporate vision, the art and skills of a single player are worthless." The role of the chairman of the board of directors is to integrate these musicians into a symphony orchestra

gates is such a conductor. There are nine people on the board of directors of Microsoft, including Bill Gates, chairman of the board, Steve Ballmer, CEO, James cash, a former professor of Harvard Business School, Raymond Gilmartin, former president of Merck pharmaceutical company, Ann coleraugus, honorary chairman of Aspen Institute, David Marquardt, partner of August capital, Jon Shirley, former president of Microsoft Helmut punk, chairman of the board of BMW, and Tina daburon, former CFO of JPMorgan Chase, who just joined

it is not easy to command an enterprise through the board of directors, and the board of directors is not a very natural governance structure. The board of directors will not operate efficiently because it gathers competent and honest people at the meeting table. Gates spent a lot of time and patience to gather the people Microsoft needed to form an efficient board team

first, look for candidates. Gates searches for candidates for the board of directors through various channels, including recommendation by friends, using his personal relationship, or relying on the headhunters he has worked with. Sometimes he also brought in some senior executives from large companies to join his board of directors, such as Raymond Gilmartin, the former CEO of Merck, and Helmut punk, the chairman of the board of BMW

secondly, evaluate each candidate effectively. The board of directors is a team. Like other teams, the board of directors also needs to be composed of people with different characteristics. This requires an evaluation of each director candidate. Gates comprehensively considered their experience and background, made judgments on the personality, motivation, advantages and disadvantages of each member of the board of directors, and ensured that the characteristics of each member of the board of directors were played properly. Among the nine directors of Microsoft, except for gates and Ballmer, the other seven are from their respective fields of expertise. For example, Helmut punk is the first board member outside the United States. Gates said: "Helmut punk will bring a valuable global perspective to the board of directors. As the chairman of one of the most successful companies in Europe, his experience will be invaluable." Gates sincerely told every director that the goal of the board of directors is to make the members of the board work like a team, so as to achieve performance that exceeds their respective work. Of course, it also requires Bill's ability to listen, lead and motivate, as well as the running in time of the whole board of directors

thirdly, ensure the transparency of the nomination process. As chairman of the board of directors, Gates also served as chairman of the nomination committee of Microsoft's board of directors, which made bill legally have a certain degree of influence. For the nomination process of director candidates, but it is not a random combination. Gates generally tries to keep it transparent. He will fully explain his reasons for choosing a candidate to shareholders and strive for the support of board members. In September, 2003, gates proposed to the general meeting of shareholders to increase the number of the board of directors from the current 8 to 10 on the grounds of "strengthening corporate governance". The board of directors of Microsoft unanimously agreed to join the board of directors with Helmut punk, 57, chairman of BMW, and Charles nosky, 51, former vice president of at&t. In November of the same year, the shareholders' meeting of Microsoft passed this proposal

responsibilities of the chairman of the board of directors

the responsibilities of the chairman of the board of directors are personalized and often vary from person to person. They will vary with the board of directors and the CEO of the company served by the chairman of the board of directors, as well as with the different development stages of the company. Specifically, the chairman of the board of directors needs to decide what he wants to do and what he can do. He must also decide what is important in different matters and how to balance the various responsibilities he holds. Because maintaining a balance between various creative conflicts with the same fundamental interests is the biggest challenge facing the chairman of the board of directors. As a team leader, the responsibility of the chairman of the board of directors is to turn the potential advantages of the company into reality, with a view to realizing the overall company vision

Microsoft has been the chairman and CEO for a long time. After seeing his shortcomings in implementing strategies and managing the company's daily affairs, Bill Gates hired management genius Steve Ballmer to take over the CEO position and spent most of his time on the technology he was good at, so that the board of directors could more accurately formulate the company's future development strategy

Microsoft is a technology company. If it wants to be ahead of the industry, it must pay attention to technology. The company must have a top technology decision-maker. However, whether in Microsoft or other companies, the CEO has no time to manage technology at all, while many so-called "chief technology officers" are scientists without real power and cannot decide the direction of technology development. Now, the decision-maker of Microsoft is Bill Gates, the chief architect of Microsoft

as the chief architect, Bill Gates' work is to formulate the company's long-term technology roadmap and confirm that the scientific research plans of each administrative department of the company are complementary rather than overlapping. He also coordinates the investment of the company's software, avoids the overlapping investment of the seven major commercial departments, and is responsible for determining the allocation of technical resources of the seven major commercial departments of the company in various R & D directions. He can also allocate limited resources to the technical fields with the most development potential or the most fierce competition according to his own judgment on the technical direction

Bill Gates takes two periods of time every year to think alone in a "closed door" way, which is called Gates' "thinking week". Before the "thinking week", gates will ask elites from all departments to provide him with a lot of reading materials and technical advice in their personal areas of expertise. During the "thinking week", Gates' usual working method is to immerse himself in reading the screened materials and technical suggestions, write down his ideas, think quietly, and finally make some important decisions that have a great impact on the company's technology strategy, and then submit them to the board of directors for deliberation

such a "thinking week" has created immeasurable value for Microsoft. In the eyes of Microsoft people, it is an "asset" and is nicknamed "bill asset". Board members regard Bill's time as a strategic asset, and will spare time for gates to think every quarter despite all difficulties

Quality of chairman of the board of directors

Paul Allen, one of the former directors of Microsoft who has retired from the board of directors of Microsoft, once said, "I am very satisfied with my experience of meeting my own needs and even the needs of the world over the years as a member of the board of directors of a dynamic and extremely successful enterprise like Microsoft. I am also honored to work with a wise person like Bill." This partly explains Bill Gates' personal qualities. The openness of Gates' personal quality has also become the cornerstone of the perfect cooperation between the Microsoft board of directors

in fact, the qualities that a chairman of the board of directors should have are similar to those required by successful people in other fields. Honesty, integrity and judgment are always the most important qualities. In addition, an excellent chairman of the board of directors should also focus on cultivating listening, leadership and the ability to condense the board of directors into an efficient team, and other qualities needed to lead the board of directors

in 1995, when Bill Gates announced that he would not be involved in products in the Internet field, many employees raised objections. Among them, several employees directly sent letters to gates saying that you made a wrong decision. When gates found that many people he respected held objections, he spent more time meeting with these employees and communicating with the board of directors. Finally, he wrote the article "Internet wave", admitted his fault and reversed the development direction of the company

gates strives to create a real open discussion environment in the debate of the board of directors. When he participates in the discussion, he will be ready to accept any decision of the board of directors, and he participates in the discussion for no other purpose, just to find a better way to solve the problem. He believes that an authoritarian chairman of the board will only turn the board into an executive body

if gates and the directors disagree on the proposal, they will not argue about their own position, but on the case, focusing on the proposal that led to the debate. Usually, gates will communicate with the directors with different opinions in advance to let the directors know his views, rather than forcefully cramming his views to the board from the beginning. But in the end, gates will frankly accept the decision made by the board of directors

second, the chairman of the board of directors should have the ability to integrate. The chairman of the board of directors needs to unify the different clues of a complex matter to make the problem consistent. Management skills are becoming more and more professional, so there is a tendency for directors to specialize in a narrower and narrower field. As a result, their unique experience determines the way they deal with problems. Therefore, the chairman of the board of directors must treat the company as a whole and consider the surrounding environment as the decision-making background