Question: What has been your key to success?

 

Bill Gates: Well, coming up with a simple explanation for the kind of success, that ah, I’ve, I’ve been 1)privileged to be part of working at Microsoft, It is very difficult. Certailnly there’s many elements to it. the vision of the company coming right, when the 2)micro-processor was coming into it’s own, the focus on software, and working with partners who could bring in the other elements, the focus on the long term, hiring great people, really working with customers, knowing that we’d be there working with them ten years later and twenty years later. All of those have come together to build a great success story, that’s been 3)incredibly fun to be part of it. I think, the people is probably the thing I’d put at the top. Vision has got to be a big part of it, but so many of these things, you know, really come down to day-to-day 4)execution. If we’d 5)slacked off at any point, then you know there would have been plenty of people to come in and take our place, and there’s certainly the case as we look forward, that we have to continue to obsolete the products, continue to stay in close touch with the customers, continue to hire in great people and stand on top of the technology, or else, the 6)phenomenon will continue, but we won’t have the role in it that we, that we have today.