Famous Thinkers Paper
Bill Gates Bill Gates, formally known as William Henry Gates III, was the co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation in 1975. It was not until the 19080s when this company really became a known corporation. Bill Gates was known for being an aggressive person that went after his ideas and did think twice about what his peers opinions were of him. Bill Gates found himself in the middle of a lawsuit and parted from the company in 2008 [ (Oxford World Encyclopedia, 2012) ]. Bill Gates began working on programming at the age of 13 and was able to show people that his innovations and business style were successful and profitable. Many people would assume that someone as successful as Bill Gates would be a straight A student that worked and studies hard. On the contrary Bill Gates and his partner spent most of their time in computer labs and studied just enough to get passing grades. It wasn’t long before both of them dropped out of college and formed Microsoft. Bill Gates and his partner met with IBM and he was so young that people at the meeting thought that he was an office assistant not the co-owner of Microsoft that was writing complex computer problems. Bill Gates and his ideas opened the door for computer systems and change how personal computers would operate. They were made more user friendly and accessible to everyone. The personal computer would soon be in everyone’s home and Microsoft Office would soon be in every business’ office [ (bio.True Story, 2013) ]. Bill Gates’ personal situation would stop many people from succeeding as he did. His parents did not want him to leave college, he was young and did not have a lot of money, but he had the drive and knowledge to be successful. He saw that people needed a more user friendly computer and software and invented it. He worked hard and went through every single line of his software to ensure that it was correct, and worked diligently to sell his ideas. He was very aggressive in his business tactics and stood behind his ideas and sold them to very important companies like IBM. I think that Bill Gates grew up in a normal home, but just saw that there was an opportunity for improvement, that is was sparked his creativity. He knew what people wanted to do, but most people didn’t know how to get it done. He did, he knew that society and business’ needed a common format for letters and spreadsheets. People were spending too much time on date entry and that was a problem. In his mind was the solution. In my opinion Bill Gates is the example of a creative thinker. He is hardworking, daring, independent, resourceful, and dynamic [ (Ruggiero, 2009) ]. He invented a new software that no one had seen or used before but they needed. He met with big business’ that he knew through his partner or through previous networking. His networking allowed him to be the one person to sell his ideas to IBM where his biggest break was. His business strategy was daring and some felt overly aggressive, but that helped businesses trust him. He was so confident that people trusted him. Bill Gates knew that he had a challenge in front of him, he knew people thought he was too young and was a college drop out at the time. He embraced his challenges and turned them into opportunity. He approached his partner and they discussed the problem of outdated computers and software. He investigated the problem and found that a more efficient PC could be the answer. Bill Gates and his partner started producing ideas and writing software programs to solve their issue, presented their ideas to large companies and became two of the most wealth men [ (bio.True Story, 2013) ].
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the man that delivered the famous “I Have a Dream” address. He was not only a civil rights activist but a Baptist minister. This patriot was on the forefront of the creation of many Civil Rights movements that are still in place today. He was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and was tragically assassinated in 1968. It is evident where his motivation came from. He had lived in a time where he was not allowed to grow up in a free nation, he was not allowed to vote and he was treated with multiple acts of disrespect growing up. His father was also a successful minister. Martin Luther King Jr. was an educated man and against all odds he earned his doctorate degree. He stood for the people during the bus boycott after Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white man and remained on the forefront, protesting for equal rights for all mankind [ (bio. True Life, 2013) ]. King’s idea was simple equality, although his battle was complex and raged on after his assassination. His solution was to test the boundaries. Many cities had laws in place that allowed equal rights, but most of the time these laws were not followed. King implemented his ideas by going into businesses that were supposed to have equal seating, protesting businesses that didn’t follow the law and making it known to people that their disrespectful actions were not acceptable [ (bio. True Life, 2013) ]. For King there was not much searching that needed to be done, there was an obvious challenge for all black people. Through King’s connections he was able to get a forum and a following to be able to express his disdain for the current political status. He did not have to do much investigating into the issue as most of the issues were on the forefront of the political debate and the upcoming presidential election. His idea was to protest, rally, and speak to the people [ (bio. True Life, 2013) ]. Both innovators had an obvious problem to battle. Bill Gates’ problem was not a problem of passion though. Martin Luther King Jr. had a battle of passion which made him more successful I think. Bill Gates made Forbes list of the most wealthy persons, but Martin Luther King Jr. had laws passed and Civil Rights Movements were made because of King’s actions. I think that Bill Gates had a good approach to his issue though, he was smart about it and met with big companies to get a following and a networking base. King had many followers but at times the reading suggests that he went into businesses that knowingly segregated and protested. I feel that this is fighting with emotion and not brains. If I could change anything about King’s approach I would have quietly gained a larger backing of the white people of communities and had them boycott the businesses as well. This would have been a more subtle but successful approach to the segregation issue. Gates was a smart man and I feel that he was appropriately aggressive with his issue and solution. However I would have at least continued for a college degree. Many people look up to leaders such as Gates and to see that he is so successful without a degree may show some young people that they can do that same thing. I think that Gates is an exception not a norm. On the other hand King had his doctorate and was a well educated man , he was well spoken and well respected in his community, this helped him largely in his efforts to end segregation. Both men were very successful in their endeavors whether it was making millions of dollars or earning a Nobel Peace Prize and getting laws passed to contribute to the end of segregation. Both had an idea and went after that idea, society is better today because of their actions.

References

bio. True Life. (2013). Martin Luther King Jr. Biography. Retrieved January 21, 2013, from bio.True Story: http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086?page=4 bio.True Story. (2013). Bill Gates, Biography. Retrieved January 21, 2013, from bio. True Story: http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520
Oxford World Encyclopedia. (2012). Gates, Bill. Philip's.
Ruggiero, V. R. (2009). The Art of Thinking. Pearson Education.