A Gate-a-way.

It's been almost a week now since the celebrated Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates stepped down from office. As an aspiring entrepreneur myself, I have always kept my ears open to the words that spring out of his mouth every now and then. Like many great men of the previous centuries whose words continue to be quoted long after they're gone, Gates will be be no exception.

There's little that remains unsaid of his scholastic, professional and financial genius; and Blogger wouldn't bail me out if I were jailed for repeating it. For a couple of days now, I have been keeping myself busy with Robert Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers. An interesting incidence that points out repeatedly in this book, and even as History has put into spotlight: there are always the theorists, and there are the practical men. Theorists will 'study' patterns and trends and show light into the way of the future. That is how consultants have always earned their bread and butter in any field. No one better than Peter Drucker in Management Circles and futurist Alvin Tofler pop up into my head here. I haven't read of much of Drucker myself; but the number of volumes that carry his name on the cover page across the book shelves of the world speak for themselves of the guru. I personally adore, respect, follow and worship Alvin Tofler. Call this clan as Toflerians, but if the previous sentence made you want to jump out of the window for lack of comprehension, I would at least urge you to read The Third Wave (one of the most influential books of the last century) before doing so. But Bill Gates would figure ahead of the two gentlemen. Having opened the doors of the information age, he has always operated ahead of the rest of the world by at least 5 to 10 years. What does that mean?

The 5 to 10 years window is not necessarily in the sense of a visionary. Most men/women that have achieved anything significant in life have all been visionaries. Bill Gates, as of today, can say what exactly technology will look like in some years from now. Picture this as the look out in a ship standing atop the sails and warning people on the deck know of what lies ahead. And the man is pin point accurate to what he says. Having started out as a programmer, he went on to play a sales man pitching the world to buy into his software, then built a strong business system and provided super leadership. Besides this, he's donned on other caps as a successful investor. an economist (he's a regular face at the World Economic Forum in Davos annually), a futurist, a writer and more recently as a philanthropist. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is far bigger than the Rockefellers' or the Fords'. In charity size does not matter, but then, it matters.

He deserves all the accolades that have been bestowed on him. Thanks Bill for the new age! I'm proud to have lived on this earth at a time that he did.