Careers Newsletter
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Turn Geeks into Leaders

June 17, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM U.S./ET (GMT-4)

Larry Bonfante, CIO of the U.S. Tennis Association, will discuss the skills and approaches that your rising IT leaders must learn to be effective in an executive capacity.

How to Handle Your New CEO: Managing Turnover at the Top

June 18, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)

Turbulent times have increased turnover at the top. Find out what Council CIOs have done to "break in" new CEOs—build relationships, set expectations, educate on the role of IT.

Mid-Market CIO Panel: Tips and Techniques for Improving Vendor Relationships

July 15, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)

We'll highlight relationship priorities and best practices identified in a Council study, and we'll interact with a CIO panel on the approaches they've used to improve strategic vendor partnerships.

Executive Competencies Assessment Tool

Assess Your Business Leadership Skills with the Council's new benchmarking tool. Rate yourself in change leadership, strategy, customer focus and more.

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 
 

Thank You, Bill

As Bill Gates nears retirement, we consider his legacy.

 

February 06, 2008CIO

Bill Gates will officially retire from Microsoft in July. In the intervening months, a lot will be written about him, his legacy and the company he built into one of the most powerful, innovative and controversial of our time. While many will argue about the nature of the impact Gates has had in the world, no one can dispute that his impact has been enormous.

Founding a company in 1975 that now employs 78,000 people and drives revenue of $51B is remarkable. It has made millions of people wealthy from a monetary and knowledge perspective, made businesses more productive and, until recently, made Gates the wealthiest person in the world.

With the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he and his wife have chosen to give back and help the poor, needy and sick. You might not agree with everything that Microsoft does, or with Gates's vision for the future of high-tech, but there is no denying that his energy toward improving humanity is awe-inspiring. The values that the Gates Foundation rests upon—that "all lives have equal value" and "to whom much is given, much is expected"—defines what Gates will be spending his time on and why, as he waves goodbye to Microsoft.

Gates now seeks to mesh capitalism with philanthropy. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in late January, he called for businesses to exercise a new form of "creative capitalism." Capitalism, he said, "is responsible for the incredible innovations that improve lives." But it only works "on behalf of those who can pay."

"To provide rapid improvements for the poor," he said, "we need a system that draws in innovators and businesses." He acknowledged that profit must be the incentive for business whenever possible (for sustainability) but argued that the benefit of public recognition that "enhances a company's reputation, appeals to customers and...attracts good people to the organization" is a valid incentive that should help companies invest in serving the very poor.

So while many will argue about, comment on and debate the impact of what Bill Gates has brought to business, the world or humanity, I would rather say, Thank you for everything that you have created, and I wish you success in your new journey. Our world will be a much better place if you accomplish in your new endeavors one percent of what you have already achieved.

Other stories by Michael Friedenberg © 2008 CXO Media Inc.
 
 
Loading...
 
WHITE PAPERS

Enterprise Performance Management

15 years after "The Performance Measurement Manifesto" was published by the Harvard Business Review, companies continue to redesign how they measure their business performance.
 

The Future of Collaboration

Oracle Beehive is the only unified collaboration solution built for the enterprise.
 

Exclusive Economist Intelligence Unit Research

Find out why - and how technology can help balance centralized control and individual autonomy.
 

ERP at the Speed of Light

Without the right strategy and tools, implementation acceleration carries the risk of abbreviated end user training and change management, over-engineering of business processes, and other problems that can lead to higher over-all cost of ownership and the erosion of business benefit.
 

Maximum Efficiency Gains with Virtualization

Learn best practices to optimize your infrastructure and operations department and gain the most from virtualization.
 

Manage Virtualization Initiatives

Learn how you can better manage virtualization initiatives to recognize this technologys maximum value.
 

WEBCASTS

Management Excellence: Linking Process, Operations for Agility and Profit

Linking Process, Operations for Agility and Profit
 

IT Consolidation Made Easy

The Primary IT Initiative for Reducing Costs
 

Webcast with Dan Vesset: Investing in Business Analytics Technology

What exactly is business analytics and why should you care? Dan Vesset of IDC and Gaurav Verma of SAS answer this a...
 

Capitalize on Your SAP Content

After 18 years of partnership and over 3,000 successful customer deployments, Open Text has become SAP's premier pa...
 

Enterprise Cloud Computing: Ready for Primetime?

The progression toward enterprise cloud computing is happening today, as industry leaders deploy technologies that ...
 

Preparing Your Business Services for the Future

Would you trust your network monitoring tools enough to know when something is truly halting a business service? Wh...
 

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Disciplined Autonomy: Resolving the Tension Between Flexibility and Control

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

Accenture: Outsourcing for Competitive Advantage. More...

Better spam protection with Postini for just $1/user/mo

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Accenture IT Consulting: Logical meets technological. More . . .

The Fraudster Economy Model: Operating a Business in the Underground

Get agile IT security with CA Security Management

Trade in your old laser printer and get up to $1000 back!

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Revolutionizing Enterprise Application Deployment

Why Data Loss is Increasing--and What You Can Do About It

Data Loss Prevention: A Better Way to Approach Security

Learn how to managing client systems in the enterprise.

Build a High-Performance Open Web Platform

Mid-Sized Company CIO Community: infoBOOM!

Enterprise PBX Comparison Guide

Getting Value from Outdated Networking Equipment

Top-line Performance that's Bottom-line Efficient

White Paper: 8 Key Ingredients to Building an Internal Cloud

Read about virtualization and consolidation effort best practices

Building the Virtualized Enterprise with VMware Infrastructure

The Global Marketplace Today: Strategies for Tough Times

Top 10 Business and IT Drivers for the Wealth Management Sector

Get Google Enterprise Search for your business information.

Accenture IT Consulting: Enabling high performance. More...

Top Five CIO Challenges

Insight makes it easy to spend your Microsoft subsidy check.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

Dangerous Collaboration Practices: 5 Ways IT Can Minimize Risk

Accenture: Outsourcing for uncertain times. Click to learn more.

Payback in 9 months with CA Spectrum solutions

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Developing A Dynamic, Real-Time IT Infrastructure

Maximizing the Business Value of the PC Infrastructure

Communications and Collaboration Needs at Business Organizations

Using Open Source to Deploy Web Applications

Cloud Computing: Read about VMware's compelling vision & set of products

Enterprise PBX Buyer's Guide

Secondary Market Primer: Your Network at Half Price

How Interactive Viewer Reduces the Effort to Meet Visualization Requirements

Stop Application Fraud at the Source with Device Reputation

Learn about the VMware vSphere (TM) & Intel (R) Xeon (R) Processor 5500 Series

Learn how a virtualized enterprise can help your company reduce costs

Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More?

Learn how to save 30% through project & portfolio management.

How Open Source is Changing the Face of Enterprise Software