Bill Gates as an Ethical Leader: Virtue vs. Ruthlessness

Introduction: Gates as a Polarizing Figure

Ranking among the richest men in the world, Bill Gates has unsurprisingly been a widely debated personality. His business and leadership practices have been considered both innovative and ruthless. The term innovative is used to define a person who introduces novel, creative, and original ideas, whereas a ruthless person is one without empathy or pity for others (Merriam-Webster, 2018).

Bill Gates is regarded as one of the most highly influential twentieth-century computer magnates, having founded Microsoft, which created the most widely used PC operating system alongside a broad range of popular organizational software. At present, he heads the largest charitable organization in the world — the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Thirty years as the leader of Microsoft gave Gates the reputation of one of the globe's most ruthless capitalist leaders. However, ever since his focus shifted to charitable work, he has begun showing a more empathetic side (Ethical Corporation, 2008). Therefore, Gates warrants recognition as an ethical manager and leader, at the very least for inspiring a renewed pursuit of organizational social responsibility, in which firms are genuinely able to do well and, thus, do good.

Virtue Ethics and Community Character

Velasquez and colleagues (2008) believe that the sense of "community" lies at the core of the virtue ethics approach. An individual's character traits do not develop in isolation; rather, they are cultivated by and within their respective communities, which include families, educational institutions, religious institutions, and other public and private associations. With growth and maturity, an individual's personality is greatly influenced by the values prized by his or her community, the traits that community encourages, and the role models — represented in movies, folk tales, soap operas, fiction, and other media — whose traits people tend to imitate.

The virtue ethics approach encourages one to focus on community contours and the character traits cultivated or encouraged by that community. Thus, the ethical life is not merely a matter of abiding by moral rules and applying them to particular situations. Rather, it also encompasses attempts at understanding how one ought to be and concentrating on both one's own character development and the community's overall character development (Velasquez et al., 2008).

Bill Gates as an Innovative Leader

Ethical leadership rests on several basic principles: knowledge, humility, honesty, fairness, equality, and an understanding of the leadership role. Microsoft Corporation is one archetypal example of a company that has embodied the ethical leadership approach. Founder Bill Gates demonstrated his personal core values of intensity, zeal, and persistence, and then articulated a vision that the elimination of inequality could help improve the world. Gates brought his behavior into alignment with this vision by explicitly managing and directing his resources, energy, and time toward making the world a better place — ultimately establishing a family charitable foundation to advance his philanthropic efforts (Culcchuttant, 2016).

Conclusion

The ethical leadership strategy is based on human, moral, community, and leadership development concepts. Bill Gates has been described as an entrepreneur, business magnate, programmer, philanthropist, author, and investor. His achievements across different spheres reveal both his talent and his capacity to apply his capabilities effectively. Microsoft and Gates' collaborations with other firms have contributed to the company's growth and progress over time. His tenure at Microsoft highlights his restorative qualities, and his software development zeal kept him pushing forward through innovation and vision.

Gates' public image has greatly transformed — from that of an exceptional but ruthless entrepreneur to that of a full-time charitable worker. As an individual who has, over time, developed virtues and naturally tends to bring his behavior into alignment with moral values, Gates may rightly be considered an ethical leader.