Chapter 111 - Source Code: My Beginnings
Today’s Chapter is based on the book “Source Code: My Beginnings”, a memoir written by Bill Gates.
Bill Gates is famous for co-founding Microsoft, the world’s largest software company with his friend Paul Allen and led the company as the CEO until 2000.
Previously on Bill Gates:
Here’s what I learned:
Keep Learning
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”
— Henry Ford
From a young age, Bill Gates demonstrated an interest in reading and in taking a proactive approach to learning. He was often seen devouring books and immersing himself in subjects that piqued his interest. His love from reading was certainly nurtured by his grandmother whom he called “Gami” and who had this famous saying: “The more you know, the more you don’t know.”
Gates explains that “After my grandfather died, Gami started to teach me to read for myself, helping me sound out the words in The Nine Friendly Dogs, It's a Lovely Day, and other books in our house. When we had worked through all of those, she drove me to the Northeast Seattle Library to load up on more books. I was aware that she read a lot and seemed to know something about everything.”
Similarly, Gates’ parents were also a big reason for Gates’ love for reading. As a matter of fact, books were the only thing his parents never questioned spending money on. As such, Gates had the luxury of having many books at home. Notably, Gates mentions that “One of our greatest treasures was our 1962 set of the World Book Encyclopedia. It amazed me how much was in those twenty red-and-blue volumes with their slick pages and bright illustrations, particularly the neat see-though plastic pages of bones, muscles, and organs that lay on top of each other to compose a complete human body. The World Book volumes were a door to nature, geography, science, politics, and pretty much all the knowledge of the world, from what I could tell. When I was around nine, I read through nearly every volume, A-Z.”
Later on, as an adult, Bill Gates always took aside some free time from his work at Microsoft to read and to learn. As he once said, “I got in the habit of setting aside a block of time for myself at Hood Canal that I called Think Week. Once or twice a year I’d drive or take a seaplane taxi out to spend seven uninterrupted days poring over books, articles, and papers—a crash course in whatever I felt I needed to learn.”
"Through reading I could find answers to all sorts of things. And of course, one answer often raises even more questions; the deeper you dig, the more you want to know."
— Bill Gates
This reminds me of how Thomas Jefferson’s intellectual curiosity was also a driving force that propelled him to greatness throughout his life. As we have learned previously, Jefferson possessed a boundless thirst for knowledge, devouring books on a wide range of subjects, from botany and architecture to law and political theory. This passion for learning was not merely an academic exercise; it was integral to his understanding of the world and his vision for a better future.
As a matter of fact, Jefferson was known to be an avid book reader. He had a library of over 2640 books in his house in Monticello. Jefferson once said, "I cannot live without books.” As Thomas Fleming explains, “His love of books was nothing less than passionate. When his library went up with Shadwell's smoke, he remarked that it was worth 200 pounds—perhaps $5,000 in today's dollars. "I wish it had been the money," he [Thomas Jefferson] said.”
Game Theory
“I think I actually learned most about building businesses from playing StarCraft.”
— Tobi Lutke
As we have previously learned, Bill Gates’ success at Microsoft is partly due to his understanding of game theory in business. Morton Davis, the author of the book “Game Theory”, explains that “The theory of games is a theory of decision making. It considers how one should make decisions and to a lesser extent, how one does make them. You make a number of decisions every day. Some involve deep thought, while others are almost automatic. Your decisions are linked to your goals—if you know the consequences of each of your options, the solution is easy. Decide where you want to be and choose the path that takes you there.”
Similarly, Bill Gates understood that to win over the competitions, he had to make sure Microsoft products was the standard in the industry. As a matter of fact, Microsoft used the standard-setting strategy to win control of the market in languages and operating systems. This idea of “We Set the Standard” became the company’s motto and Bill Gates’ core business philosophy.
“It was clearly not enough for Microsoft to beat the competition; Gates wanted to eliminate his opponents from the playing field. Bill learned early on that killing the competition is the name of the game. There just aren’t as many people later to take you on. In game theory, you improve the probability you are going to win if you have fewer competitors.”
— James Wallace & Jim Erickson
This understanding for game theory was certainly cultivated in Bill Gates from an early age. In fact, Gates believes it came from his grandmother who was a master at card games. He explains, “My grandmother had a finely tuned state machine for cards; her mental algorithm methodically worked through probabilities, decision trees, and game theory. I couldn’t have articulated these concepts, but slowly I started to intuit them.”
Due to Gami, games, particularly card games, were a central part of family gatherings at the Gates household. As such, he had no choice but to quickly learn to excel in these games. As he explains, “In my family there was no faster way to win favor than to be good at games, especially card games. If you were confident in rummy or bridge or canasta, you had our respect, which made my maternal grandmother, Adelle Thompson, a household legend. "Gami's the best at cards" was something I heard a lot as a kid.”
More importantly, playing games as a youngster allowed Bill Gates to build the skills necessary for him to become a great programmer. As a matter of fact, Gates through his thirst for learning on his own and through his card playing abilities was able to become an expert in a field that at the time was mainly thought as complex. As he once said, “Card playing taught me that no matter how complex or even mysterious something seems, you often can figure it out. The world can be understood.” With how important games are to Gates’ life, it is not surprising that his first ever computer program was a game of tic-tac-toe.
“To anyone who plays cards, this is basic stuff. The more closely you can track your opponent's hand, the better your chances of winning. Still, to me at that age, it's a revelation. I see for the first time that for all the mystery and luck in a game of cards, there are things that I can learn to increase my chances of winning. I realize Gami isn't just lucky or talented. She's trained her brain. And I can too.”
— Bill Gates
Find Your Passion
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
— Mark Twain
While Bill Gates is often known for co-founding Microsoft, one of the greatest technology companies of our time, through reading his memoir, it is clear that it took him some time before finding his passion in life. As a matter of fact, Gates explains that when he was younger “Like most kids I spent almost zero time thinking about my future, aside from a vague notion that I wanted to be a scientist, or maybe a lawyer like my dad. But at that age, it's hard to envision how getting the right answers on tests translates into a life beyond school, let alone the distant horizon of a career.”
Nonetheless, even though he didn’t have an idea on what he would do as a career, Bill Gates was certain that he wanted to make money. Gates mention that when he was young, he would often read biographies of successful people with his friend Kent Evans in order to figure out what career path would allow them to make money in the future.
“Together we read through a stack of biographies of famous people, leaders like Franklin D. Roosevelt and Douglas MacArthur. We spent hours on the phone dissecting their lives. We analyzed the paths they followed to success with the same teenage intensity that other kids at that time spent deciphering "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." What about going to West Point and becoming an Army general? We learned how MacArthur was programmed from an early age to pursue a military career. We compared that path with General Patton, who sort of fell into his life as a brilliant soldier and leader. For historical perspective we read books on Napoleon, marveling at his genius and his terrible flaws. The only way to really distinguish yourself was to be a war hero, we decided. But neither of us wanted to go to war. Cross general off the list. How about the U.S. Foreign Service? We found that only political appointees seemed to get the best jobs, and based on a report Kent had ordered from some government office, the pay for embassy staff was low. Off the list. What about becoming a professor? They had clout and the freedom to research cool things, but Kent worried again that the pay might be low. Or a politician? Maybe a lawyer like my dad?”
— Bill Gates
As a matter of fact, even though Gates was interested in computers, he did not initially believe it would become his career path, especially if he wanted to make money. As he explains, “(The idea that programming computers could lead to riches wasn't even in the cards at that point.) The big industries around us were banking, shipping, and timber. The software industry wasn't among them. Not in Seattle. Not anywhere. We had no models for that. Still, we hoped we could make a little money off our programming abilities. Like some kids do cutting lawns, but more fun.”
Bill Gates’ search for his passion is also a reminder of the importance of finding a field where you have an advantage. When Gates was at Harvard University, he had the intention to become a mathematician, as he believe that math was the purest area of intellect. As he explains, “In my emerging worldview, the logic and rational thinking demanded by math were skills that could be used to master any subject. There was a hierarchy of intelligence: however good you were at math, that's how good you could be at other subjects—biology, chemistry, history, even languages. My model, as simplistic as it was, seemed to be borne out at school, where I felt I could map a student's math ability to their broader academic achievement.”
However, after a few classes at Harvard, he quickly realized that if he pursued mathematics, he would never reach the top as some of his classmates were way better than him. That’s when he decided to move on to work fully on becoming a computer programmer and which led to Gates starting Microsoft with Paul Allen.
“My inability to do better in that class forced me to reconsider how I thought of myself. I so deeply identified with being the smartest, the best. That status was a shield behind which I hid my insecurities. Up until then, I had experienced only a few situations in which I felt someone was hands-down better than I was in some intellectual endeavor that mattered to me, and in those cases I soaked up what they could teach me. This time was different. I was recognizing that while I had an excellent math brain, I didn't have the gift of insight that sets apart the best mathematicians. I had talent but not the ability to make fundamental discoveries. I saw a vision of myself in ten years: teaching in a university but not good enough to do groundbreaking work. I wasn't going to be a John Mather, operating in the zone where math touches the deep secrets of the universe.”
— Bill Gates
This reminds me of what we have previously learned from Naval Ravikant who understood the importance of developing specific, scalable knowledge that is authentic to you. As he once said, "Apply specific knowledge, with leverage, and eventually you will get what you deserve."
As Naval puts it, "If you're looking toward the long-term goal of getting wealthy, you should ask yourself, 'Is this authentic to me? Is it myself that I am projecting?' And then, 'Am I productizing it? Am I scaling it? Am I scaling with labor or with capital or with code or with media?' So it's a very handy, simple mnemonic."The key is finding what is genuinely meaningful and valuable to you, and then figuring out how to transform that into a scalable business or wealth-generating asset.
More importantly, Naval Ravikant cautions against simply trying to imitate or copy what others are doing successfully. This is because everyone’s specific knowledge is unique to him or her:
"The specific knowledge is sort of this weird combination of unique traits from your DNA, your unique upbringing, and your response to it. It's almost baked into your personality and your identity. Then you can hone it. No one can compete with you on being you."
— Naval Ravikant
This perspective encourages individuals to embrace their uniqueness and leverage their personal experiences and innate talents. Instead of trying to fit into predefined roles or following conventional career paths, Ravikant suggests that true success comes from identifying and developing one's unique abilities.
As a matter of fact, Ravikant believes that the pursuit of specific knowledge is closely tied to genuine curiosity and passion. He explains that following one's authentic interests is more likely to lead to the development of valuable specific knowledge than chasing after the latest trends or hot job markets.
"Specific knowledge is found much more by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity, and your passion. It's not by going to school for whatever is the hottest job; it's not by going into whatever field investors say is the hottest."
— Naval Ravikant
Naval Ravikant points out that the good thing about specific knowledge is that it can be learned. This is especially true with the creation of the internet which has dramatically expanded the potential for leveraging specific knowledge. As Ravikant once said, "The internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers. Most people haven't figured this out yet. You can go on the internet, and you can find your audience. And you can build a business, and create a product, and build wealth, and make people happy just uniquely expressing yourself through the internet."
Beyond the Book
Read "A System for Remembering What You Read" by Farnam Street
Read "Use These Simple Strategies to Retain Everything You Read" by Farnam Street
Read "Mental Model: Game Theory" by Farnam Street
Listen to "#41: Tobi Lütke: The Trust Battery" by The Knowledge Project
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