Bill Gates talks to Bill Gates, Sr. @ 92Y

Tonight, at the 92nd Street Y, Bill Gates was in conversation with his dad, Bill Gates, Sr. He asked him to share with other parents his thoughts about having a bright child. The father led off by saying, "You had a really great mother." He added that the curious thing in this country is that the quality and the impact of parenting has an enormous impact on where we go in our lives. Information on how to do it seems to be lacking. One of the most important things in your life is how your kids are doing or how they've done. Later, Bill Gates added that his parents shared with him things they cared about, made him feel worthy and never sugar-coated things. That helped him have no hesitation as a young man about selling Microsoft ideas to people 20-30 years older than him. "Doing Microsoft didn't seem like that big of a deal," he said.

A question from the audience was about Malcolm Gladwell's theory that the years 1953-1955 were the perfect years to be born for those interested in microprocessing. (That many of Silicon Valley’s giants were all born within 3 years of each other (1953-1955), or that 14 of the 75 richest men/women in human history were born in the 1830s begins to seem less than accidental. The story is not that luck alone brought these people to success, but that there is often more to the story when people rise to stardom, and good fortune. When asked if he thought he became successful because of luck, innovation, risk taking or creativity, he said Microsoft was built up on a depth of engineering, whereas other companies were involved in just one product. He felt being there early helped, and success bred success. It was something that hadn't been done in the world and they were careful about taking one step after another. Mr. Gates felt that being young and open-minded at a time when the microprocessor was invented was a plus. Older people didn't 'see it' because they weren't as open-minded. He attributes luck and fanatical behavior to making magical things come together.