Source Code

Bill Gates, Sr. (1925-2020; born Bill Gates III, later Bill Gates, Jr., but now known as Bill Gates, Sr.) was the father of Bill Gates and an important source of support for the Gates family, especially his wife. He is depicted as a “deliberate and unapologetically pragmatic” man who was keenly aware of how his actions affected others and acted accordingly (23). Although he was born Bill Gates III, he changed his name shortly after joining the army: “[C]onvinced that the implied status of ‘the third’ would invite ridicule and abuse by drill sergeants and Army peers, he legally stripped off the suffix and replaced it with ‘Junior’” (31). This anecdote reflects an awareness of how others perceived him and a desire to be seen as an ordinary person by his peers and superiors, unlike his son, who wanted to be seen as extraordinary.

Throughout the memoir, Gates’s father is depicted as an important source of support for his family. Gates notes that his father “supported [his] mom’s ambition to a degree that [he] think[s] was rare for the time” (71), encouraging her to pursue a career in a time when women of her class were expected to be housewives. When Gates’s father was nominated for a judgeship, “as prestigious a position as you could get” (274), he rejected the position because he knew that “as the wife of a judge, [Mary Gates] might have had to cut back her activities at a time that her career was thriving” (274). This anecdote suggests that he was keenly aware of how his actions affected others and was willing to support his wife’s dreams even at the expense of his own career. In this sense Gates’s father was a balancing force for his ambitious son and wife.

Mary Gates (1929-1994; born Mary Maxwell) was the mother of Bill Gates and a central figure in the early years of his life. Gates’s depiction of his mother suggests that her personal ambition had a deep influence on him and helped inspire his career. He notes that although she “would never have called herself a pioneer,” she was nevertheless “very much on the cutting edge of what a woman could accomplish in the restrictive workplace world of her time” (71). In a time when many women of her class were expected to remain in the home, Mary was “the first woman to be director of a large Washington bank and the first woman president of King County United Way (and later chair on the national level of the charity as well)” (248). Her ability to navigate male-dominated spaces while maintaining strong community values shaped Gates’s understanding of leadership and philanthropy. Gates’s depiction of his mother suggests that she was an ambitious woman whose success was central to her identity.

Mary’s ambition stretched beyond her own career to her goals for her children. In the Epilogue, Gates attributes his success to his mother, acknowledging that “her expectations bloomed into an even stronger ambition to succeed, to stand out, and do something important” (321). From the moment her children were born, she had a clear “image of how the Gates family should present itself” (37). As evidence of this ambition for her children, Gates describes a summer road trip when his mother “put together a travel log for [his] sister and [him], two pages per day on which [they] were to record what [they] saw” (53). By forcing her children to fill out this travel log, Mary “ensured [they] were giving [them]selves lessons in geography, geology, economics, history and even math […] and in the thrill of noticing things, the art of paying attention” (54). This meticulous approach to education and personal development suggests that Mary played an active role in shaping her son’s intellectual curiosity and strategic thinking, traits that later defined his career.

Kent Evans (1955-1972) was Bill Gates’s childhood best friend and was an important early influence in his life. Evans’s early death while mountaineering was a landmark moment in Gates’s life, inspiring him to pursue their shared love of computers. Evans is depicted as an outsider whose ambition and bravery inspired Gates even after his untimely death. Like Gates, “Evans didn’t easily fit into the established cliques at Lakeside” (95). Unlike Gates, however, Evans “didn’t care” about his status as an outsider: “[S]ocial position, and even what others thought of him, didn’t seem to touch [him]” (95). Evans’s lack of concern with how others perceived him distinguished him from Gates, who made an intentional effort to shape his classmates’ view of him.

Evans’s primary trait was his ambition, which had a powerful influence on Gates as an adolescent. Even as an eighth grader, Evans “was always talking about where he wanted to be in ten years, in twenty years, and strategizing how to get there” (97). Gates writes that his friend was “certain he was destined for great things and had just had to figure out the best of the many paths to achieve them” (97). The use of the words “strategize” and “best paths” in these passages suggests that Evans’s ambition was paired by a clear sense of how to achieve his goals. Gates is explicit in acknowledging Evans’s influence on his life, writing that Evans’s “ambition would help spark [his] and channel [his] prodigious competitive drive” throughout his life (98). Unlike Gates’s rivalry with Paul Allen, his friendship with Evans was defined by encouragement rather than competition, providing a model for camaraderie that differed from the rivalries that would later fuel Microsoft’s success. Evans’s ambition was paired with “optimism about what he—and [Gates]—could accomplish” (166). Until the end of his life, Evans remained “boldly optimistic about [their] futures” (318). The focus on optimism in these passages highlights the importance of this trait in Gates’s understanding of his friend.