Perhaps I should have started my post with the cheerleading "Rah, rah, rah" instead of saving it for the end. Actually, I think Larry really wants people to say how great he is. He does not just want to succeed, he wants to do it publicly. Can you think of any other reason for Oracle releasing daily press releases about Larry's yacht's progress in a race (not this past week's tragic Hobart-to-Sidney race, this one was a year or two ago) which he won handily, always mentioning that he was beating, among others, the CEO of SAP. Bill Gates also wants his ego to be stroked. The Barbara Walters interview (Look at me, I'm just like you, only smarter and richer. I even took voice lessons to learn how to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to my daughter. Aren't I a great guy?) is great to contrast with his deposition testimony (I don't know what you mean by "market share" - and - No one writes "urgent" on the e-mail, the computer does, ha, ha, ha).
I didn't think you were trying to put down Larry. I just find it interesting that a person like Larry Ellison, who I believe to have a great track record at envisioning future technical advances, is viewed by many as a Bill Gates wannabe, while Bill's great expertise seems to be in knowing whose technology to co-opt and sell to the world as a Microsoft innovation. Each are lucky in their own way, but it is also said that you "make your own luck". Perhaps Larry excels at "making luck" and Bill is expert in "seizing" it. Your father was right. The difficult thing is making sure you are looking at her when Lady Luck is smiling.
My apologies if you interpreted my post as any kind of personal attack. That is certainly not what I intended.
-Michael |
