Bill Gates

Before computers gave his concentration a destination, Bill Gates could be baffling to raise. He read constantly, rocked as he thought, had trouble directing his attention, and challenged instructions that made no sense to him. Friendship was difficult. At home, he collided again and again with his mother Mary’s formidable expectations. Gates now describes himself as a “precocious, sometimes difficult kid” who made family life a contest of wills.

His parents decided the conflict needed outside help and took him to the therapist Charles Cressey. Cressey helped Bill see that his parents were on his side, and that independence would come soon enough without waging a permanent war at home. The family changed his surroundings, too. They suggested Lakeside School, where harder academic work and, eventually, a computer terminal gave his consuming attention somewhere productive to go.

Money, educational access, and fortunate timing placed opportunities within Gates’s reach that most children never receive. That advantage is part of the story. So is his parents’ willingness to understand him, ease their grip on a losing struggle for control, and seek a school that could engage his unusual mind. They had no way to know that the Lakeside terminal would lead toward Microsoft. They could see that their son needed challenge, patience, and a family relationship roomy enough to contain his worst behavior.