Bill Gates has stretched the idea of demanding excellent work from his staff to a new high when he divulged in an interview how he used to snoop on employees by memorising their licence plates. In his candid interview to BBC’s Kirsty Young which ranged from his early childhood days to his rivalry with Steve Jobs, Bill Gates gave this bizarre response on a question on whether if he was ruthless as CEO.

“I worked weekends, I didn’t really believe in vacations,” Gates said. “I had to be a little careful not to try and apply my standards to how hard [others at the company] worked. I knew everybody’s licence plate so I could look out the parking lot and see, you know, when people come in. Eventually I had to loosen up as the company got to a reasonable size.”