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Michael's Entrepreneurial Spirit |
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Michael is 8:
Michael makes a serious attempt to earn his high school diploma
more quickly by passing a test and invites a person from a testing
company.
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Michael is 12: Michael embarks upon his very first business
venture. Fascinated with stamps and commercial opportunities they
offer, Michael creates his own stamps auction. He wants to bypass
traditional auctioneers, learn more about stamps, and collect a
commission in the process. Michael gets a bunch of people in the
neighborhood to consign their stamps to him; advertises "Dell's
Stamps" in Linn's Stamp Journal; types, with one finger, a
twelve-page catalogue and mails it out. He earns $2,000 and learns
an early, powerful lesson about rewards of eliminating the
middleman. He also learns that if you've got a good idea, it pays to
do something about it.
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Michael is 16: Michael gets a summer job selling newspaper
subscriptions to The Houston Post and learns the power of
market segmentation. The newspaper gave Michael a list of new phone
numbers issued by the telephone company and tells him to cold call
them. Michael soon notices the pattern, however, based on the
feedback he is getting from potential customers during these
conversations. There are two kinds of people who almost always buy
subscriptions to the Post: people who have just married and
people who have just moved into new houses or apartments. Michael
hires a couple of his high school buddies to search for such people.
He creates a personalized letter for high-potential customers.
Michael earned $18,000 that year, more than his school teacher did.
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Michael is 18: Michael, a freshman student at the
University of Texas in Austin, applies for a vendor's license and
starts selling high-performance computers upgraded by him. He
declares he ultimately wants to compete with IBM and registers the
company "PC's Limited".
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Michael is 19: Michael incorporates "Dell Computer
Corporation" with initial start-up investment of $1,000. He finishes
his freshman year and leaves the University to devote himself to the
venture, full-time.
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Michael is 26: Michael
becomes the youngest CEO of a company ever to
earn a ranking on the Fortune 500.
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The Power of Passion
Michael
Dell, born in February 1965, is fascinated with computers. In 1980, he
purchased his first computer – the Apple II – and promptly took it apart to
understand how it was designed and made. In 1983, 18-years old Michael
declared he ultimately wanted to beat IBM and started conducting a lucrative
business out of his dormitory room at the University of Texas, selling
upgraded PCs and add-on components.
Today, Michael Dell is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Dell Computer
Corporation, the company he founded in 1984 with $1,000 and an
unprecedented idea – to build relationships directly with customers. He
served as CEO of Dell Computer Corporation from 1984 till 2004.
Dell Inc. is a premier provider of computing
products and services to customers from consumers to the world's largest
corporations, including many of the companies on the Fortune 500.
With the
addition of Dell Inc. to this list in 1992, Mr. Dell became the youngest CEO
of a company ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. The company
currently ranks No. 6 on Fortune magazine's Global "Most Admired" list.
Michael Dell is the author of Direct From Dell:
Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry, his story of the rise of the
company and the strategies he has refined that apply to all businesses. Mr.
Dell is an IT governor of the World Economic Forum, serves on the executive
committee of the International Business Council and is a member of the U.S.
Business Council. He also serves on the U.S. President's Council of Advisors
on Science and Technology, the U.S. President's Export Council and the
governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.
Lessons from Michael Dell: Developing The Fast-Paced Flexible
Culture
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Set a Common
Goal. Mobilize your
people around
a common goal. Help them feel a part of something
genuine, special, and important, and you'll
inspire real
passion and loyalty...
More
More About / From Michael Dell
Making Effective Decisions...
Opportunity-driven Business Development...
The Fun
Factor...
Reassessing Past
Decisions...
Management By
Wandering Around...
Turn Your
Customers Into Teachers...
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