#174 What I Learned from Michael Dell
What I learned from reading “Play Nice But Win: A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader” by Michael Dell.
Today’s Chapter is based on the book “Play Nice But Win: A CEO’s Journey from Founder to Leader” by Michael Dell.
Michael Dell is an American billionaire entrepreneur best known as the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world’s largest technology infrastructure companies. He started the business in 1984 from his college dorm, pioneered direct‑to‑customer PC sales, and became the youngest CEO ever of a Fortune 500 company at age 27.
Here’s what I learned:
Be Curious
“Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”
— Samuel Johnson
A key trait that drove Michael Dell to success in business was his curiosity. He was simply a curious kid who wanted to know how things worked. While other children might have been content to simply use their toys, Dell was the one taking them apart. This relentless curiosity became the engine of his entrepreneurial journey. Dell writes, “I was extremely curious, maybe the most so in the family. It was a trait my parents really encouraged in all of us. A lot of exploits other kids might’ve gotten punished for, they just smiled at. My brothers and I were always taking things apart around the house to see how they worked. My specialty was anything with electronics in it—telephones, televisions, radios. Most of the time I put them back together.”
Dell’s curiosity wasn’t limited to hardware. He absorbed business and economic knowledge the way other kids absorbed comic books. His family’s dinner table conversations revolved around the Federal Reserve, oil prices, and stock markets. By the time he was a teenager, he was reading The Wall Street Journal at summer camp and following the stocks he had invested in. This intellectual hunger never left him. He explains, “When my mom and dad talked, it wasn’t gossip or chitchat. They were constantly discussing the economy: What was the Federal Reserve doing? Where were oil prices and interest rates and currencies and the stock market? We had Forbes and Fortune and Barron’s in the house; we used to love watching Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street Week. Even before my mom started working as a stockbroker, she had these huge Value Line books, with pages and pages of information on individual companies. I soaked it all in.”
“I don’t know why people aren’t more curious, and why curiosity isn’t considered a more important leadership trait. A journalist once asked me if I was ever bored as a kid. I only had to think about it for a second: I never was, not even for a minute, because I was so curious. Every day I’d wake up excited by all the new things there were to learn about.”
— Michael Dell
As such, it is not surprising that Michael Dell argues that curiosity is an undervalued leadership quality. As a matter of fact, when he was running Dell, he was constantly asking himself “how” and “why” questions. He started his company mainly because he was wondering why customers couldn’t get exactly the computer they wanted without retail markups.
And more importantly, Dell explains that leaders who stay curious avoid complacency. They surround themselves with people who know more than they do and constantly seek to understand new developments in technology and business. He mentions, “Change, true transformation, is a race with no finish line. Which means there’s so much more out there for me—for all of us—to learn about. How cool is that?” The lesson is clear: the moment you stop asking questions is the moment your organization stops growing.
“Curiosity. Have I mentioned curiosity already? It’s so important, I’ll say it again: Always be learning. You want to have big ears. To listen, to learn, and to always be curious. To be open to ambiguity. Design your company from the customer back.”
— Michael Dell
This reminds me of how innovation can come from being curious and asking the right questions. Similar to Dell, Ingvar Kamprad’s leadership at IKEA is a perfect example of how challenges can turn into opportunities through innovative problem solving. As a matter of fact, many of IKEA’s innovations did not come through a deliberate strategy from the outset but evolved as a response to practical difficulties. Kamprad’s willingness to rethink traditional methods allowed IKEA to carve out a unique niche, demonstrating that innovation often arises from necessity.
One example of this is the development of the self-assembling furnitures and of flat-packing which became an industry standard but first started as a solution born out of logistical woes. Kamprad explains that “Perhaps it could be said that reality forced the innovation upon us. We had begun to experience a worrisomely high percentage of damaged furniture in transport—broken table legs and that kind of thing, and the European insurance companies were beginning to grumble. The more “knockdown” we could produce, the less damage occurred during transport and the lower the freight costs were; that was the logic of it.“
This forced adaptation not only solved the immediate problem of damaged goods but also revolutionized the furniture industry, reducing shipping costs, storage space, production costs and ultimately, the price for consumers. As Kamprad mentions, “It was not difficult for me to see the advantages of self-assemble furniture and the superiority of flat parcels. Flat parcels saved enormously on storage and freight, and in the long run they were to be the prerequisites for the next step: customers taking home parcels of large furniture themselves.”
As a matter of fact, this issue with logistics led to the introduction of “Max”, the first self-assembly table that marked the beginning of a design philosophy called “democratic design” which is functional, affordable, and adaptable to mass production. Kamprad mentions that “A design that was not just good but also from the start adapted to machine production and thus cheap to produce. With a design of that kind, and the innovation of self-assembly, we could save a great deal of money in the factories and on transport, as well as keep down the price to the customer.”
“In IKEA’s business philosophy, the whole matter should be inscribed as a golden rule: regard every problem as a possibility. New problems created a dizzying chance. When we were not allowed to buy the same furniture that others were, we were forced to design our own, and that came to provide us with a style of our own, a design of our own.”
— Ingvar Kamprad
This lesson is invaluable for modern businesses. By embracing challenges as catalysts for innovation, whether through new product designs or process improvements, companies can stay ahead of the curve. Kamprad’s story teaches that the most groundbreaking ideas often emerge when leaders are willing to question the status quo and adapt creatively to their circumstances.
Execute!
“To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.”
— Steve Jobs
One of the strongest lessons we can learn from Michael Dell is that ideas matter, but execution matters more. He was not the only person in the industry to see PCs as the future, but he was the only one to imagine and execute on his idea of direct-to-consumer sales. What separated Dell from other players was the discipline to turn those ideas into a working operating model. Dell writes, “Ideas are a commodity. Execution of them is not. Coming up with a great idea or strategy is necessary but not sufficient for success. You must execute. This requires detailed operational discipline and understanding.”
Dell mentions that executing on an idea is not easy, especially when you are just starting. You really need to make sacrifices to succeed. He mentions, “Iʼd been happily working sixteen-hour days, eating at the office, sleeping at the office. My work was my life; my company was my second family. Anyone who says you can start a company and have work-life balance is lying.”
In Dell’s situation, his execution of his idea is even more impressive because he did it at such a young age and without any capital. He made up for it through hard work. He explains, “In the few hours when I wasnʼt working, I was devouring books about leadership and management, learning about all the things I didnʼt know. I was twenty-one— a curious and ambitious twenty-one, to be sure, but there was a lot I didnʼt know.”
“Did we know what we were doing? Yes and no. My entrepreneurial boyhood notwithstanding, I had never run a business before, so there was that learning curve to climb. But it wasn’t just learning to run a business; it was learning to run a business that wasn’t like other businesses—even though on the surface, PC’s Limited looked like many other computer businesses.”
— Michael Dell
Luckily for Dell, the lack of capital actually became an advantage for him. He explains, “And yet of all the many companies trying to imitate us by making build-to-order PCs and getting them out the same day, plus offering free technical support by phone, we were the only one that thrived and succeeded. We didn’t start building to the customer’s order because we saw some massive paradigm in the future. We started that way because we didn’t have the capital to mass-produce. It turned out to be a pretty lucky handicap. And many of the biggest lessons we learned in the company’s formative years came about in the same seat-of-the-pants way. We experimented and improvised our way to success.”
Michael Dell’s story reminds me of Jason Fried’s belief that starting a business today a lot more accessible than ever before. Fried insists that with technology, there is a lower barrier of entry for people to launch ventures without the risks and resources it once required. This technological shift democratizes opportunity, making it possible for anyone with an idea to enter entrepreneurship.
On this, he writes, “There’s a new reality. Today anyone can be in business. Tools that used to be out of reach are now easily accessible. Technology that cost thousands is now just a few bucks or even free. One person can do the job of two or three or, in some cases, an entire department. Stuff that was impossible just a few years ago is simple today. You don’t have to work miserable 60/80/100-hour weeks to make it work. 10-40 hours a week is plenty. You don’t have to deplete your life savings or take on a boatload of risk. Starting a business on the side while keeping your day job can provide all the cash flow you need. You don’t even need an office. Today you can work from home or collaborate with people you’ve never met who live thousands of miles away.”
Fried’s own experience in entrepreneurship with 37signals (now Basecamp) exemplifies this. He started small, sharing office space and handling customer support himself. He argues against the misconception that you need a ton of capital to start your own business is false and this is especially true in service businesses such as consultants, software companies, wedding planers, graphic designers, etc. In fact, he writes that “If you’re running a business like that, avoid outside funding. In fact, no matter what kind of business you’re starting, take on as little outside cash as you can. Spending other people’s money may sound great, but there’s a noose attached.”
This is especially true considering that obtaining outside money often leads to unnecessary complexity. By staying lean, businesses retain control and avoid making decisions that are not cost controlled.
Furthermore, Jason Fried mentions that the easiest way to start is to make something you need and that you would want to use. He elaborates that if you believe a product is useful, there is certainly other people out there that think the same. Sure, the target addressable market may not be large, but if you are running on a low-cost, it doesn’t really matter.
“The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use. That lets you design what you know—and you’ll figure out immediately whether or not what you’re making is any good.”
— Jason Fried
Plus, building what you want to use gives you an intuitive understanding of customers’ needs and makes the steady work of iteration more meaningful. As he once said, “Best of all, this “solve your own problem” approach lets you fall in love with what you’re making. You know the problem and the value of its solution intimately. There’s no substitute for that. After all, you’ll (hopefully) be working on this for years to come. Maybe even the rest of your life. It better be something you really care about.”
Finally, Fried stresses the concept that ideas alone are worthless without execution. He urges immediate action, even if imperfect, over endless planning. And so, he encourages us to start making our ideas into a product, but iterate and refine it along the way.
“Ideas are cheap and plentiful. The original pitch idea is such a small part of a business that it’s almost negligible. The real question is how well you execute.”
— Jason Fried
Embrace Failure
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
— Thomas Edison
Through his experience at Dell Computer, Michael Dell believes that failure is not something to be avoided at all costs, but something that can be embraced and learned from. At his own company, he has experienced plenty of stumbles, from product flops to inventory crises, and each one of these mistakes made the business stronger. He explicitly rejects the concept that success is linear.
Dell writes, “But for every company, Dell included, kaizen is an ideal rather than a reality. Success is not a straight line up. It’s fail, learn, try again, then (you hope) succeeded. How successful you are is really a function of how well you deal with failure—and how much you learn from it. Many people don’t reach their greatest potential because they fear failure. In avoiding failure, they deprive themselves of a great teacher.”
However, Dell warns that business leaders must actively remember their failures, and not conveniently forget about them. This is often the case during periods of success where you convince yourself to believe that everything is fine. Success can be dangerously seductive while failure, by contrast, forces genuine reflection and adaption. This is why Dell believes that success can be a horrible teacher as it leads to complacency.
“The low points matter a lot: though it’s nice to remember successes, it’s important to remember failures too.”
— Michael Dell
As we have learned, Dell was able to succeed because his company’s greatest competitive advantage, the build-to-order model, was born through necessity as he didn’t have the capital to mass produce computers and hold inventory. He emphasizes that moments of friction are what built the company’s engineering muscle. He argues that many people fail to reach their potential because they are too afraid of making a mistake, thereby depriving themselves of the greatest teacher they will ever have.
The lesson here is clear, constraints and failures often force innovation. Leaders who fear failure will never take the risks required for meaningful growth. As Dell puts it daring to fail is the only path to meaningful growth, and every failure and setback made him and his company stronger and more resilient. Dell quotes Eleanor Roosevelt who once said, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
“Success is a horrible teacher. Setbacks and failures make you stronger over time-if you let yourself learn from them.”
— Michael Dell
Leaders can learn a lot about embracing failures from professional athletes like Stephen Curry. As we have learned previously, Curry views challenges not as obstacles but as stepping stones to success. He embraced what he calls the J-curve of progress, where a dip is often needed before seeing massive progress. This once again demonstrates why we should favour Curry’s process focused approach rather than taking a results-based focus. Curry writes, “I’ve learned over the years that challenges are the most efficient teachers, so I don’t run from them. You need to get used to doing difficult things, so you’re not living in fear of things going wrong.”
A perfect example of this in basketball comes from Michael Jordan who once said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty‑six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game‑winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Similarly, Curry writes, “While missing shots is a great way to learn, obsessing over failure is just a distraction from the work of improvement.”
“This is trouble if you’re motivated solely by the validation of quick results. You’ll give up if you are results-focused instead of process-focused, because working harder doesn’t make that curve go up faster.”
— Stephen Curry
Furthermore, Curry explains that it is often common for persistent practice to not showing results immediately. He draws a parallel to the J-curve in investing. He writes, “Imagine a big J on a page: The dip at the start of the letter is when you’re investing in something but haven’t gotten any returns yet, and then the line rises, and fast. Whatever the investment is, you’re going to get feedback on the loss quicker than you get any positive returns—it takes longer for the trajectory to start shooting up. When you’re in that down phase, you have no idea how far it’s going to go until it starts to go the other way.”
Similarly, Curry had a similar experience during a summer in High School, where he had to re-learn how to shoot in order to improve his mechanic that would allow him to succeed at the next level. He explains, “I would acknowledge to young me that this summer will be one of the hardest tasks I’d ever face in my basketball life: breaking down the one thing I thought I did well to try to do it better, while feeling so far away from what I hoped the end result would be. And this is the advice I would give myself: This may seem like it’s as hard as it gets, but you’re going to have to do variations of this same work a hundred more times in your life. Different scenarios and settings. Different challenges. But the same hard work with the same distant and uncertain outcome.”
What he learned from that summer wasn’t just an improved shot, but the fact that if something is handed to you easily, you won’t get the chance to develop the drive you need to sustain excellence. This also happened to him when he was about to play in College. He was only able to play at Davidson a smaller Division I team, but this helped him to “work harder, maximizing my skill set as a sharpshooter who could tire out any opponent by racing all over the court.”
“The times when you’re most uncomfortable are the inflection points in your life. The discomfort is how you know you are changing.”
— Stephen Curry
Beyond the Book
Listen to "Michael Dell, Dell Technologies" by David Senra
Listen to "Michael Dell on Calculating Risk and Playing Nice But Winning" by The Daily Stoic
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