Kemble: Over the lunch hour I was reading some articles on the Upside website. I came across this great description of Michael Dell. It was written a few months ago but still is right on target. Here are a few key passages:
He's stayed out of trouble over the years. He's never done
anything too risky or out of the ordinary for a PC company. He
revolutionized the delivery of his machines, getting rid of backbreaking
inventory. But for the overwhelming majority of his career, he's stuck
loyally with the Intel/Microsoft team and kept the deals coming.
He's not going to go out and join Greenpeace, but then again, he
looked only marginally foolish at the preliminary Senate hearings for
Gates and Co.'s antitrust case. He'll sell Intel's new chips. He'll sell
Microsoft's new software. And he won't incur horrid costs on
inefficient service businesses and takeovers like his friends over at
Compaq.
Now, membership has its privileges as well as its side effects. Dell
talked about his baby daughter firing up the family's NT machine, as
though it was a natural thing like using a mechanical baby swing.
Getting a little ahead of the game? Yes, but shoot, those Microsoft
people will be shipping NT down the line as a consumer OS soon, and
a guy's gotta be drinking the Kool Aid ahead of time.
He will be.
The Forbes 400 list has treated him well, but he's kept his head on straight.
Not too cocky, not too psycho. Just the kind of guy you like to see
beat the Street. T-minus 10 years to Gatesdom and counting ...
Tish Williams is senior writer/editor at UPSIDE.
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**** Not a bad summary. Yet IMHO, the authors are quite conservative with their estimates. I feel that Michael Dell's careful management of hyper-growth will propel him "to Gatesdom" within five years. <ggg>
The bottom line is that Michael is the kind of CEO that you want to see come out on top. Shareholders will be richly rewarded along the way too.
-Scott |
