This Tuesday Michael Dell gave a speech at the University of Texas which I attended.
I had met Michael Dell before, and from what I understand, he doesn’t particularly like public speaking. The “speech” was actually a moderated conference with a UT professor, then was opened up for Q&A.
The moderated part was not as engaging as I had hoped, because the large audience was simply watching two people talk to each other. I had more hope for the Question & Answer session, but it turned out to be rather disappointing, not from Michael Dell’s responses, but the quality of the questions being asked.
Some of the interesting points I picked up from the event were:
- “Try not to be the smartest person in the room. If you are, find another room.”
- He wakes up at 6am every morning and works out (A very common theme I’m seeing).
- He did not use investors to grow Dell. I started clapping when he said this.
- Said managed services may be Dell’s next big thing. For example: If Boeing doesn’t want to do all their own printing, IT support etc…Dell will take care of it all.
- The way you order pretty much anything in China is: 1.) You place an order online or on the phone. 2.) You receive two numbers, an order confirmation number and a Bank of China transaction number. 3.) You take your money (Often literally a sack of money) to the Bank of China, and they transfer it to Dell.
I generally go after speeches and try to talk to the person and get a picture, but he literally DARTED out of the place when the event was finished. Oh well, I still have my previous Michael Dell Picture!
