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Michael Dell Quotes

21 quotes from Michael Dell — Founder and CEO of Dell Technologies..

Ideas are commodity. Execution of them is not.

Execution

Sometimes it's better not to ask-or to listen-when tell you something can't be done. I didn't ask for permission or approval. I just went ahead and did it.

Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an IndustryPerseverance

If you want to sustain excellence over a long time, you'd better come up with a system that works well. Anyone can sprint for a little while, but you can't sprint for forty years.

Leadership

Regrets are born of paths never taken.

Reflection

You don't have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.

Success

There is no better catalyst to success than curiosity.

Curiosity

The point is, you can't keep doing the same thing and expect it to keep working.

Innovation

Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people … or find a different room.

Commencement address to University of Texas at Austin, 2003Leadership

There's always an opportunity to make a difference.

Opportunity

Collaboration equals innovation.

Collaboration

Anything that can be measured can be improved.

Improvement

Don't spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity.

Opportunity

You can't be afraid to fail because that's when you learn.

Learning

I believe that you have to understand the economics of a business before you have a strategy, and you have to understand your strategy before you have a structure. If you get these in the wrong order, you will probably fail.

Michael Dell

The direct model has been a revolution, but it is not a religion.

Michael Dell, internal email, April 2007

Dell's transformation is well under way, but we recognize it will still take more time, investment and patience. I believe that we are better served with partners who will provide long-term support to help Dell innovate and accelerate the company's transformation strategy.

Michael Dell, memo to employees, February 2013

If you want to really make it big, you better come up with something unique. It better be differentiated — that nobody else is doing.

Michael Dell, Fortune interview, 2017

If you go and ask people if it's a good idea, most of them will tell you no. So don't go ask.

Michael Dell, Fortune interview, 2017

Every seven or eight months, the amount of data in the world doubles, and that number's probably shrinking. We store and protect and manage more data than any company in the world.

Michael Dell, CNBC interview, June 2024

We didn't make up this game, but you happen to need a lot of our stuff to make it work. We are the biggest and best in the world at doing this. This is kind of our job.

Michael Dell, Fortune interview, December 2024

How do we use AI responsibly — make sure our models are trained to understand our ethics, our laws, morals, humanity? How do we democratize this power and use it to democratize health care?

Michael Dell, Dell Medical School convocation, May 2024

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