Summary: Direct from Dell

Review and Analysis of Dell and Fredman's Book

BusinessNews Publishing

• Publisher: Must Read Summaries
• Year: 2016
• Topic: Business
• eBook ISBN:
  9782806239679
• Subtopic: Business Biographies
• Index: Business

The must-read summary of Michael Dell and Catherine Fredman's book: `Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry`.

This complete summary of the ideas from Michael Dell and Catherine Fredman's book `Direct from Dell` tells the story of how Dell grew from a start-up company in 1984 to become the second largest manufacturer and marketer of computers in the world. In their book, the authors explain how Dell's success is due to its ability to approach things differently from everyone else in the same industry. By reading this summary, you can learn from one of the world's biggest companies and adapt their strategies to ensure the success of your own business.

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Understand key principles
• Expand your knowledge

To learn more, read `Direct from Dell` and find out about the secrets behind the success of one of the world's biggest computer manufacturers.

Summary of Direct From Dell (Michael Dell with Catherine Fredman)

Strategy #1

Develop a fast-paced, close-knit company culture with the attitude of a challenger

Main Idea

Companies that have a fast-paced, flexible culture have a significant competitive advantage. To build that:

1. Have a common goal everyone understands.
2. Be hiring ahead of your objectives.
3. Get everyone involved in seeking good talent.
4. Drive company growth through personal employee growth.
5. Have managers that are immersed and personally involved.

Supporting Ideas

The people that work at your company will only become your most valuable asset if you can find effective ways to develop a company-wide partnership attitude. That requires good communication on everyone’s part.

To build the fast-paced, flexible company culture exemplified by good partnerships:

1. Have a common goal everyone understands.
   Passion and loyalty in business are generated when people feel they are part of something significant -- when they’re about to rewrite the annals of business legends by doing something great.
   Identifying and hiring great talent can make or break a business. But then letting those people use their imagination and innovation to achieve a shared objective can make all the difference in the world.
   Dell’s common goal is a belief the direct sales model for selling computers is better. That translates into a strategy of:
   1. Responsibility to each other.
   2. Accountability.
   3. An appreciation for facts and data
   4. The establishment of benchmarks for success based on the creation of value for both customers and shareholders.
2. Be hiring ahead of your objectives.
   If you hire people based on their ability to grow and develop rather than on their past track record, there will be a tremendous amount of energy generated. That means instead of hiring people to do a job, you’re inviting them to grow with the company.
   A good way to do this? Make everyone responsible for recruiting and training their own successor. Everyone is then focused on learning what they need to know to grow into new roles on a regular basis.
3. Get everyone involved in seeking good talent.
   Talent is in such short supply that the search can’t just be left up to the human resource folks -- everyone has to dedicated to the search -- from the CEO outwards.
4. Drive company growth through personal employee growth.
   The most successful people should be rewarded by a narrowing rather than an expansion of their responsibilities. In other words, their original job should have grown so much that two people can now be gainfully employed in that responsibility. Therefore, as a result of growth, their responsibilities have now been segmented, and they can focus more sharply on new opportunities.
   This is the exact opposite of the practice at most other companies, where successful employees get given more responsibility until the task becomes too big and complex. Instead, Dell focus on narrowing responsibility so successful employees can focus on specific areas of the business.
   This applies equally well to the CEO role, which should be segmented (split into narrower areas of focus which are assigned to added people) on a regular basis for a healthy, growing business.
5. Have managers that are immersed and personally involved.
   The best management teams are intimately involved in the details of the day-to-day operations of the company. They meet with customers and with working-level employees constantly rather than segregating themselves away from the front lines.
   The Internet is excellent for gathering data. That should be supplemented, however, by face-to-face meetings with customers, regular visits to company sites and the ability to gather anecdotal information from incidental interactions with customers and employees.
   The best managers are involved. They use e-mail, drop by into meetings unexpectedly, go on sales calls and stay in touch with everybody at every level of the organization. Only by being immersed in real-world data can they have the information and instincts required to react to evolving situations quickly and appropriately.

Key Thoughts

“Once a reporter asked me which one of our competitors represented the biggest threat to Dell. I said the greatest threat to Dell wouldn’t come from a competitor. It would come from our people. It hasn’t been easy, trying to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit that has characterized Dell as our company has grown bigger (in terms of headcount) and more complicated (by way of infrastructure).”

– Michael Dell

“Connecting with the outside world keeps you aware. Connecting with your people -- your most valuable asset -- is the way to keep your business and your people healthy and strong.”

– Michael Dell

“Success isn’t static -- and your culture shouldn’t be, either. Pay attention to what your best people are achieving, and build an infrastructure that rewards mastery. The best way to keep talented people is to allow their jobs to change with them.”

– Michael Dell

“I enjoy roaming around outside the company to see what pe...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Book Presentation
• Summary of Direct From Dell (Michael Dell with Catherine Fredman)
• About the Summary Publisher
• Copyright