About the Author

Michael Dell is the chairman of the board of directors of Dell Inc., the world's largest computer-systems company. In 1992, he became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Mr. Dell serves on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, the executive committee of the International Business Council, and is a member of the U.S. Business Council. He also serves on the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.

Michael Dell is Chairman and CEO of Dell Computer Corporation. Catherine Fredman collaborated with Andrew Grove, Chairman of Intel, on his best-selling book, Only the Paranoid Survive.

Reviews

"Michael Dell is clearly a genius in the computer world, but his revolutionary insights into business processes provide invaluable lessons for many other industries as well."-- Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and CEO, FedEX Corporation"Michael Dell has become the poster boy of the new economy..The closest person we have to Henry Ford is Michael Dell."-- "Fortune "I've long admired Dell's pioneering use of the World Wide Web. In "Direct from Dell, you'll find strategies for using the Web to enhance your sales and empower information throughout your business. If you want to capitalize on cyberspace, you should read this book."-- Bill Gates, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft Corporation "Virtual integration.may well become a new organizational model for the information age."-- "Harvard Business Review "Dell, the company, seems to have been born and evolved with an anticipation of the Internet age. Michael Dell walks us through how he turned his prescience into a powerful reality--and an outstanding example of the companies of the future."-- Andrew S. Grove, Chairman, Intel Corporation "Dell Computer is perhaps the purest example of the efficiencies made possible by information technology." -- "New York Times"Michael Dell's book illustrates the history of the company's success and vision for the future in a concise and powerful way. It is a great book that will serve as a reference to all executives, and we certainly have a lot to learn from it at Sony." -- Idei Nobuyuki, CEO, Sony Corporation "Occasionally, rarely, history is made when a gifted new leader, who has a vision of new processes and technologies, produces a brilliant new business model. Henry Ford did it in automobiles, Michael Dell hasdone the same in PC's - the parallels are remarkable. His book provides the insight into his drive for improvement, his business logic and the learning from his mistakes, so we can aspire to emulate his successes." -- Jacques A. Nasser, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company"Dell's story is the stuff high-tech legends are made of."-- "Forbes ASAP

The results are impressive: a 19 year-old with $1000 starts a company, remains at the helm and on top of changes in the industry for 10 years, and watches the stock rise 36,000% over another decade as his company becomes the second largest maker of PCs in the world, and the largest in the U.S. The founder of the Dell Computer Corporation uses anecdotes from his entrepreneurial life and his company's history to illustrate the "direct model" he developed to do itÄone that eliminates the middleman via a host of direct-marketing media and incorporates a full-blown philosophy of doing business. While most of that philosophy's components are familiar (internally, "Reward Success by Narrowing Responsibility"; externally, "Teach Innovative Thinking"; "Retail: First in, First out"; "Hyperlink to the Future"), seeing how Dell put these theories into practice will sustain a reader's interest. Rightly, the custom-built and directly shipped computers that are the company's signature product get the most airtime. While the book, like nearly all in its CEO-authored subgenre, is heavy on self-congratulatory propaganda ("The spirit of the company that remains today was beginning to take hold"), Dell makes an agreeable maverick. (Mar.)

"Michael Dell is clearly a genius in the computer world, but his revolutionary insights into business processes provide invaluable lessons for many other industries as well."-- Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and CEO, FedEX Corporation"Michael Dell has become the poster boy of the new economy..The closest person we have to Henry Ford is Michael Dell."-- "Fortune "I've long admired Dell's pioneering use of the World Wide Web. In "Direct from Dell, you'll find strategies for using the Web to enhance your sales and empower information throughout your business. If you want to capitalize on cyberspace, you should read this book."-- Bill Gates, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft Corporation "Virtual integration.may well become a new organizational model for the information age."-- "Harvard Business Review "Dell, the company, seems to have been born and evolved with an anticipation of the Internet age. Michael Dell walks us through how he turned his prescience into a powerful reality--and an outstanding example of the companies of the future."-- Andrew S. Grove, Chairman, Intel Corporation "Dell Computer is perhaps the purest example of the efficiencies made possible by information technology." -- "New York Times"Michael Dell's book illustrates the history of the company's success and vision for the future in a concise and powerful way. It is a great book that will serve as a reference to all executives, and we certainly have a lot to learn from it at Sony." -- Idei Nobuyuki, CEO, Sony Corporation "Occasionally, rarely, history is made when a gifted new leader, who has a vision of new processes and technologies, produces a brilliant new business model. Henry Ford did it in automobiles, Michael Dell hasdone the same in PC's - the parallels are remarkable. His book provides the insight into his drive for improvement, his business logic and the learning from his mistakes, so we can aspire to emulate his successes." -- Jacques A. Nasser, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company"Dell's story is the stuff high-tech legends are made of."-- "Forbes ASAP