Michael S. Dell quotes: the Don of Dell does us both a favor with the advice that follows.
“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.”
“There’s always an opportunity to make a difference.”
“Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity.”
“The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. I’ve learned that it’s possible to set your sights high and achieve your dreams and do it with integrity, character, and love. And each day that you’re moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are, you’re winning.”
“Whether you’ve found your calling, or if you’re still searching, passion should be the fire that drives your life’s work.”
“You have to do stuff that you’re actually incredibly passionate and excited about and you know something about. The ‘opportuneurs’ don’t do as well as the entrepreneurs.”
“People ask me all the time, ‘How can I become a successful entrepreneur?’ And I have to be honest: It’s one of my least favorite questions, because if you’re waiting for someone else’s advice to become an entrepreneur, chances are, you’re not one.”
“Real entrepreneurs have what I call the three Ps (and, trust me, none of them stands for ‘permission’). Real entrepreneurs have a ‘passion’ for what they’re doing, a ‘problem’ that needs to be solved, and a ‘purpose’ that drives them forward.”
“As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own.”
“With the understanding that you will face tough times and amazing experiences, you must also commit to the adventure. Just have faith in the skills and the knowledge you’ve been blessed with… and go.”
“Sometimes you just have to belly up to the bar and take a chance. We made some mistakes, but we also had the strength to work our way out.”
“Ideas are a commodity. Execution of them is not.”
“If you look at innovation, it doesn’t just occur in the lab.”
“There is no better catalyst to success than curiosity.”
“There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.”
“It’s easy to decide what you’re going to do. The hard thing is deciding what you’re not going to do.”
“The very thing you fear could be the best thing to ever happen to you.”
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Get out there and experiment and learn and fail and get a rate based on the experiences you have. Go for it and when you go for it you’ll learn what you’re capable of, what the potential is, where the opportunities are, but you can’t be afraid to fail because that’s when you learn.”
“Recognize that there will be failures, and acknowledge that there will be obstacles. But you will learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others, for there is very little learning in success.”
“Regrets are born of paths never taken.”
“Ignore the people who tell you it won’t work and hire people who embrace your vision.”
“Anything that can be measured can be improved.”
“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 40 years.”
“You just have to change. To be successful, what you have to do is have an acceptance of risk and you have to be pretty explicit about that, because if you don’t accept risk, you don’t get any innovation. And that means part of risk is you have to accept failure because not everything works.”
“The point is, you can’t keep doing the same thing and expect it to keep working.”
“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.”
“The key to using the internet to extend and build relationships is to view ownership of information differently. You need to bring customers inside your business to create information partnerships; relationships become the differentiator, more than products or services. Businesses become intertwined.”
“It’s exciting to see how fast your kids learn and grow. I’m not too worried about them, particularly the ones who like to break rules and don’t follow instructions; those are the ones that will do just fine because they know what’s important to them.”
“Visionaries have the unique ability to dream of what’s possible and then make it a reality. We are excited to watch these visionaries use technology to help students develop skills in collaboration, critical thinking, and teamwork that they’ll need to compete in the global economy.”
“I had to give it a full go and see what happened.”
“It had always made sense to me to build a business based on what people really wanted, rather than guess what we thought they might want.”
“Every breakthrough business idea begins with solving a common problem. The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity.”
“If you have to go through life being unhappy to conform to society around you, that’s not a very good deal.”
“If you’re happy, that’s probably the most important thing. Everyone probably has their own definition of success, for me it’s happiness. Do I enjoy what I’m doing? Do I enjoy the people I’m with? Do I enjoy my life?”
“We are all gifts to each other, and my own growth as a leader has shown me again and again that the most rewarding experiences come from my relationships.”
“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.”
“The idea of being all things to all people is a thing of the past.”
“I’m a big believer in online communities and in user-generated content.”
“I was, you know, rebellious – an 18, 19-year-old and just did what I wanted to do and all worked out okay.”
“I was in seventh grade math class, and we had this thing called Number Sense. So, I wasn’t on the track team. Wasn’t on the football team. Wasn’t on the basketball team. I was in the Number Sense Club.”
“I’m pretty active anyway, but I’m also competitive. I used my Fitbit as an example of the innate power of data to turn information into insights and actions.”
“I always knew I wanted to run a business someday.”
“I started Dell 28 years ago with $1,000. Revenues in 1984 were $6 million. Last year, $62.1 billion. Impossible is nothing.”
“One of the things I benefited from when I started this business was that I didn’t know anything. I was just instinct with no preconceived notions. This enabled me to learn and change quickly without having to worry about maintaining any kind of status quo, like some of my bigger competitors.”
“We have enormous potential to keep growing. It provides lots of learning opportunity for me and it’s fun to see how so many people, so many communities are affected in a positive way by what we’re doing here. I love my job and I’m not giving it up.”
“Celebrate for a nanosecond.”
Bill Gates tips, coming up next.
