Technology Talk Zoom Session with Michael Dell

Fai Ahmad
Sep 1, 2020
5 min read

Updated: Aug 13, 2021

Prologue

For the Global Technology Service (GTS) monthly Tech Talk session, Rhonda Vetere, our Chief Information Officer pulled her weigh to invite the one and only, Michael Dell (yes, the Dell) for a sharing session with the team. For a chance of a lifetime to hear a billionaire-tech-titan speaks, in a live event for an interrupted 30 minutes, did give me enough reason to wake up at 4.30 in the morning, on the first Friday of August.

Michael Dell On Leadership

Rhonda dived-in immediately with a question about the challenges Michael experienced (during Covid-19) and how he went through it as a leader?

Michael replied, "There are no playbooks to show us how to maneuver in this unprecedented time. No one has ever experienced this." His best advice for any leader is to put people first by being visible, passionate, and understanding. He emphasized by saying, "Over-communicate by sharing both what we know and don't know."

He added that with everything that's happening, not a single company today can say that work from home is not possible. Instead, it becomes potentially essential.

Pointing out about basic leadership, Michael continued. "It's a marathon, not a sprint, and do it with passion. We must remain flexible and tap into this grit. People first." he reiterated.

Michael Dell On Wellbeing

Moving on towards the topic of wellbeing, Rhonda chimed in about how Michael, a major investor in the OURA ring, is a huge proponent and sponsor of wellness and fitness.

For the uninitiated, the OURA ring is a wearable that helps monitor our physical insights and helps us understand our bodies better. Posing a rhetorical question, Michael asked, "We can go on without food for 2 weeks, 7 days without water but guess what happens when we don’t sleep for 3 days?"

He continued to explain the reason he believes in the product is that as a global entrepreneur, sufficient sleep is quintessential. He tries his best to get seven hours of slumber which includes an hour or more of deep sleep and OURA ring helps him achieve that.

Rhonda added to his point saying, "We're just human and it's important to rest, to have that pause."

Michael Dell On Technology and the Human Potential

At an early age, Michael recalled his realization of the power and potential of technology and dedicated himself to be an advocate of it. "Technology is a force for good, not the typical world-dominating sentient that Hollywood loves to portray," he said jokingly.

With technology comes data and data are immense. The pivotal question to ask about data is, "How do we utilize it? 4G is the network that elevates human communication to a new level while 5G is going to be the network that connects things around the world," he believes.

"Combining 5G capability with artificial intelligence enables us to analyze this huge untapped data and allows us to transform the world for the better," he continued.

Michael briefly shared about the GPT3, the latest version of the language prediction model for A.I developed by OpenAI, a research lab in San Francisco. It writes and codes as well. "This technology, this super-AI can translate 5 billion words faster than any human can, thus imagine the possibility," he remarked.

His next question was, "How do we adapt to these technology changes?" He lamented that some jobs will be extinguished yet at the same time, new jobs will be created he said optimistically.

"Technology is about human potential," said Michael Dell.

"Step back and think about all the technologies out there - from digital transformation - multi-cloud - autonomous data centers - software that looks for networks - and the positive impact these technologies have to grow us. So, it's up to us to upskill ourselves and stay relevant in this rapidly changing world." he continued.

Michael Dell On Business Focus in the Pandemic Era

Rhonda followed up with the next subject by asking, "Where do businesses invest in this new normal?"

Michael shared an open secret to success - for companies to stay competitive, it needs to reimagine its own future. "What is the most successful version of Herbalife looks like, 5 years from now?" This question will force us to think of what to invest in more and less he said.

"In this pandemic era, we're able to see companies that are being ahead of the curve by adapting to technology. 2020 will witness a great acceleration of digital strategy and workforce. We will never go back to the way we were before," he explained with gusto.

Michael Dell On Philanthropy

Rhonda shifted the conversation towards philanthropy.

Rhonda points out Michael's particular trait about giving back to the community and how this has become a huge part of his personal branding. "What is your part in social responsibility?" she asked.

Michael starts by sharing the mindset about philanthropy during his earlier success days. 'ONCE you are successful, THEN you can do good things and help others,' he deplored. However, this mindset is rapidly evolving where business leaders today aspire to "Do good and do well at the same time, and to me, that's very inspiring," he said.

He continued by sharing how Dell Technologies, set a huge 10-year-goals for themselves. This levels the playing field for everyone in his organization simply because it's so over-the-top - nobody knows how to achieve it.

"How do we reduce our energy? How do we exercise better inclusion in the workplace - more women, people of color? We can't wait for regulators to knock on our door to take action. We do it because it’s the right thing to do, the right way to run a company. Human beings love to be part of a greater cause. If we do not help people, what is the point of success?" adding another rhetorical question for us to ponder.

Michael ended by quoting Marc Benioff, founder, and CEO of Salesforce,

"Companies are in the business of improving the world."

Michael Dell On Business Adaptability

Propelling the topic towards business survival, Rhonda asked, "How is Dell able to pivot so quickly and outpace its competitors?"

"We are now moving like a supertanker - so much so that we're no longer flexible and nimble," he answered. On the contrary, he's naturally impatient, so in Dell Technologies they reinforced a philosophy - Be Pleased But Never Satisfied, meaning they must consistently improve. "We're in a business where if we don’t change we'll die", he expressed.

Noting that he started in a competitive industry and still is - they have to listen to customers and be sensitive towards new requests and technical requirements. Michael said,

"How do we stay relevant? By being listeners. If we continue to do that, we'll stay successful. It's not an option."

Michael Dell's Final Words

As we head towards the end of the Zoom session, Rhonda asked Michael to share his final words with the team before departing.

"Reimagine yourself in the future. Successful companies are the ones who figured out the path to success with all the changes happening in the world. Ask ourselves this - What is the successful version of Herbalife in five or ten years? The pace of technology will never go slow and it will become more important than ever." he summarized.

Epilogue

That being said, the session came to an end. From my last count, there were approximately 600+ global participants in the ZOOM session for this historic Tech Talk. There was so much conversation going on in the chatroom, our CIO is unable to entertain them all, let alone replying to the tens of questions being posed.

As much as we all wanted to dwell more wisdom from Michael Dell that morning, it's already a privilege to have him as our guests and to hear his stories first-hand is also an honor.

We need only to gaze at our desktops, laptops, and monitors to realize how big of an impact his products are in our effort to make ours better. That is truly an inspiring pursuit indeed.