The Century’s 30 Greatest Vendor Leaders

6. Michael Dell

Founder, chairman, and CEO, Dell Technologies – 1984-present

For a CEO who famously shunned the channel for most of his career, Michael Dell has played a blinder to finish sixth in a poll of 60 channel leaders.

A whopping 13 panellists put the eponymous PC baron in their top five, reflecting their admiration for a series of bold decisions he made to transform Dell from a PC and print outfit into an enterprise tech goliath (and himself into the world’s 16th richest person, according to Forbes).

Having founded Dell from his college dorm in 1984, the Texan tycoon in 2007 took the decision to ditch its direct sales-only mantra and embrace the channel. Today, partners generate around half of Dell’s business.

Leadership style

Dell won plaudits from the channel leaders we sounded out for his approachability and curiosity, as well as his ability to make big, strategic calls.

Low points

Having stepped down as his eponymous firm’s CEO in 2004, Dell was forced to return from exile just three years later, in response to stagnating sales and marketshare losses to HP.

Killer quote

“The direct model has been a revolution, but is not a religion. We will continue to improve our business model, and go beyond it, to give our customers what they really need.” (taken from memo Michael Dell sent to employees in 2007, according to Reuters)

What our panellists said about Dell

Margaret Adam, Head of Product Marketing, Channel Mechanics

“When I was an industry analyst, I was privileged to meet several CEOs from major tech companies, but Michael Dell truly stood out. He is refreshingly approachable and genuinely curious. As a leader, I admire him for being bold. The EMC acquisition, the decision to take Dell private, and, of course, fundamentally disrupting the PC industry with a direct-to-consumer model are all examples of bold decisions that paid off. A worthy choice for this list.”

Alex Smith, Vice President of Channels, Canalys

“While Dell has been known as the pioneer of direct, it has also been one of the companies to reinvent itself several times over. Transitioning from a direct-only company, to one where over 50% now goes through partners, is no easy feat for a business the scale of Dell’s. It also did this while making one of the industry’s largest ever acquisitions of EMC, a company which at the time, was going through a transformation from direct to indirect. You have to credit a leader which has conviction of their strategy, but then the willingness to adapt when the picture changes.”

Rupert Mills, Director, Krome Technologies

“His buy back of Dell and his purchase of EMC were both big moves in our industry which were impressive, it showed his ability to make the big decisions.”

Phil Doye, CEO, boxxe

“Michael Dell stands out for his raw courage and confidence. There are so many decisions he has made to admire but the acquisition of EMC and the take Dell private stand out as incredibly brave decisions that delivered exceptional outcomes.”

How did IT Channel Oxygen compile The Century’s Greatest Vendor Leaders? See here