Interview with Michael Dell

Interview with Michael Dell in Chief Executive (emphases mine). Excerpts:

Q. Now you've got Kevin Rollins as president and COO after having him as a vice chairman. That title implies someone who's useful and who makes a contribution, but not someone who's central to running the business.
A. I would tell you that he was just as essential then. It's just that we used the title as sort of a catch-all. We've used the president's title in the past and for a variety of reasons it wasn't appropriate. When you have a company this large and this complex, it's truly important to have a very strong team. Kevin and I share the responsibilities of leading the company, developing the strategy and the execution. He does the hard stuff. I do the easy stuff.
We share everything. He's been associated with the company in one form or another for many years, since arriving as a consultant in 1992. If you think about essentially every major decision that's been made for the past 10 years, Kevin has been right at the center of it. He's obviously key to the leadership of the company.

Q. Do you now consider Kevin to be a co-CEO with you?
A. Yeah, you could say that. We don't use that title. But you could certainly say that.

Q. Some CEOs would say, "I'm the CEO, and I'm not sharing that title with anyone. I'm the guy."
A. Quite frankly, I'm not really concerned about that. I'm concerned about, "What do we have to get done to be successful?" There's way too much to get done to have a proprietary interest in who's going to do it, or even worse, who's going to get credit for it. There's no reason not to tell it like it is. Kevin is doing this right alongside me.

Q. Is it possible that running a $40 billion-a-year company is just too complex for one person?
A. It depends on whether you're trying to do everything yourself. I don't think it's possible. Kevin and I don't necessarily run the whole company. We have a series of businesses with general managers in them and those folks are CEOs unto themselves, running $5 billion, $8 billion, $10 billion businesses. They have the final accountability and responsibility and strategies. Yeah, the overall strategy of the company is pretty tightly held, for good reason. Kevin, I and our global executive management team spend a lot of time on that. But the guy who's running Asia doesn't call us back and ask, "Now what do I do?" He knows what to do. He's got a strategy and he's executing to it. Same for our folks who run our businesses in the United States and Europe.

Q. Aside from Microsoft, we've seen other cases where the founder of a technology company decides to become a chief technology officer and concentrate on doing what they enjoy doing most. They let someone else come in and really run the mechanics of the company. Is that how you're thinking?
A. Well, I'm pretty fast to step out of something if I'm not really good at it. But I also think that if you want to be involved with a company like this, you have to stay operationally in tune with what's going on or else you quickly become not very useful. Our business is about technology, yes. But it's also about operations and customer relationships. 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.
We sit around and say, "Well who is the best person to get this done?" If it's Kevin, he'll go do it. If it's me, I'll go do it. If neither of us, how about Jim Schneider our CFO?

Textbook example of Level 5 leadership - a focus on execution, a high level of personal humility, willingness to attribute credit where it's due. Refreshing and inspiring.