Play Nice But Win
A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader
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4.4 • 11 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
From Michael Dell, renowned founder and chief executive of one of America’s largest technology companies, the inside story of the battles that defined him as a leader
In 1984, soon-to-be college dropout Michael Dell hid signs of his fledgling PC business in the bathroom of his University of Texas dorm room. Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company’s survival. What he’d do next could ensure its legacy—or destroy it completely.
Play Nice But Win is a riveting account of the three battles waged for Dell Technologies: one to launch it, one to keep it, and one to transform it. For the first time, Dell reveals the highs and lows of the company's evolution amidst a rapidly changing industry—and his own, as he matured into the CEO it needed. With humor and humility, he recalls the mentors who showed him how to turn his passion into a business; the competitors who became friends, foes, or both; and the sharks that circled, looking for weakness. What emerges is the long-term vision underpinning his success: that technology is ultimately about people and their potential.
More than an honest portrait of a leader at a crossroads, Play Nice But Win is a survival story proving that while anyone with technological insight and entrepreneurial zeal might build something great—it takes a leader to build something that lasts.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After spending much of the last decade engaged in a pitched battle to hold onto his eponymous computer company, a triumphant but bruised Dell (Direct from Dell) looks back at a lifetime of naysayers and relishes the chance to set the record straight in this intimate, insider portrait of a tech titan under siege. Chapters alternate between Dell narrating the ferocious battle to buy out the company and his transformation from a scrappy, entrepreneurial teen to a college-dorm dwelling CEO, two threads that are linked by his singular faith in the future of personal computing. Dell describes his aggressors: the "trouble-making opportunist" Carl Icahn, who waged a public war against Dell as the founder and CEO sought to take his company private and insulted Dell while he restrained from commenting on anything related to ongoing negotiations; shareholders who "abandoned" him during a spate of poor earnings; and a business media that had "an ax to grind." While the personal narrative is fast-paced and humorously told, the overwhelmingly one-sided perspective and frequent jargon-laced explanations of the industry will likely turn off those not already familiar with the contours of the industry and Dell itself. Business news nuts who love swashbuckling stories will feel right at home.
Customer Reviews
Great takeaways from this autobiography
In Play Nice But Win Michael Dell tells his life story from wunderkid to the business leader he is today, sharing personal stories and behind the scenes corporate tidbits.
There are two parts to Dell’s empire - Dell Technologies and VMWare. In his autobiography Dell does a masterful job of detailing his battle with activist investor Carl Icahn (whom he trashes in the book), the combination with EMC and the crown jewel, VMWare, that came with it.