On 16 July 2004, a tremor hit the tech industry. Its epicenter was in Austin, Texas, where former whiz kid Michael Dell, the legendary entrepreneur who started the world’s largest PC manufacturer in a college dorm room, surprised the world by ceding the reins of his company. But for new Dell Corporation CEO Kevin Rollins, who earned his MBA at the Marriott School, it was just another day at the office.
BUSINESS AS USUAL, IF A BIT UNUSUAL
“I’m probably taking this too flippantly, but Michael and I have been working together for so long as a tandem pair that this title is . . . it’s certainly an honor to have; it’s nice, but it’s nothing I was aspiring to,” Rollins says.
As closely as Rollins works with Dell, even he was surprised by Michael’s decision. Last February, he told Newsweek he understood there would be no more promotions. “Would I like to be CEO?” he asked. “Sure, next question. Because I’m not going to be.”
Dell has been as iconic to the hardware industry as Bill Gates is to software. Dell built his entrepreneurial vision into reality from a humble dorm-room start in 1984, but his business was hurt by the lack of what Rollins calls “institutional business management.” “When I first got to Dell Computer, the company had lost a hundred million dollars,” he says. “And not that long before that, was close to going out of business.”
Rollins was one of several veteran business leaders who Dell hired to turn his start-up into an efficient corporation. Originally signed as a “rent-an-exec” consultant through Bain & Co., Rollins became director of U.S. operations in 1996. His leadership has been instrumental in the company’s turnaround.
Dell and Rollins, the visionary and the technocrat, have since developed an intriguing partnership. To hear them speak, there is no hierarchy. They run the company together. Rollins handles day-to-day corporate operations. Dell concentrates on big-picture strategy and forward thinking. No major decisions are made without their agreement. They even replaced the wall between their offices with glass and an open door.
This arrangement has produced phenomenal results. Sales have rocketed from $2.4 billion to $42 billion, with plans to hit $60 billion by 2007. Increased direct sales
to consumers and new product lines from printers to personal electronics play a high-profile role, but the greatest bulk of the growth will likely come from solid, reliable corporate sales. No wonder Rollins expects business as usual to continue.
“Not much is going to change. There are some legal requirements now. I have to sign off on things. But I signed them all before,” he says. “The difference now is I can be put in jail if I lie. Before, I didn’t go to jail. But that shouldn’t be my concern.”
THE UNDERSTUDY. EMPHASIS ON STUDY
Attendees at the Ninth Annual BYU Management Conference, hosted by the Marriott School last June, didn’t let Rollins off the hook quite so easily. As one audience member told him during the Q& A session, “Whether you like it or not, you’ve become an icon for an LDS businessman.”
“That’s dangerous,” Rollins replied. “I don’t consider myself that. I’ve made lots of mistakes in my life, although those don’t get touted quite as prominently as the successes. I guess I should feel a bigger responsibility, but the responsibility I feel is to a whole different set of individuals. If it helps for the Mormon population, that’s great too, but I am probably less concerned what the Mormon business population thinks of me than what Heavenly Father or my family thinks.”
In a Donald Trump world, it’s hard to believe that a high-profile CEO would reject an opportunity to take center stage. Even if you set aside the PR benefits of icon status, the chance to influence so many for good sounds like an irresistible stroke for one’s ego. But frankly, it’s just not Rollins’ style.
“I’m really somewhat oblivious to [my influence as a leader],” Rollins says. “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking, ‘How can I set an example? How can I set some new principles that others would follow?’ I’m developing myself, and so I’m trying to figure out how to do things and how to do them well.”
That devotion to personal development has served Rollins well. It took him away from the fryer at Wienerschnitzel, off the keyboards of his brother’s rock and roll band, and put him in school at BYU. It helped him to simultaneously earn his MBA and BS in mechanical engineering, after completing a BA in university studies at BYU. When he followed his professors’ advice to seek a career in strategy consulting, it helped him carve out a spot for himself among the Harvard and Wharton graduates at Bain & Co.
HISTORY LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP
Throughout his career, three clear elements have contributed to Rollins’ growth as a leader. He speaks of a tireless drive to achieve. He takes a deliberate, conscientious approach to appraising his weaknesses and improving his strengths. And, he has diligently sought out truly valid role models. The last point has been more of a challenge.
“In business school, I read a lot of business biographies, a lot of business how-I-did-it stories, and most of them rang hollow,” Rollins says. “I just didn’t get inspired by any of them in terms of a higher ethic or a higher set of principles. They were basically ‘How I made money’ and ‘How I became a leader.’ I didn’t find that very interesting.”
So Rollins looked for true leadership elsewhere and found it in historical figures—primarily, the Founding Fathers of the United States. Unusual, says Dr. Curtis LeBaron, professor of organizational behavior at the Marriott School. “Most people nowadays probably read popular press books. There are books on leadership that come out every year. Most people read those and know how to throw the language, the catch-terms around. Kevin has done something differently, and that is he has been a student of history.”
“I think there are principles of leadership that transcend time and space,” LeBaron adds. “The Founding Fathers were working in a much different world back then, but there were patterns of behavior in their life and beliefs and principles that Kevin identified, and they still work in the 21st century.”
Specifically, Rollins identified three leadership styles, inspired by three prominent figures in America’s beginnings: Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. “Burr was a backslapper,” Rollins says. “His leadership style was to flatter people.”
Rollins describes Hamilton as the most analytical of the three. “I learned from this because I found myself a little bit more like Hamilton when I wanted to be more like Washington,” Rollins explains. “Hamilton created the greatest and best financial system the world has ever known. But he believed that just because he was smart and had the right answer, everyone would follow him. And obviously that’s not the case. People quite often don’t like smart alecks.”
Washington took leadership to another level. “Washington would often tell people something about themselves they didn’t know, and would inspire them to greatness in a very genuine way through his observations and through the respect they had for him as an individual,” Rollins says. He earned that respect through dedication to a cause beyond his own benefit, even accepting a “demotion” to general of the nation’s armies after two terms as president and commander-in-chief.
“Washington was interested in the success of the nation more than his own success,” Rollins says. “He epitomized several principles of leadership, and there are many stories told about him. That inspired me. It’s a self-sacrificing sort of leadership that transcends ‘How much money do I get paid? How much honor do I get? What’s in it for me?’ That’s admirable. I want to see that kind of leadership talent and attitude within our leaders if I can possibly create it.”
STRIVING FOR GREATNESS
Rollins’ goal is to make Dell Corp. a “great company.” Great companies do more than devise innovative strategies and rake in short-term profits, he says. Even consistent financial performance alone is not enough to reach that echelon.
“You have to be a company where the very best and brightest want to come and work,” Rollins says. “You have to attract them. They want to come and work there because you’re winning, but also because they can develop into greater and better leaders, build their own reputation and capability, and play on a winning team.”
“When we get to the point when all of our people say, ‘I’m at a great company because it develops me, it treats me with respect, I’m winning every day, I’m challenged every day, it’s fun to come to work every day,’ we’ll be a great company. And we’re not there yet,” he says.
Rollins’ own experience shows that while organizations can create an environment where young leaders can flourish, it is the individuals who must take responsibility for their own growth as leaders. So what is the best way to develop those skills? Roll up your sleeves and get to work.
“You don’t have to be CEO of Dell Computer to lead,” Rollins says. “I didn’t start here. The notion of being able to lead in various settings and learn—because I don’t think you come fully developed as a leader—is critical. You’ve got to start practicing that leadership set of skills very early on and at any level you find yourself.”
“If you do it right, become a student of it, and want to be good at it—just like being good at a musical instrument, or good at athletics, or good in school work—you can get better,” he says. “But you’re going to have to want to. You’re going to have to sacrifice. You’re going to have to work hard. You’re going to have to study. And you’re going to have to be humble. And you’re going to have to learn from others.”
LEADERSHIP: A TWO-WAY STREET
That experience is essential for leaders to learn how to implement the dual roles of leadership that Rollins emphasizes: a disciplined drive for results and respect for human relationships. Certain situations call for increased emphasis of either component, but it is all too easy to overcorrect.
When Rollins came to Dell Corp., he left behind the “fun, strategic, blinding insight work” he enjoyed as a consultant. “I was fundamentally asked to be one of the management team and pick up a shovel and start digging like everybody else, rather than sit back and pontificate and advise,” he recalls.
There was plenty of digging to do. An unbalanced vision-to-efficiency ratio had created a bloated company, beleaguered by losses despite phenomenal growth. “We just started to formalize and institutionalize big-company practices, changing from an entrepreneurial situation to a corporation,” Rollins says. “We also upgraded the talent; the leadership in the company is what I think turned it around.”
“I liken it sometimes to taking out the garbage,” Rollins says. “Not everything is fun. Not everything is going to be delightful and invigorating. Some things require good, old-fashioned, hard-nosed, obnoxious, untasteful work effort. But you’ve got to do that. That’s the price you pay to have consistent results.”
DISCIPLINE AND THE DRIVE FOR RESULTS
The changes at Dell required not only new policies but also a new, more rigorous culture. “You can have elegant strategies, but if you can’t implement them and you don’t have the tenacity to follow through on them, they’re not worth anything,” he says. “If you look at the companies that have done really well out there, they have great strategies, but they are maniacal implementers.”
“The company was in need of rapid, clear action,” Rollins says. “And again, you could have gone the nicer, gentler way, but there was not enough time. You had to get action, be very directive, disciplined, and ask people to get on board or get off. So we had to be pretty harsh until we established a discipline of doing things—a little bit like boot camp.”
Discipline is no novelty in leadership. During the Revolutionary War, Rollins’ hero George Washington petitioned the Continental Congress for the right to flog and shoot deserters. “This was a man who was inspiring people,” Rollins says. “They would follow him everywhere, but he realized that if he wanted to get the attention of his troops, they couldn’t just take off and go back to the farm any time they wanted to.”
Granted, we are talking about business here. It’s not life-and-death. As Rollins reminds us, a corporation exists simply to make money. Yet within the scope of modern corporate America, the program at Dell Corp. was quite strict—and it worked.
“At some point in time, all of us need someone to tell us to shape up,” Rollins says. “You just need to do it in a way that they don’t see you as their enemy. They will be better individuals if they are challenged to go farther than they ever thought they could, and most people do. Most people rise to the occasion if you do it with a sense of respect for the individual and a desire to have them achieve the most they can. When they achieve it, they realize that that was a motivational exercise, not a disciplinary exercise.”
However, somewhere along the line, the disciplinary program went too far and began to cause more harm than good. A company-wide survey showed that most employees, even those who were relatively satisfied in their jobs, would have gladly left the company if an opportunity arose for them to earn the same income elsewhere. Corporate leaders suggested Rollins and Dell soften their management style, working to be less “autocratic and opinionated,” in Rollins’ words.
“I think we got to the point where that was not the right style,” he says. “Our people had developed. They had gotten the point, and to flog them continually—our leaders didn’t want that anymore.”
“We’ve not given up an ounce of discipline and performance. You can get results without the whip, without being harsh,” he says. “I think the difference is you can be harsh, punishing and mean, or you can be disciplined, tough, but caring.”
WALKING THE FINE LINE: RESULTS AND RELATIONSHIPS
A recent corporate video showed Rollins and Dell on the receiving end of that same toughness, from none other than Donald Trump. In the video, the pair applied to become Trump’s apprentice, in a parody of the popular television show. “He came on and fired us both,” Rollins says.
The video revealed a lighter side of this dynamic duo—surprisingly jovial compared to Rollins’ serious, all-business, all-Dell Corp. public demeanor. “We make videos all the time as a way to lighten up our whole leadership operation,” Rollins says. “At every major turning point, we’ll make a video that is usually humorous about some aspect of our company and business.”
“We take our business extremely seriously,” he adds. “We don’t take ourselves very seriously. We have an egalitarian culture at Dell Corp. We want everybody to feel like owners and CEOs. We have a big company, so we probably have more bureaucracy than we wish, but we don’t want it to get out of hand.”
This interesting dichotomy—harsh disciplinarians and institutional business managers who are willing to share a laugh with their employees at their own expense—reveals a dedication to both results and relationships, which LeBaron says is not only effective but necessary. “Research has shown that the best leaders are able to do two things simultaneously: one, they’re able to drive for results; and two, they’re able to maintain strong and appropriate interpersonal relationships with their subordinates and other people. Anytime you have only one of those going on, you’re not going to have a very effective leader.”
It’s not only business relationships that make a difference. Dell Corp. employees are happier when they have time for family and friends outside of work, according to the “Tell Dell” employee survey. “We’ve seen huge improvement in our scores when we tell our managers, ‘Pay attention. When you see somebody working too long, talk to them and tell them to go home,’” Rollins says.
“I have to have that same discipline,” he says. “Whenever I feel my own internal metric getting balled up or bound up, I know I’m not taking care of family or church, and I have to ratchet it back.”
Also, “I check with my wife,” Rollins says. Balance is always a challenge for someone with his stressful travel schedule and high-profile responsibilities, but his wife, Debra, finds the solution in a deliberate approach to individual roles. “We’ve always understood our roles. When he’s here, he is father and husband and very supportive. When he’s not, life goes on. We realize that he has those duties and we support him in that. We don’t stop, and he doesn’t feel bad because he can’t be there all the time. That’s just a matter of life,” she says.
Business professionals, LDS and others, can learn from Rollins’ experience. His tireless drive, analytical rigor, and unique approach to self-improvement have taken him to heights even he never dreamed of. But don’t think of him as the ultimate example. “When I think of my own kind of role model status, I really think of myself more as a student than a teacher,” Rollins says. “That may sound a little strange, but I still feel I’m a learner rather than a professor.”
ON ENRON, TYCO, AND THE STATE OF CORPORATE AMERICA: BLAME IT ON THE LEADERSHIP
“A corporation is a community and an institution. You’ve seen throughout history bad institutions, communities, countries, and you’ve seen good ones. In any bad country or bad institution, there are good people in there, but a bad leader can make a mess of it, and all the people suffer. I think the opposite is also true. Good leaders can make it better. They can bring out the best in their people and demand of the people their best, ethically.”
ON CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP: DON’T EXPECT SAINTHOOD FROM A GAMBLER
“The notion of success in commerce is not the same. The rules are different. Man’s rules are different than God’s rules. If you’re searching for the same purity we have in the Church in business, you’re not going to get it. The corporation fundamentally exists to make a profit. It’s money-based. That’s not the goal of spiritual institutions. So by definition, that’s not going to lead to the same spirituality and morality, because you have a different goal.”
Rollins hopes the entire university will realize the value of this resource. “I don’t know yet that the vision has extended into other areas of BYU. We’re hopeful that it can, so that it’s not just a Marriott School center but a BYU center.”
John Richards, managing director of the center, says the school plans to extend the e-business center’s influence beyond BYU’s campus. “I’m convinced that one of the pillars of the organizational infrastructure necessary for bringing the sponsoring organization of BYU, the LDS Church, to the world is networked information technology and e-business,” he says. “In the center, we hope to positively bolster such causes.”
As far as Dell Corp. is concerned, e-business is an easy decision. “Everything we can, we put on the web,” Rollins says. “It’s faster, lower cost, and people prefer it.”
Developing E-Business Leaders
At the Marriott SchoolDell CEO Kevin Rollins is making a significant contribution to developing leadership talent right here at BYU. In 2000, Rollins and his wife, Debra, donated $3 million to found the Kevin and Debra Rollins Center for eBusiness at BYU. He also has an honorary position on the center’s advisory board.
The center’s goal is to study the impact of technology—specifically networked information technology like the Internet—on people in organizations and commerce through teaching, research, and innovation.
“We were pretty excited about getting something started so BYU could eventually be a leader in learning how to integrate the Internet into all business practices,” Rollins says. “Dell was a leader. It was something I was very interested in, and I thought we had something we could add from Dell’s perspective.”
Kevin Rollins on Ethics in Business
ON ETHICS VS. RESULTS: IT’S HARD TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE LADDER
“While you want to keep your standards in place—and you have to—that will not be enough to make it. Ethical elements help you when you do rise in the business world, but you still need to develop a core intellectual business work-ethic. Ethics are necessary but not sufficient in the business world.”
ON THE ETHICAL LESSONS OF A BYU EDUCATION: COURAGE TO MAKE A STAND, WITHOUT BEING OBNOXIOUS
“It’s not so much about ethics in business, because most people come from some ethical background. They know right from wrong. What you need is the courage to live the ethical principles you have. That is what I find is lacking. The notion of ethics not being something you stack onto your business principles, but ethics at the core of who you are as you make your decisions is, I think, at the center of what is taught at BYU.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chad D. Nielsen is a freelance writer based near Salt Lake City. He earned a BA in international relations from BYU in 1995 and subsequently spent five years living in Barcelona, Spain. His writing has been published by magazines and newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic. He can be contacted at info@chadnielsen.com.
Written by Chad O. Nielsen
Photography by Bradley Slade