I, too, have been Michaelmanaged. He called me once, furious at a story I had written. "Next
time check your facts!" Dell ordered.
我也曾經是Michaelmanaged。有一次他打電話給我，他對我曾經寫過的一個故事感到非常憤怒。"下次先
查清楚事實！"戴爾命令到。
"Who can I check with who will get back to me in enough time?"
"我能和誰商量？誰會在足夠的時間內回到我的身邊？"
"Check with me," said the billionaire, who sometimes has trouble delegating. "I'll get right
back to you." And he always has.
"和我商量一下，"有時會遇到困難的億萬富翁說道，"我會立即回到你身邊的"。
But Dell seems to take orders as well as give them, sometimes acting as the closer on major
sales. "I talked to a salesperson today," said a Dell sales executive. "He got Michael in to meet
a customer to close a medium-sized bid. Michael sat at the table over lunch with the customer
and was just enthusiastic--passionate even--about his company and products. The salesperson was
amazed at Michael's incredible knowledge of products, even down to known glitches in hardware.
We won the sale, against Compaq."
但是看上去戴爾象發出命令一樣地遵守命令，有時他會擔當主要銷售業務的仲裁人（closer）。"我今天
和一個銷售員聊了一會兒?quot;戴爾的一個銷售經理說道，"他請邁克爾會見一個顧客以確定一份中等大小的
訂貨單。邁克爾和顧客一起坐在午餐桌旁，提到他的公司和產品他有些熱情－甚至有些激動。售貨員對邁克爾
對產品不可思議的廣闊知識范圍感到萬分驚奇，戴爾甚至了解硬件的一些低頻干擾信號。我們擊敗了康柏，得
到了訂單。"
The only problem with this image of corporate bliss is that it is so bland. Dell the
corporate titan is also Dell the love-struck husband and father of four. "What you see is what
you get with Michael," says an early Dell employee. "There are no surprises."
公司幸福形象僅有的問題是它太溫和了。戴爾是公司的巨人，而戴爾也是充滿愛心的丈夫和四個孩子的父
親。"你所看到的就是你從戴爾身上所能得到的，"一個戴爾公司以前的雇員說道。"沒有什么令人感到驚奇的
。"
And it's true. The most controversy a reporter can dig up on Michael Dell is a property-tax
dispute that doesn't deserve press past the Austin city limits.
這是事實。一個記者可在邁克爾身上挖掘出的最大爭論是財產稅的爭議，但這并不值得新聞界加以注意，
因為其并未超過奧斯汀市的限制。
"No one has a bad word to say about the guy," says a recent Dell hire. "In fact, they think
he's just a regular guy who has built a great business that most people really love working in."
"沒有一個人說過這個家伙的壞話，"一個戴爾新雇員說道，"實際上，他們認為他僅是一個普通人，他創建
了一個大多數人都真正喜歡在其中工作的成功的企業。"
The ultimate test, of course, is jokes. Visit Microsoft and ask about Bill Gates jokes.
Visit Intel for jokes about Andy Grove. Drop by Oracle for Larry Ellison jokes. Even Compaq has
the odd Eckhard Pfeiffer joke. There are no Michael Dell jokes, none.
當然，極限試驗僅是一個玩笑。走訪一下微軟可聽說有關比爾·蓋茨的笑話。去一下英特爾可打聽到關于
安迪·格羅夫的笑話。順便走訪奧雷克爾就可聽說有關拉里·埃利斯的笑話。即使是康柏也有關于古怪的埃克
哈德·帕非佛的笑話。但是卻從沒有聽說過邁克爾·戴爾的笑話，從未有過。
This can hurt in the publicity department. Charismatic leaders are supposed to have rough
edges. The Dell story is so compelling that several years ago a movie was planned starring actor
John Cusack as Michael. But they couldn't come up with a good script--not enough conflict. He
must have been too busy making money.
這可使宣傳部門受損。人們認為有魅力的領導者都不修邊幅。戴爾的歷史是如此引人注目，使得在幾年前
曾計劃推出一部由著名影星John Cusack飾演邁克爾的電影。但是他們無法創作出一個好的劇本－沒有足夠的
劇情沖突。邁克爾一直只是忙于掙錢。
——完——
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