Memo to Michael Dell: CEO Sharing Doesn't Work

Dear Michael,

Remember when I came down there to Round Rock and interviewed you and Kevin Rollins almost five years ago? It was for Chief Executive magazine. Basically, I believed you and Kevin when you told me that it was possible for two people to share the job of chief executive officer. You were "two in a box," meaning Kevin handled decisions in your absence and you could float back into the decision-making process whenever it worked for you. You even took the next step of naming him CEO and you retreated to the chairman's job.

But in retrospect, I should have known that something was wrong. I understand that you wanted to spend time with your wife and four children off on your mountain there in the Austin foothills. But the lesson is that every major company, particularly one with aspirations to become an $80 billion behemoth, needs a CEO with an absolute maniacal focus on the business. (Think of Mark Hurd at Hewlett-Packard.) If you experiment with sharing power, the evidence now is that it doesn't work. You've fired Kevin (I think that was unfair; where were you if he was making mistakes?) and resumed your position as full-time CEO a year ago.

But you've paid a price for your experiment in leadership, as have Dell employees, shareholders and customers. Your fiscal fourth quarter net income declined more than analysts expected and you're getting beaten up in the media. It's going to be a long slog to get things moving again the way they once did, if indeed that is possible.

So please, Michael, no more work-life experiments. If you want out, find and groom the right successor, and then make a clean exit. You're still a young man, with a lot of life to live.

Sincerely,

Bill Holstein