As promised , we will look in on Dell since the November 3, 2003 article in Business Week as quoted in the prior blog “Three Common Denominators…” Unknown to me when I began that blog, was that my son Ben has a close friend, James, who joined Dell three years prior to the article. James relayed how on March 22, 2000, the stock price was $57.58. Three months later when he joined Dell, the stock was hoovering around $50. But six months later the dot-com bubble had burst, and on December 20, the stock price was down to $16.47. Indeed it appeared, Dell had an long arduous path toward recovery.
But fast forwarding almost three years to February of 2003, Dell stock climbed to $22.65 accomplished by such choices as first-ever layoffs, outsourcing, and other cost-cutting measures, that fed directly into the positively counteracting the negativity cited in the Business Week article. The efforts of Michael and Kevin no matter how successful Dell’s breath of talent’s, brains, competencies, and alliances were able to muster, there was still this thing that was the overflow from Michael and Kevin’s personal make-up, by humbling themselves and intimately sharing their personal integrity and portraying their courage to meet the monumentally oppressive demands of this scenario’s realities.
James identified for me the following milestones Dell accomplished in becoming the powerhouse it is today.
In 2007 Rollins resigned and Michael returned as CEO
In 2009, Dell purchased Perot Systems for $4B.
At the end of 2013, Michael Dell and Silver Lake purchased Fortune’s ranked 51st company for $24.5B
In 2016, the same twosome purchased EMC for $67B; at the time, the largest ever tech acquisition.
In December 2018, Dell Technologies was relaunched as a public company with a $35B Market Cap sequenced in 2019 @ $38B, 2020 @ $55B, 2021 @ $66B.
Just now I googled ‘Dell EMC” and a CRN article by Mark Haranas on March 2, 2021, stated “Dell Technologies is trading at all time highs this week by reaching $83.48 per share, up from $28.87 nearly one year ago, representing a massive 189 percent share increase. In a huge win last week, Dell reported its best revenue year in the company’s history by generating $94.4 B in total sales for its fiscal year 2021, which ended in February.
An extraordinary accomplishment in deed for a business to achieve. And I maintain such success is easier for our materialistic minds to quantify for a business as opposed to success in a spiritual realm. Too often spiritual successes are later riddled with graft, corruption and abuse, such as recent disclosures for Ravi Zacharias.
I personally was deceived over 30 years by Ravi and from where I sit now at my writing table, I see three of his books on my book shelves I’ve not yet burned. It will soon be a year ago I listened to his memorial service while I was working in the garden, telling my pastor neighbor that Ravi was one of the bright lights whom exposed my sin from past decades. Ravi’s writings and speaking spoke to me at a time when I myself was being lifted out of the mire of comparable personal deceit by the Holy Spirit. And this was not of course, the first time I’d been keenly disappointed by an author or church leadership.
I just now checked the internet since its been several months since I read up on the details. On the www.rzim.org website, you will find an “Open Letter from the RZIM International Board of Directors on the ….”
The last paragraph states “ The findings of this investigation have convinced us more than ever of the necessity and sufficiency of the gospel. No one is without the need for a savior. Sin resides in the heart of human being. Jesus is the only person who is exactly who he says he is and the only savior worthy of our ultimate trust and worship. Jesus is fully committed to truth and to justice, and he unqualifiedly stands with victims.”
Immediately following then is a button to link you to a “Report that was compiled by an independent investigative firm, Miller & Martin PLLC. It contains disturbing content and graphic language and has not been edited by RZIM.”
I simply mention the above spiritual deceit, for in these days of media sensationalism in spiritual circles, whether we are the followers or leaders, we are set up for such disasters, whether by Satan or if not even purposefully engineered. The same is true in the political arena and the challenge for everyone, but especially for the believer or a Christ follower, is to exercise extreme caution in our news sources as we are now literally inundated by millions of ‘experts’, authors, podcasts, blogs, you tubes, etc. Consider my high school and college years in the sixties when we were dominated by only three major TV news networks and the perhaps 15-20 major magazines of that era arising from the boom years after WW II. And of course, newspapers than yet were prospering.
Personally, since we’re on the subject, I have found I must simply turn off the media inputs and limit my news sources to a few I’ve learned to trust over the years. As you, I am continually being sent clips, you tubes, and articles by well meaning friends, which serve me well to round me out with a continual flow of additional sources of materials and ideas, that they have already run through their “threshing machine” so to speak, so we can quickly and more capably compare our “grains of truth” against the scriptural standards.
But for what it’s worth, I read far more scripture now than I ever did prior. Personally, I read it out loud as though I were before a congregation but here’s a twist I learned recently, I do so with hymns being played not merely as background music but with sufficient volume for tempo, contrast, and another source of truth, not conflicting, but enhancing. Yeah, I know it sounds strange but when the lights go out and the internet dies, we’ll all go back and join our Amish brothers with lanterns and merely our own voices. Absorbing scripture, reading or listening to truth writings, and a vigorous prayer life are key today to thriving in all dimensions of life in this media driven culture.
I include the following four Life Dimensions as necessary for living a fulfilled life: 1.) Attitude – Cultivating a positive mindset and emotions, 2.) Body – Nourishing with fuel, movement and rest, 3.) Connections – Nurturing healthy positive connections, and 4.) Dreams – Purposely living a life of your dreams as provided you by your Creator. These four dimensions when under girded with a vibrant spiritual foundation, will serve you well.
Wow! We have certainly deviated from beginning with the Dell accolades progressing through the RZIM update as we attempt to flesh out our grappling of assessing spiritual success. The first Bible standard that comes to my mind just now is Matthew 7:16-20 which states “by their fruit we will know them.” I shall take the liberty to quote these famous verses from Matthew 7: 15-29 from The Message Translation since many of you know the KJV and the NIV nearly by memory. This version is vastly different!
15-23 “Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma, look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned. Knowing the correct password – saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance – isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience – doing what my Father wills. I can see it now – at the Final Judgement thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I’m going to say? ‘You missed the boat, All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’
24-25 “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, home-owner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit – but nothing moved that house. It was attached to the rock.
26-27 “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on a sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”
28-29 When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying – quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.
I realize I included an additional nine verses beyond what was necessary to make the point “by their fruit you will know them.” But frequently I sense a ‘spiritual momentum’ when reading so I continue on capturing the additional blessing beyond merely the specific truth being sought and this is an excellent example: charisma vs character; who preachers (ambassadors) are IS the main thing; serious obedience, doing what my Father wills; his words are not merely ‘incidental additions to your life;’ attached to the rock.
Candidly speaking, success for many professing Christians today, is likely best summed up by by not hearing these words at the Final Judgement “All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here!”
This time I think I’ll just reverse the emphasis of the prior blog’s titles to “Three Common Denominators For NOT Building Successful Businesses NOR Expanding The Kingdom of God….. Lackadaisical competencies of the scriptures, leveraging selfishly and building alliances for self-recognition, that will automatically destroy or vaporize any possibility of possessing personal integrity.
Blessings on your journey home toward the Final Judgement hearing “Well done, good and faithful servant…… Enter into the joy of your master!” >>>>>merlin