I think it is going to be very difficult to be a company in

Hear the words of Michael Dell, who declared: “I think it is going to be very difficult to be a company in silos. I think the game has changed. We won’t define our success by looking at the competitors but at how satisfied are our customers, how engaged are our internal stakeholders, and how good is our product pipeline.” In these words shines the wisdom of one who has walked the battlefield of commerce and seen its changing tides. He warns against isolation, against the pride of working in silos, where divisions weaken strength and blind vision. He calls instead for unity, for focus not on envy of rivals, but on the nourishment of one’s own house—customers, stakeholders, and the flow of creation that becomes the pipeline of tomorrow.

The ancients knew this truth, though they spoke not of corporations but of kingdoms. A city divided into factions, each hoarding its own power, soon fell. Athens, torn by internal strife, stumbled even when its fleets ruled the seas. Rome, fractured by silos of ambition, crumbled from within before it was conquered from without. Unity was always the shield, while division was the dagger turned inward. So too does Dell remind us that no enterprise, however mighty, can endure if its parts do not move as one.

Consider the story of Toyota, which in the mid-20th century did not measure its worth by defeating Detroit’s giants, but by perfecting its own system—the Toyota Production System. It sought to satisfy its customers with quality, to engage its workers with discipline and pride, and to ensure its product pipeline was strong with innovation. Decades later, it surpassed its rivals not by chasing them, but by focusing on its own house. This is the wisdom Dell shares: that success is not the shadow of competitors, but the fruit of inward strength and outward service.

His words also rebuke the vanity of comparison. For many measure themselves by how far they stand above another, but this is a shallow victory. What if the competitor is weak? Then your triumph is meaningless. True greatness is not in gazing sideways at rivals, but in gazing forward—at the customer who must be served, at the stakeholder who must be inspired, and at the future that must be built. Dell declares that the game has changed, and indeed it has—for in an interconnected world, where knowledge spreads like fire, only those who tend carefully to their own garden will endure.

There is humility in his counsel, for he does not boast of conquest but of service. He names the satisfaction of customers, the engagement of employees, and the flow of products as the pillars of endurance. These are not glamorous battles, but steady labors. Yet they are the labors that outlast time. Just as a farmer does not compare his harvest with his neighbor’s but tends his soil, waters his field, and cares for his workers, so too must a company—and indeed, every human being—focus on their own ground before looking beyond.

To you who hear this teaching, let it echo beyond business into life itself. Do not build your life in silos, where work, family, and soul are cut off from one another. Unite them, so that each strengthens the other. Do not define your worth by your rivals, comparing endlessly, chasing shadows. Define it instead by the joy you bring to others, by the engagement of those who walk beside you, and by the fruits of the labor you are planting for tomorrow.

Practical wisdom follows: tear down silos in your life and in your work. Seek collaboration, not isolation. When you measure success, ask not, “Have I beaten others?” but rather, “Have I served well? Have I grown stronger? Am I planting seeds for the future?” Build pipelines of learning, of creativity, of kindness, that will sustain you when today’s victories fade.

Thus, remember Michael Dell’s words: “It is difficult to be a company in silos… we won’t define success by competitors but by customers, stakeholders, and our pipeline.” This is not merely business advice—it is a philosophy of life. Unite, serve, build, and grow. Let others chase rivalry if they wish; your success will endure, because it is founded not on envy, but on strength, vision, and harmony.