Dell's advice to students came at an informal question-and-answer session that drew about 600 people to the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST)and was streamed to the university's 19 campuses with IST programs. The session was moderated by Jim Thomas, IST dean. "There is an acute need for organizational and leadership capabilities," Dell, founder and chairman of the board of Dell, told students, faculty members and invited guests. "With the global nature of business, we need people able to operate with cultures from all over the world."

Dell's visit was part of IST's "Year of Celebration: Bridging to a Digital Global Society."

For about an hour, the business executive fielded questions on everything from the company's innovative supply-chain strategies to the election issue of outsourcing.

He praised American workers' productivity but said, "We can't ignore the productive capacity that exists in other parts of the world."

Asked about the hot jobs in the IT sector, Dell stressed companies need employees who can come to a "rapid understanding of customer requests and work in virtual teams with people in different locations."

Employees also need to set high goals—"stretch goals," he said—that challenge thinking and lead to business breakthroughs.

"When we build our new facility on the East Coast, we'll give 20 to 30 young folks challenges that we have no idea how to solve," Dell said. "They'll solve 15 to 17 of them, and we'll get a huge breakthrough. It will be awesome."

Dell's greatest challenge in the coming years is to develop leaders who can build the organization from within and who are not afraid to make mistakes, said its founder. The company is projected to grow two to three times larger, creating organizational and infrastructure issues.

"We experiment with a lot," Dell said. "You never learn if you don't make mistakes."