Joan Magretta won the 1998 McKinsey award for the best HBR article of the year for an interview with Michael Dell that became the basis for the book Direct from Dell. Previously, she was a partner at Bain & Co. She has an MBA from Harvard and a PhD in literature from the University of Michigan.Joan Magretta won the 1998 McKinsey award for the best HBR article of the year for an interview with Michael Dell that became the basis for the book Direct from Dell. Previously, she was a partner at Bain & Co. She has an MBA from Harvard and a PhD in literature from the University of Michigan.