Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103020354
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and other top war heroes could command seven-figure salaries, extraordinary speaker fees and sky's-the-limit spokesmen incomes.
Businesses say they believe that what worked so well on the battlefield for military leaders - the by-now legendary strategy and management that led allied forces to lightning victory - would translate well to the corporate arena.
"I would imagine that right now in speakers' bureaus around the country there are efforts afoot to approach [Schwarzkopf]," Brian Palmer, vice president of the National Speakers Bureau in Lake Forest, Ill., said Friday.
Schwarzkopf, whose name has become a household word, could get anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 per speaking engagement, Palmer said.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, the highest-ranking black in the armed forces and a key architect of the war strategy, would command up to $25,000, Palmer said.
Their articulate performance during war press briefings and their decisive battlefield management make them ideal speakers for trade association gatherings, company pep-talks and corporate strategy sessions, he said.
"They can be used not only to help attract people to the event but also to provide people with a highly credible presentation about managing that they wouldn't normally get," Palmer said.
Billionaire Ross Perot, chairman of Perot Systems Corp., was quoted by The Wall Street Journal on Friday as saying Schwarzkopf "could go anywhere he wants to in industry," including Perot's computer-services concern.
The Journal said recruiters for top executive positions estimate that private-sector offers could range from $300,000 to $1 million a year for jobs as executives at companies ranging from high technology to real estate.
by CNB