Quote:
Originally Posted by LessinSF
Serious question, particularly for those who have been to such speeches. Do they say anything worth that money? They no longer have any official power and do not seem to offer insight into the inner workings in a way that I would be interested. Does it get the company an advantage in some way? If I was a shareholder or principal in a company paying that sort of money to an out-of-power speaker, I would be voting for a new Board.
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I'd suggested this earlier but you may not have been around, but if you want the perspective of a CEO who hired Clinton for a speech and was happy with it, pick up The Disruptor's Feast by Frits van Paasschen. Fritz was a college classmate which is why I picked it up, but in talking about how he led Starwood and tried to set a tone and steer people's thinking to a more global outlook he talked about having Bill Clinton speak at one of their annual meetings. From the sounds of it, what he had to say was a pretty standard CGI type of speech, and wouldn't have been new to anyone listening, but it let Fritz set a tone for what they were talking about at the conference and that is what he wanted. The celebrity seemed to help as much as the message.