出场费最贵的10大商学院教授：一场演讲15万美元

    学者，特别是美国顶级商学院教授的演讲出场费，绝对不是小数目。

    许多教授的演讲费在2万至4万美元之间，而这还只是属于中等价位。如果你想让最抢手的演讲嘉宾走到讲台后面，你可能至少需要准备10万美元。

    “身价高与他们所处的大学有一定关系，特别是如果演讲者跟麻省理工学院(MIT)、西北大学(Northwestern University)、哈佛大学(Harvard University)或其他著名院校扯上关系的话，”高管演讲公司(Executive Speakers Bureau)老板理查德•舍尔普说。“与特定学术机构有关联往往是信誉的保证：‘如果某人是哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)的大教授，说明他足够优秀，也许我应该去听听他的高见。”

    三位商业演讲费最高的学者，也就是迈克尔•波特、克莱顿•克里斯滕森和约翰•科特，都来自哈佛商学院。单凭一场演讲，战略大师波特可以赚得15万美元。他的同事，“破坏性创新”这一术语的创建者克里斯滕森可以斩获10万美元，领导力专家约翰•科特的单场演讲费则为8.5万美元。

    透彻明晰、重点突出的学识是一位演讲者价值的另一大组成部分，舍尔普说，“因为他们在一定时期内获得了其他人难以匹及的知识水平。”

    全球演讲者公司(Global Speakers Bureau)顾问阿利斯泰尔•鲁梅娜说，组织经常寻求的是这样一些演讲者，他们能够解决“正在伤害公司”的具体问题（比如，实施计划和政策时碰到的问题），所以演讲中介公司喜欢推销商学院教授在特定领域的独到见解。鲁梅娜说，企业界或许希望达特茅斯学院(Dartmouth College)塔克商学院(Tuck School of Business)的维杰•戈文达拉扬分享他在创新和战略领域的专长，他的演讲费上限为5.5万美元。决心增强公司内部领导力的企业或许会对麻省理工学院斯隆商学院(Sloan School of Management)讲师兼伦敦商学院(London Business School)教授唐纳•萨尔青睐有加。

    企业界的趋势可能会影响演讲主题的选择和特定演讲者的人气。BigSpeak演讲公司(BigSpeak Speakers Bureau)营销总监克里斯•约翰逊表示，一些大公司纷纷采用一种“军事化模式”培养领导者，这个趋势助推曾经拥有准将军衔的耶鲁大学管理学院教授托马斯•考尔迪奇成为了一位冉冉上升的演讲明星。尽管考尔迪奇目前的出场费还处于业界低端（1万至2万美元），但不断增长的情商演讲市场已经提升了这位老兵的身价。考尔迪奇曾经担任过西点军校(West Point)行为科学教研室主任，任职时间长达12年，约翰逊说，他在如何确认组织内领导者这类“软技能”方面拥有丰富的专业知识。

    约翰逊说，企业家精神的崛起催生了对创新类演讲的浓厚兴趣，进而为密歇根大学(University of Michigan)斯蒂芬•M•罗斯商学院(Stephen M. Ross School of Business)教授杰夫•德格拉夫等专家创造了需求。

    舍尔普说，领导力向来是商学院大牌教授的热门演讲主题。西北大学凯洛格高管领导力学院(Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute)主席道格拉斯•科南特对领导力的精辟见解备受各界珍视，他单场演讲费的起价为4.5万美元。

    一些主题来来去去，也有一些主题已经随着新发展和新问题的出现而改变。高管演讲公司的舍尔普说，6年前，公司时常邀请有影响力的学者帮助它们解决跟工作场所的代际差异有关的问题。“那段时期，时不时有组织要求我们安排一位擅长这个领域的演讲嘉宾，”他说。“但现在，它已不再是热门话题。”

    然而，许多公司仍然致力于帮助拥有不同背景和技能的员工更好地协同工作，BigSpeak演讲公司的约翰逊说。但这类问题现在集中在了精通技术，但缺乏团队合作技能的员工身上。他说：“人们真的需要知道如何跟个性不同的同事打交道。”

    Talk, when it comes from some of the country's top business school academics, is far from cheap.

    Fees for speeches by the many professors in the mid-level price range run from $20,000 to $40,000, while it can cost $100,000 or more to put the most sought-after speakers behind a podium.

    "Part of it is the universities that they come from, if they're associated with an MIT or a Northwestern or a Harvard or whatever the case may be," says Richard Schelp, owner of Executive Speakers Bureau. "Being associated with a certain institution brings with it a level of credibility: 'If somebody is good enough to be a professor at Harvard Business School, maybe I should listen to them.'"

    The three highest-paid business speakers from academia -- Michael Porter, Clayton Christensen, and John Kotter -- all come from Harvard Business School. For a single speaking engagement, strategy guru Porter can earn $150,000. His colleague Christensen, who coined the term "disruptive innovation," pulls down $100,000 a talk, while leadership expert John Kotter's speaking fees are $85,000 an appearance.

    Intensive, focused scholarship forms another large part of a speaker's value "because of the level of knowledge that they've attained over a period of time," Schelp says.

    Organizations often seek speakers who can address specific concerns "hurting the corporations" such as problems with the implementation of plans and policies, so speakers bureaus promote business school professors' particular areas of expertise, says Alistair Rumena, a consultant at Global Speakers Bureau. Companies may want Vijay Govindarajan from Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, whose speeches draw fees up to $55,000, for his expertise on innovation and strategy, Rumena says. Firms determined to ramp up their internal leadership may look to Donald Sull, lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a professor at London Business School.

    Trends in business can affect both topic selection and the popularity of certain speakers. A move among some major corporate players to adopt a "military model" for grooming leaders has turned Yale School of Management Professor Brig.-Gen. (retired) Thomas Kolditch into a rising star, says Chris Johnson, marketing director at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau. Kolditch commands fees at the lower end of the spectrum: $10,000 to $20,000. But a growing market for talks on emotional intelligence has fueled demand for the former soldier, who served as head of behavioral sciences at West Point for 12 years and has specialized knowledge in "soft skills" such as identifying leaders within organizations, Johnson says.

    The rise of entrepreneurship has generated strong interest in speeches on innovation, creating demand for experts such as Jeff DeGraff, professor at the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business, Johnson says.

    Leadership has always been a popular subject of speeches by prominent business school professors, Schelp says. Douglas Conant, chairman of the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute at Northwestern University, delivers highly prized insights on leadership at prices starting at $45,000 per speech.

    Some themes come and go, and others have been transformed by new developments and concerns. A half dozen years ago, companies were regularly bringing in influential academics to present solutions to problems related to generational differences in the workplace, says Schelp of Executive Speakers. "Every other organization that would call us would ask about having a speaker that could present in that area," he says. "Now it's not a hot topic anymore."

    However, companies are still focused on helping employees with different backgrounds and skills work well together, says BigSpeak's Johnson. But such issues now center on tech-savvy employees who lack the skills to function well in teams, Johnson says. "People really need to know how to deal with a disparate range of personality types," he says.