European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 11, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Perot in North Vietnam in 1970, bargaining for the re Leaf of . Prii Onen of War. Billionaire business by William h. Inman United press International it was the most Brazen Butl of his life and h. Ros Perot billionaire entrepreneur and former Rodeo Rick Roper had pulled Oil More than his Mission was to enter the dread Gas prison an impregnable Box of steel and barbed wire in the heart of revolutionary Iran and talk to two employees of his electronic data systems inc. Who had been jailed. Perot s ultimate Mission was to gain their release one Way or another. It was january 1979 and the Shah s regime was dissolving in the chaos of civil War. Perot knew there had to be a Way to get in there always was a Way he had built a computer Empire on that premise. Besides the people he was after were his friends they were part of the eds Branch tha created Iran s social Security system. The danger Wai there sure but it was Plain just by the Way i was brought up thai i had to do something Lor them recalled Perot easing Back on the arms of a rocking chair in his High Rise Dallas office thick with statues of cowboys an bucking Broncos. My Mother who was dying of cancer told me to go to Tehran. These Are your men she said. You sent them Over there. They did t do anything wrong. The government won t help them. It s up to you to get them out besides i be always been very very the arc capitalist now considered one of America s most influential businessmen would have been shot or imprisoned if caught. Bui he bluffed Well. Wearing tourist garb he strode past the Gates and the guards. Ramsey Clark a fellow texan was there on a separate observer Mission but ailed to recognize Perot. He signed his real name in the official prison registry a Good presbyterian and Stern moralist of the old school he was t deceitful initial a for Henry initial a Lor Ross Perot. Nobody called the ministry of Justice where that name would have stirred up a Hornet s nest. The Small wiry Man with the broken nose of a Boxer strode into the Central compound of Iran s greatest prison like he owned the place. My god said one of his employees it s can you believe this the Man nudged his cell mate. Perot s Here Perot embraced his incredulous friends gave them food a Lew words from Home. There s some Long underwear in Here for you he said thrusting a Box at one of the men. We could t buy any so this is mine and i want it Back you hear Perot promised to get the men out. They promised to return his Long underwear. A few weeks later a commando team secretly drilled at Perot s Lakeside summer Home near Dallas instigated an angry mob which broke into the prison. Perot s employees fled through the rubble and escaped with the Aid of Perot s elite squad. Perot 55, has never been afraid of taking the Tough Way out. This is the Man whose company will help fashion the next generation of american cars eds is the brains behind general motors new Saturn Auto plan. The Deal was announced on Perot s birthday last year. Eds and Perot quickly went about rejigs Gering the Way pm did business and Are playing big roles in the super secret project to beat japanese automakers at their own game. Saturn of really a philosophy getting rid of the old Structure All those things which make american automakers less competitive. Get rid of the differences Between labor and management work As a team get the most out of technology. The Saturn idea will sweep across general motors like a tidal wave and it la sweep across american Industry he said. He feels his own business Success is due to fundamental and mule headed toughness. I have a theory about successful businessmen. They re not the smartest people in the world. I believe if you really were a Genius you d be too sensitive to put up with what you have to put up with to win in business. It hurts too much. If i had to write a handbook for the american entrepreneur and put everything in one sentence i d say persevere no matter the pain persevere " that lesson was hammered in at an Early age by tumbles Oft the backs of unbroken Colts. Perot born june 27, 1930, grew up in the East Texas City of Texarkana. His father Gautiel Ross Perot was a Cotton broker with Strong hands and a weekend passion for horse trading. Perot s first real Job was breaking horses. I got a Dollar a horse. I got the Job because i was Nice and Light and could ride horses when they were younger easier to but the Job almost broke Young Ross. He suffered concussions broken Bones scars. His nose owes its shape to a Bronco. That s when i Learned to look for the Best Way. The obvious Way can be very painful. Those were the Days you did t go to a doctor. You got beat up and you just put your head under a faucet or sat under a tree then got Back on the on weekends Perot wont to the horse auctions. My father would allow me to sell bridles and saddles. I d buy a bridle and sell a bridle buy a Saddle and sell a Saddle All in the same Day. I could never take anything Home. I had to make a Buck take a profit. That s the guts of business after All Selling something for More than you pay for Ross sold Christmas cards and Garden seed even did some calf roping during Rodeo exhibitions but his finest schooling came from watching his father Deal with the hard bitten Farmers of depressed East Texas. My dad had a Little office where he bought and sold Cotton a one room office. I d sit in his office and watch him. That was my business school. I would watch him Deal with the Farmers. They were poor people too. It was Tough in Texas in agriculture. But he protected his children As Best he could from the harshness of the times. So did my Lulu May Perot Blue eyed Iron willed set the Page 14 the stars and stripes billionaire electronics entrepreneur and former mrs i Friday
