I read somewhere that a famous general, when he was planning his
battles, used to first write at the top of the page "Objective: to win
the war" (or something like that) to remind him of his ultimate goal. 
I need the general's name and the exact quote and the source
information.

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Request for Question Clarification by thx1138-ga on 10 Jun 2003 06:34 PDT

Hello cdmichael and thank you for your question.

After reading your question I too wanted to know more about who said
this.  I have been researching your question over the past few days
and have come to the conclusion that what you read was probably about
General Colin Powell, Chairman (Ret), Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The style certainly sounds like his, and I have listed a two sites
below that might be of interest to you.

1.) "The ultimate goal is simple: give the battlefield commander
access to all the information needed to win the war. And give it to
him when he wants it and how he want it."
General Colin Powell, "Information Age Warrior," BYTE, July 1992
http://www.ndu.edu/inss/macnair/mcnair18/m018ch01.html

2.)"A Leadership Primer"
http://www.fertilizerworks.com/html/market/Leadership.pdf

3.) The same quote (as in the first website) is also used in this
powerpoint presentation:
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~eip/iom528_eve/Archives/dm03lect1.ppt

I hope this information is of use to you (it was for me, and I shall
also be quoting this!)

Best regards

THX1138

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Clarification of Question by cdmichael-ga on 10 Jun 2003 12:33 PDT

Info from thx1138 is interesting (thanks), but not what I was looking
for.

The point of the quotation is that it's important to keep in mind the
ultimate stategic objective (even if it seems blazingly obvious when
you write it down) while you work out tactical details.

I think it may have been a Civil War general or perhaps one of the
World Wars...can't remember for sure.

I'm looking to use something like that in a presentation to excuse my
starting with the blazingly obvious i.e. "Companies are in business to
make money."