The Psychology of Power | Michael Ovitz

Trust is the most important thing between human beings—you don't handle betrayal well, especially in business (malicious intent, being set up to fail, being lied to and walked into a trap); betrayal makes you more defensive and sensitive about who you trust.

“Trust to me is the most important thing between human beings. And I have and I've been very viciferous about this and it's happened to me uh a couple of times in my life. I don't handle betrayal well...I don't think that there's any justification for it under any condition and I I react very badly to it.”

You should always be on a constant and progressive learning curve about anything—continuous learning is essential to life and success.

“I just believe that in one's life, they have to be on a constant and progressive learning curve period about anything.”

There's no such thing as egalitarian in anything—some teachers are better than others, some doctors are better than others, some leaders are better than others—which is true in every domain.

“It's like anything else. Not all doctors are as good as each other. Some are just more gifted. Some are better surgeons. Some are better diagnosticians. Some know more about your intestines than they do about your heart... It's there's no such thing as ealitarian in anything. Some of my teachers in high school were better than others. They just were. They were more interesting. They did stuff that was different. You know, leaders are some of them are more interesting than others.”

When betrayed, you cannot stain everyone with the same brush, but you get back up like in London—you suck it up, get dressed, go to the playing field in your uniform, get the ball, and run with it again, even though your legs aren't quite as sure.

“You can't you can't, you know, stain everyone with the same brush. So, you have to kind of get back up on your feet like I told you about the guy in London. And you got to go back and you got to kind of suck it up and get dressed and go out to the playing field in your uniform and get the ball and run with it. Again, not easy cuz your legs aren't quite as sure as they were before, but you got to do it.”

Woke culture had merit at its roots but was carried too far—it went from one side of the metronome to the middle to all the way to the other side, contributing to the demise of the content business in Hollywood by forcing bad creative decisions and narrowing audiences.

“The roots of woke culture had some merit, the roots...They took it instead of letting it go from one side of the metronome to the middle, they took it all the way to the other side. And I think it contributed to the demise of the content business in Hollywood right now...it forced bad creative decision. And it forced our audiences who don't all think that way to go narrow on us”

AI websites and companies show the biases and personalities of the engineers programming them, particularly in early days but continuing to be present just better hidden—you see this in the information you're given and the way AI systems are trained.

“I think the different AI companies have the personalities of the engineers that are programming them. And I think you see that bias in the information you're given. You sure saw it in the early days...I think they just do a better job of hiding it, but I think it's still there.”

The only economic systems that work are capitalism and variants of it—dictators and autocrats have long runs but eventually lose, and democratic capitalist societies win; communism, socialism, and other systems have failed across the last 2,000 years.

“Can you name me one system in the last 2,000 years that has worked that's not capitalism, socialism, communism, dictator? Just name me one that you learned at your Ivy League school. dead silence because there isn't one...Autocrats all lose. And democratic capitalist societies win.”

Great movies that work universally are made without entering political discussions—when we did Ghostbusters, Casino, or Good Fellas, we weren't interested in your politics, we just wanted you to watch and enjoy, creating content for everyone regardless of political persuasion.

“When we made movies that everyone wanted to watch. We didn't care what your political persuasion was. When we did Ghostbusters, I don't care if you're a liberal or a conservative. We just want you to laugh...We didn't enter political discussions. I didn't even allow political discussions to take place in meetings.”

Police are the most maligned service people in the world and performing the job is terrible, yet people do it—mistakes are inevitable but don't justify throwing out the whole system, and defunding police makes cities less safe.

“The police are the most maligned service people in the world. Who wants that job? What a terrible job. And they we get these men and women that do it. Hey, do they make mistakes? Yeah. But are the mistakes worth throwing out the whole system? I don't think so.”

Ovitz wasn't interested in successes or things that turned out to be revolutionary in entertainment when compared with how Collison focused on mistakes, which shows that Collison understood something important about learning and improvement.

“He didn't care about any of the good things I did or any of the things that turned out to be successful or kind of revolutionary in the entertainment. Wasn't interested. No interest. Wouldn't know the mistakes so he wouldn't make them. That to me was not smart. It was wise. That was a grade above normal.”

The entertainment business is transactional, where people are your friends only while they can help you, and when you started from scratch with nothing, you have an obligation to help people who helped you even 10 years later when they can't get work.

“When people help you, and it wasn't in the long-term culture of the entertainment business, short-term, it's try, you know, the entertainment is a transactional friendship business. Are these people really your friends? I'm not so sure, you know, but while they can help you, they're your friends. But if someone helped us get started and we started from scratch on card tables with no money... I had to handle that without a lawyer. You have to reach out and you have to help people.”

Warren Buffett reads not for opinion but for facts to collect factual information and formulate his own opinion, ignoring the writer's opinion.

“One of the most interesting answers I've heard to that question is Warren Buffett. And he says when he's reading, he's not reading for your opinion. He's reading for the facts. So, he's reading to collect factual information and formulate his own opinion, but he basically ignores the opinion of the writer.”

IP theft is a massive ongoing problem—China was stealing records and duplicating videotapes in the 1990s killing the media business, the Premier League has 750,000 illegal downloads per team per game, and you can find simple instructions on Google for how to access sporting events without paying.

“In 96, I led a trade delegation for President Clinton to Beijing...they were making videotapes from people holding up video cameras in theaters...Here I am on the phone with a PhD from Stanford telling me that he solved the problem...We have over 30 teams. We have 750,000 illegal downloads every team, every game...You could literally go on to Google and find out how to get around paying for a sporting event with very simple instructions.”

I do my best thinking in the morning as a very early riser—my routine is the same every day: feed the dog, get myself something to drink, sit at my desk and read the same things every morning.

“Yeah, I am. I'm a very early riser. And I do my best thinking in the morning. my very best thinking in the morning...Seven days a week, I uh get up. Um, if I'm here, it's easier...I sit down at my desk and I read the same things every single morning.”

You had to have passion for what you were doing, which Ovitz enforced through an open door policy on Friday afternoons where any agent could pitch him material they were passionate about, but they had two minutes to sell it because time is finite and they had to prove their passion was real.

“You had to have a passion for what you were doing. I had an open door policy. Friday afternoons, anyone could come in and give me something to read. But since I could only read a certain number of scripts on a weekend, they had to be incredibly passionate about it... I gave everybody like two minutes to sell it to me”

Ovitz requires that if you can't tell him what your business is about in 20 seconds, you should not do your business because how are you going to market it to the world, and he applies this principle to tech investing today just as he did in entertainment.

“If you can't tell me what your business is about in 20 seconds, you should not do your business because how are you going to market it to the world? You've got to and I'm not talking about that technical algorithms of AI.”

Ovitz prefers the New York path where movement from capitalism to extreme socialism is fast enough to be rejected by the system, versus Canada's slow march into socialism which is harder to arrest because it happens incrementally.

“I will say if you're you're going to go socialist, I much prefer the New York path of like you go from capitalism to extreme socialism because I feel like the system will reject that versus Canada which is like a slow march into kind of socialism.”

Ovitz's willingness to take meetings when respected people recommend someone (even if he doesn't initially want to) is a consistent life principle that has paid dividends; for example, Ron Conway's insistence that he meet Mark Andreessen led to board involvement that reshaped his career, and later a Stanford professor's recommendation to meet a researcher led to founding a company protecting intellectual property.

“If people I respect say to me, 'Meet the guy.' Even if I don't want to, or the gal, I will do it. And it just worked for me on a company which we can talk about later that we just announced last week that we incubated where I met someone that I refused to meet but someone I respect said you better meet him.”

I am a monopolist who believes in Peter Thiel's theory on monopoly—you should not have competition, they have to be eliminated—the American way is to be the best first choice, not to accept second or third choices.

“I'm a monopolist. I believe in Peter Teal's theory on monopoly. I don't believe that you should have competition. They have to be eliminated. That's the American way in my opinion...I don't want anyone to be as good as us. I want us to be the best. If you want to have a second or third choice, that's okay. But we're the first choice.”

American society is the greatest system in history because it permits failure, allows comeback, emphasizes bootstrapping and self-improvement, and is fundamentally capitalist; capitalism creates jobs and systems that lift people up.

“we're 200 years old here. We live in what I think is the greatest country in the history of mankind. And it's all about what you can do and pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Don't give up. You know, create that momentum... I believe in charity toward helping people and I do a lot of that. But I believe that capitalists create jobs and that creates a system.”

Michael Bloomberg as NYC mayor was exceptional because he was experienced and successful in business, came in with passion and organization, got things done without standing on ceremony, and had police's back—his effectiveness was proven by people feeling safe and not fearing robbery.

“Mike Bloomberg got stuff done. Mike Bloomberg built a business from scratch...He comes into the city with the same passion, ethos, and organization...Mike Bloomberg got stuff done in this city and he didn't stand on ceremony...And you felt safe in the city. You didn't feel like somebody was going to come up and and rob you because you knew Bloomberg had the police's back.”

Success is not singular but multifaceted—it includes an amazing family (legacy), great education and continuous learning, building something from scratch, meaningful accomplishments (UCLA Medical Center, building houses, acquiring impactful art), having five grandchildren you're in love with, and defining it like a Seurat pointillist painting where little dots accumulate into a larger picture.

“Success to me is having an amazing family because at the end of the day that's your legacy...It's having had a great run in your life in education. It's having learned so much more than you ever thought you'd learn. It's building something from scratch...Success has a lot of parameters. It's not a single thing...our lives are made up of a lot of little dots and when they tell the right picture, you hit it.”

Ovitz didn't allow political discussions to take place in meetings and didn't want to get involved with clients' politics, which was a rule he enforced.

“I didn't even allow political discussions to take place in meetings. I didn't want to get involved with our clients politics.”

Fearlessness in confrontation is a tool in Ovitz's toolkit, not something he questions, and it comes from being black and white about loyalty to friends, family, and people who have done things for him.

“For me, it's a tool in the toolkit. That's all it is. I do a lot of things for friends of mine that are in trouble because I have been viewed by a lot of my friends as the world's best friend and the world's worst enemy because I'm just black and white loyal. It's the way I've been my whole life. I'm very loyal to my friends, to my family, and to people that have done things for me.”

Ovitz read the New England Journal of Medicine and worked hard to raise money for the UCLA Medical Center and served as chairman of the hospital, not to become a surgeon but to have fluent understanding to talk to the 20 department heads who were the tops in their fields.

“I was interested in medicine. So I read the New England Journal of Medicine. I you know worked very hard to raise money for the UCLA Medical Center. I was the chairman of the hospital for many years. I had to look at the New England Journal of Medicine to talk to the 20 department heads... I didn't learn how to perform a procedure medically, but I at least got some vocabulary, and I could kind of stay up into a conversation”

The simple rule 'don't lie if you don't have an answer' and instead say 'I'm going to get back to you because I don't know the answer to that question' was shocking in retrospect for how revolutionary it was, despite appearing to be simpleton logic.

“We started some very simple rules which I was shocked in retrospect how revolutionary there were, but they were simple. To me, it was like simpleton logic. Don't lie if you don't have an answer. Here's your answer. Tell you what, Shane, I'm going to get back to you because I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm going to find out. That's highly acceptable.”

You have to be mature enough to look at cutting back and say maybe I'll start with 2% instead of 10%, and it's hard because you're in a conflicted scenario in your head.

“You have to be mature enough to look at it and say maybe I'll just cut 2% back at the beginning and do X Y and Z and it's hard because you get it's a conflicted scenario in your own head”

With Netflix and AI, there could be a future where you and Shane are watching the same show but your versions are different based on your political dispositions and what the system knows about you, with the technology already existing to support this personalization.

“Do you think there's a world in the future where you and I are watching the same show and the actual show is different even though we think we're watching the same show with content on demand and AI... I never count anything out... Could it happen? Absolutely. Because the technology is actually there to do it. Netflix is already uh done experiments with you change the ending.”

Ovitz secured commitments from Lucian Grange (Universal), Dennis Koker, and Rob Stringer (Sony) to watermark songs using neural fingerprinting technology for a new IP protection company; Universal and Sony (the two biggest music companies) are implementing the technology and will go live shortly.

“I called up Sir Lucian Grange who runs Universal. And I said, 'Lucian, how long have you and I been working on in IP theft?' And he said, 'Our whole lives.' I said, 'I think I have the answer.' He said, 'Tell me, show me.' I did. He said, 'I'm in.'... we have the two biggest music companies and we're watermarking songs and we will go live very shortly.”

Los Angeles has horrible leadership in its current mayor who is very nice but has no idea what she's doing, never ran a business, and is running a budget of one of the biggest corporations in the country without the required experience.

“We've got horrible leadership in in Los Angeles right now... You know, a woman who's our mayor who is very nice, but she has no idea what she's doing. She's never run a business and she's running a budget of of one of the biggest corporations in the country.”

Ovitz can't understand any city that has a defund the police campaign, and walking around London he doesn't feel safe because the government is taking police off the street, while walking around New York he feels great because there's a lot of police out.

“In this city. I can't understand any city that has a defund the police... I walk around London, I don't feel safe. No. Because the government there is taking the police off the street. I walk around New York, I feel great. I feel great because there's a lot of police out.”

Paul Newman was one of the loveliest men, wanted so hard to be normal (did racing and go-karts), hated when people approached him while eating, but accepted the fame reality—he said that after hearing enough praise ('best eyes', 'greatest thing since the wheel'), you start to believe it even if you don't at first.

“Paul Newman, who was the loveliest man and wanted so hard to be normal...And he looked at me. He said, 'Michael, you know what? I don't believe any of it, but after a certain amount of time, it starts to get to you and you start to think maybe'”

When you tell people the truth about their work (even bad news), they appreciate it—Ovitz never lied to clients about dailies or performance, always told them directness and truth, which was critical to CAA culture.

“Tell them what they want to hear. We never did that ever...No, it's just you just say it. And they, you know what? It's interesting. They appreciate it. I want to be told the truth...We would have I would see agents tell or their clients that they had just seen a film that was where where they had just seen dailies where they were no good and something was wrong and they needed to be reshot. They'd say, 'Oh, you look great.'”

Max Levchin spent 10 minutes explaining how to brew the perfect cup of coffee, which was a metaphor for life—he'd studied every component (roasting, grinding, water, timing) and isolated them before putting them into fluid movement, like a Japanese tea ceremony.

“Max Levchin...I remember sitting in his office. We were going to have coffee. He said, 'Come with me.' And he took me to the coffee room and then proceeded to spend 10 minutes explaining to me how you brew the perfect cup of coffee...He had studied it all. He knew exactly what to do when, how to roast the coffee, how to grind it...That is a metaphor for life...He took all the components apart and isolated them and then put them into a fluid movement.”

You always read about mistakes in content—people love to catch them—which means directors who make 300 decisions a day are under constant scrutiny where mistakes are 'noted for posterity' while successes are forgotten.

“Directors make 300 decisions a day. And just little things like if the glass on the table's in the wrong place for the second shot, your mistake is noted for posterity...And you always read about mistakes in content. People love to catch it.”

When you don't understand something, you should still say yes to meeting someone if a person you respect recommends them, because respect creates a proxy for judgment and can override initial skepticism.

“If people I respect say to me, 'Meet the guy.' Even if I don't want to, or the gal, I will do it. And it just worked for me on a company which we can talk about later that we just announced last week that we incubated where I met someone that I refused to meet but someone I respect said you better meet him.”

Momentum is the single most important thing in anything we do—in life, business, and sports; it's one of the most underutilized, most critical things in life that changes second-place teams to first-place teams.

“Momentum to me is the single most important thing in in anything we do...It's important in in life to keep momentum going of your interests and your family. In business, if you don't have momentum, you have no business. In sports, momentum changes. Second place teams to first place teams. Momentum may be one of the most underutilized, most critical thing in life.”

Political leaders should have at least five years of running a business (any size, even a mom-and-pop store) with a balance sheet, sales, marketing, and healthcare plan—you must know how to manage a business to run a city or country.

“My thesis, which a lot of people in discussions, and I bring it up everywhere I go, I feel that if you're going to run in this country for mayor, governor, president, or vice president, you better have five years of having run a business, any kind of business. You could have a mom and pop store with five employees. But something with a balance sheet, sales, marketing, health care plan.”

Power is ephemeral and fleeting—it has a closed end and never a good one—so believing in power lists or power rankings is nonsense, and instead you should believe in family (nuclear and business) and protect them with privacy.

“I believed in my family which composed of my nuclear family, my three kids and my business family. That was my life. I believed in that and I protected both with privacy...I believed that all the publicity that I got, both good and bad, was nonsense...power and it's fleeting and it doesn't last. And if you don't believe that, take a look at anyone that's had it. It's you it's like a lease. It has a closed end and never a good one.”

Badmouthing non-clients or competitors is an age-old trick in entertainment to start negativity, but it actually makes you look weak and unappreciative—instead, confrontation should be private (one-on-one in an office), fought out directly, and then shaken off.

“We did have another rule that it was inappropriate to badmouth non-clients product because that was a age-old trick in the entertainment business. Try to start a drum roll of negativity...when he was bad mouthing his partner who actually was a nice guy...he was insecure in a meeting. He thought it made himself look better when in reality it made him look really weak and unappreciative.”

Confrontation is a tool in the toolkit—it's not inherently good or bad—and it becomes necessary when others don't respond to softer approaches; the key is using it strategically to accomplish a goal (like getting a job for a former employee) rather than for ego.

“For me, it's a tool in the toolkit. That's all it is...I'm in the school that occasionally it's necessary. When indeed you're confronted, I don't think any of us have any choice but to respond...You can't let people walk all over you or your clients.”

Loyalty to people who helped you when you had nothing is a non-negotiable duty—CAA maintained a list of nearly 400 people who fell on hard times (fired, unemployed, or struggling), and the agency actively legislated jobs for them rather than just giving checks, because they needed dignity back.

“At CA, we kept a list of every single executive that helped us in the first three or five years that then had trouble. And we got everyone a job. And if we couldn't get them a job, we made sure they had money because they helped us when we had nothing...I think we had at one time close to 400 people on a list...We're going to legislate a job for this guy. This is not just giving him a check. He needs his dignity back.”

Branded journalism and journalists/editors are more important than ever as information curators—editors tell us what's important through placement, headline size, and picture use; you cannot equally weight everything in a publication, so you must read like an editor does.

“I think branded journalism is more important than ever. The most important people on the planet are journalists and editors. They kind of feed us our menu...I don't agree with people that sit and read things cover to cover because you can't equally weight everything between the covers...Editors of newspapers and magazines are really much smarter and wiser than they're given credit for”

Mediocrity is a disease that must be eliminated—it's invisible until passion shines a light on it; you cannot tolerate people with no interest in anything because they don't challenge, push, or ask questions, and they prevent excellence.

“Mediocrity to me is a disease that you have to get rid of at all costs. I can't stand talking to people that suffer from that disease where they have no interest. You know, sometimes you sit blindly next to someone at a dinner party and you try to talk to them and they have no interest in anything and I just can't deal with it because I want to be challenged. I want to be pushed.”

You could have cut back 10% of business time and let momentum carry it forward with other people, using that 10% for family, art collecting, reading, and other important things—but the reality is that who you were as a person, the extra 10-20% you gave, is what gave you that extra 10-20% result.

“I could have cut back 10% of my business time where I did nothing but business and let momentum carry it forward...and used that 10% of my time for my family, for my art collecting...And you're 100% right and that's the stopper. But the reality is there's ways of doing it. like I now book out my free time on my own calendar”

People in the entertainment business were regularly lied to by agents who would tell clients they looked great in dailies when in reality the dailies were bad and something was wrong and needed to be reshot, but at CAA they would tell clients the truth.

“I would see agents tell or their clients that they had just seen a film that was where where they had just seen dailies where they were no good and something was wrong and they needed to be reshot. They'd say, 'Oh, you look great.' Tell them what they want to hear. We never did that ever.”

Ovitz recruited 80% of CAA's executives either grown internally or recruited from competing firms because they had the agency's standards but were 'at the wrong place'—a systematic talent acquisition strategy focused on stealing excellent people from competitors.

“We recruited some of our best executives that way... Matter of fact, we recruited I'd say 80% of our executives like that. We either grew them inside or recruited them from the competition because they had our standards and they were at the wrong place in our mind.”

Ovitz led a trade delegation to Beijing in 1996 for President Clinton to address Chinese IP theft (videotape counterfeiting and record duplication), but the delegation achieved nothing despite including 20 major business leaders; the current neural fingerprinting technology represents a solution to the problem he couldn't solve 30 years ago.

“In 96, I led a trade delegation for President Clinton to Beijing. I met with the premier of China... because they were making videotapes from people holding up video cameras in theaters... they were killing the business and they were stealing records and they were duplicating tapes... We got nowhere... I spent most of my career in media fighting intellectual property theft.”

Getting momentum is not a science but an art form—it requires extraordinarily hard industrious work, deeply educating yourself in your field and its peripheries, knowing your competitors, and recruiting the best people not on your side of the ledger.

“I don't think getting momentum is a science. It's more an art form...It's about extraordinarily hard industrious work. It's about deeply educating yourself in your field, deeply educating yourself in the peripheries of your field, knowing who your competitors are. How do you uh recruit people that are really good that aren't on your side of the ledger?”

Patrick Collinson from Stripe went through Ovitz's book marking every mistake, then asked about the conditions, what he might have done differently, and what would have happened if he had—he wasn't interested in successes but in mistakes, which was wise not smart.

“Patrick invited me to lunch...he said, 'I have marked every place in your book where you said you made a mistake.' And he said, 'I want to know the conditions that you were under when you made the decision, what you might have done differently, and what would have happened if you did it differently.' And what I realized is he didn't care about any of the good things I did...Wasn't interested. No interest...That to me was not smart. It was wise. That was a grade above normal.”

In 1999 when Ovitz met Mark Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, they recognized that his work in entertainment was identical to their work in venture capital—packaging creators with money (VCs) and marketing, which had 'epiphany moment' impact on Ovitz's understanding of his transferable skills.

“Uh Ben Horwitz and Mark Andre pointed that out to me in 1999. They both looked at me and said, 'You do exactly what we do.' And that was like an epiphany moment for me.”

The first place everybody goes wrong is they start to believe things that aren't true—they deceive themselves, believe they're better than others, believe their own press (good or bad), believe they're superior; athletes who are better at a skill aren't better people, sometimes worse.

“The first place everybody goes wrong is they start to believe things that aren't true. People tend to deceive themselves. I find that to be a common denominator amongst everybody across every kind of industry...If you start believing that you're better than others or that your press is accurate, good or bad, or that you are superior in any way. We're all humans and we all have different skill sets. Now, some athletes are just better than others, but that doesn't make them better people. Sometimes it makes them worse people, actually.”

The writer assigned to CAA by Ovitz who had helped them early needed a job 20 years later when his style had timed out—legislation a job for him was their duty, not choice, and required confrontation because people tried to blow them off.

“There was a writer that we had on the list that was about as important a writer as there was in the television business in the 60s...And 20 years later, the guy called me and he said very simply that he had hit a dead end...And um in a staff meeting, I told everyone this story that I just told you. I said, 'We're going to legislate a job for this guy. This is not just giving him a check. He needs his dignity back.' And we went out and in two weeks we got him a job.”

I joined the LoudCloud board despite not understanding the product because Andreessen and Horowitz wanted someone not beholden to Silicon Valley, who thinks out of the box, and is fearless about confronting other board members—these traits mattered more than technical knowledge.

“They said, 'We want someone who's not beholding to anyone in Silicon Valley, someone who thinks out of the box, and someone who's fearless at going up against the other people on the board.' And I said, 'Okay, I can do that.' And I did it.”

The packaging of a film, television show, record, or book is no different than the packaging of an idea for a digital company—the founder is the creator, the VCs or studio/distributor is the money, and both need marketing and distribution.

“But other than that, the packaging of a film or a television show or a record or a book is no different than the packaging of an idea for a digital company, for a company in technology. It's all the same. The founder is the creator, the VCs, the money in tech, the studio or the distributor, the money in the entertainment business, and then you go to the marketing.”

A rule against badmouthing non-client competitors emerged from observing that insecure people use negativity about others as a status-raising tactic, but it actually reveals weakness; Ovitz witnessed a manager badmouth his own partner and realized this signaled insecurity rather than strength, leading CAA to establish a culture of positivity.

“I met a manager who was quite successful in the business... he had a horrible habit of bad mouthing everybody. And it became clear to me 6 months into the relationship that he did that because he was insecure in a meeting. He thought it made himself look better when in reality it made him look really weak and unappreciative.”

Now Ovitz books out his free time on his own calendar so it actually happens, which is a way to force the balance that his personality wouldn't naturally choose.

“Like I now book out my free time on my own calendar and I just it's there and it's not you it doesn't get booked there's a negative in that as a successful business person where you're feeding on the dopamine of getting all these wonderful things done”

Ovitz has zero interest in anybody's opinion unless it's an op-ed piece (where he knows it's opinion), and doesn't want opinion in factual news pieces because there are reasons for everything that might make the opinion wrong.

“I have zero interest in anybody's opinion unless it's an op-ed piece. Then I know it's an opinion, and that's okay cuz I've looked for it. I don't want an opinion in a factual news piece. I'm not interested in what, you know, somebody thinks when they're writing about something that's happened in the Middle East that it's not this, it's not that. There's reasons for all of it.”

I was made high school president not because I was popular but because I got stuff done—when you need something done, you ask the busiest person you know because they'll do it; when you ask someone with too much time, it never gets done.

“I had already done that. I won that at a 4,000 kid high school. I was president. I don't think I was made president cuz I was popular. Frankly, I was made president cuz I got stuff done...When I need something done, I ask the busiest person I know to do it because they'll get it done. Ask someone with too much time, it never gets done.”

Leverage is a very important principle of building a business and is not inherently bad—you need leverage in marketing, selling, packaging content, and negotiation; the negative connotation of leverage is undeserved.

“I come down on leverage as a very important principle of building a business because if you have leverage, you can deliver for your client or your product. And you need leverage in marketing. You need leverage when you're selling people. You need leverage when you're packaging content. You need leverage to negotiate. Leverage is a connotation of leverage isn't a is a bad thing.”

Hollywood's social structure is designed for people with no significant others, no children, no home, no family—they can go out 365 nights a year finding companionship with others in the same boat, which is unique to entertainment.

“Hollywood's also an incredibly social event. Everything's a social event. Uh, I always felt that Hollywood was manufactured for people that had no significant others, no children, no home, no family, nothing except maybe a two-bedroom apartment cuz they could go out 365 nights a year and find companionship with others in the same boat”

People in their 30s and 40s that are founders want to know what you've failed at and how to avoid it, not what you've done successfully—this generation in tech doesn't care about your wins but about your failures, which is fantastic and counterintuitive.

“There's so many things to be done. And these are young people that I've learned something fascinating, which is this generation in tech. They just want to know. They don't want to know what you've done. That's great. They want to know what you failed at and how to avoid it. It is so fantastic that the way they think is so counterintuitive.”

Subscribing to over 200 magazines monthly and reading 10-15 per day was practically essential—our agents needed to be fluent in multiple disciplines so they could engage with clients who had diverse interests, creating a competitive advantage in client relationships.

“I used to get over 200 magazines a month at my office or house or both. And every single day I'd thumb through 10 or 15 of them...The reason I did it at first was practical. Our agents needed to be able to be fil in multiple disciplines to talk to different people who all had different interests.”

The entertainment industry is a closed-end ecosystem where everything revolves around entertainment content, with very few people having interests outside of the business, very few collecting art, and very few discussing anything at dinner besides entertainment and gossip.

“When I was in the agency business in the 70s, I realized that the entertainment business was a closedend ecosystem and basically everything was about the entertainment business. There was no life outside the entertainment business. There were very few people with other interests other than content.”

David Geffen and Barry Diller started in the file room like Ovitz and all three demonstrated that the quickest path was education—they didn't go to college but are better read than most PhDs Ovitz knows in any field.

“David and Barry are two of the smartest guys that I know and they're on top of everything. If you talk to them, you know, it's extraordinary how well read they are. These guys didn't go to college. They're better read than most PhDs that I know in any field.”

Ron Conway is a great investor, fabulous human being, one of the nicest men on the planet and well-loved in San Francisco—he connected Ovitz to Mark Andreessen by asking him to just meet the guy despite initial skepticism.

“I got a cold call from a mutual friend of ours, Ron Conway. great investor, fabulous human being, one of the nicest men on the planet, great well-loved up in San Francisco...he said, 'I've got a guy I want you to meet.' And I said, 'Who's that?' He said, 'Mark Andre.'”

Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year because it's entirely about family with no pressure (no forced gift-giving), and you sit at the table happy to be there—more important than Christmas, birthdays, or Hanukkah.

“I find success defined at the Thanksgiving dinner table...It's my favorite holiday of the year. It's more favorite than any other holiday. birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, anything because it's all about your family. It's not about giving forced gift giving.”

Momentum is like a train leaving a station—it doesn't happen instantaneously but must be built block by block with a foundation before you can build the house, and once building, you cannot quit, even for 10% of your time.

“I think momentum is like a train coming out of a station. It doesn't happen instantaneously. You have to build it. It's a conscious building block game...And when you're building momentum, you cannot quit. And that's the counter problem, counterargument to when we talked about cutting back. When you're building momentum, you don't want to stop.”

Ovitz subscribed to Car and Driver, Motor Trend, and another car magazine, and studied them not to understand how cars work technically but to appreciate automobiles aesthetically, which gave him something to discuss with Paul Newman who wanted to talk about cars.

“I subscribed to Car and Driver Motor Trend Automobile and one other car magaz. And I'd looked at them and I was really deeply into automobiles, but more in the aesthetic sense. I really didn't know much how they worked. But when I met Paul is the first thing he wanted to talk about.”

I am overwhelmed with information despite loving discovery—I have stacks of articles, Council of Foreign Relations publications, Atlantic pieces to read in three offices and I have a horrible habit of going down rabbit holes late at night without sleeping.

“I'm overwhelmed with information and um I I love discovery. So, there's just not enough hours in the day. And I've got a horrible habit of wanting to start going down rabbit holes late at night. And you learn that from your young engineers cuz they stay up all night, but then they go to sleep. And I stay up all night. I don't go to sleep.”

Marty Scorsese taught Ovitz most of what he knows about the movie business and always looks at actors' eyes when interviewing—this is a director-level evaluation technique that differs from founder evaluation.

“Marty Scorsese, who I have unbelievable respect for, taught me most about the movie business that I know and said to me, I'm always looking at their eyes...when you're looking at a Marty Scorsese, who I have unbelievable respect for, taught me most about the movie business that I know and said to me, I'm always looking at their eyes.”

I met Dr. Walter De Brewer with an NFT company I initially had no interest in, but a light bulb went off when he mentioned watermarking NFTs with neural fingerprinting and said he could do it for songs—this led to starting a new business protecting intellectual property rights for music, video, and sports.

“I'm sitting there trying to figure out how to get off the phone and this guy just makes the ultimate statement that something that I couldn't get to first base on. He thinks is elementary...I said, 'Okay, we're in a new business.' I said, 'Assuming you can do this,' he says, 'Trust me, I can do this.' I said, 'We're in a new business. Fold up the old company. Let's hire new engineers. We are now in the business of protecting intellectual property rights.'”

Young entrepreneurs pitched to Ovitz make him believe in the country because they're unbelievably smart, and he's not worried about foreign competition because while China may have great robots, the US has people who are unbelievably smart and the American system just works really well.

“I meet with the most interesting humans on the planet every day I get pitched ideas by young entrepreneurs that make me really believe in this country. You know, I am not worried about foreign competition. Yeah, China may have robots that are great, but we got people that are unbelievably smart. And our system just works really well.”