Michael Ovitz

I didn't like anyone at the agency talking to the press, giving trash about stuff.

We did have another rule that it was inappropriate to badmouth non-client's product because that was a age-old trick in the entertainment business.

Try to start a

drum roll of negativity.

And when I was 22, I met a manager who was quite successful in the business.

I liked him a lot, but he had a horrible habit of bad-mouthing everybody.

And it became clear to me six months into the relationship,

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 i remember sitting with him in his office and he was bad mouthing his partner who actually was a nice guy not the sharpest tool in the shed but a very nice guy didn't deserve that so we wouldn't you

At our place, you weren't allowed to badmouth anybody.

If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it.

And if you got a problem, take them in their office, shut the door and let it out and fight it out and then shake hands.

But don't drag it on.

It doesn't make any sense.

Well, you can count on them saying something negative about you, even if there's nothing negative to say.

Some people exist

in a sea of negativity.

I tried to set a stage for us to exist in a sea of positiveness and not to badmouth people and just try to, as I say, be more English.

Well, investing is very simple for me.

I've been investing in tech now since 1993 and full time since 2001.

And I transitioned out of the media business in about, oh, 2003 or 4.