Michael Ovitz

We ran out of money the third week we were in business, and we got sued by our former employer.

And we didn't even have money to defend ourselves.

I had to handle that without a lawyer.

You have to reach out and you have to help people.

Here's a guy who helped us when we needed it and 10 years later he can't get a job and he doesn't feel too good about himself.

Time passed him by, that happens to all of us.

But unless you stay current.

See, that's my thesis.

As long as I'm learning

and consulting for young founders, I'm going to stay current because I learn something every day, every single day.

I can't wait to get up in the morning.

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've got people that are unbelievably smart.

And our system just works really well.

You know, I was...

I was in London with Tamara, she's English from London, and a group of businessmen asked to have a round table session with me because one of their friends was having a problem and one of the friends in their friend group knew me pretty well, or knew Tamara, and they set up a lunch for me.

And the subject fascinated me and it's why I took the lunch.

It was a subject of the lunch was why are American business people so much better than everyone else in the world?