Michael Ovitz

He had this aura about him of calmness and determination, passionate about what he did, excited about his art, but no emotional swings. Just lived his life, enjoyed his life. We brought him to L.A. for six weeks to paint a 26-foot high mural in the lobby of our building that I am pay design. He was the greatest six weeks of my life.

I sat there and watched, I talked about this on the last podcast, watched this guy create something off a white canvas out of his head. To me, that's the ultimate definition of being creative.

I sat there and watched, I talked about this on the last podcast, watched this guy create something off a white canvas out of his head. To me, that's the ultimate definition of being creative.

Well, that benchmarking exercise applies not just to artists, but to everything in my life. All the people you mentioned, I identified early as people I wanted to be involved with. When I met Alex Karp 20 years ago, who Peter Thiel introduced me to, he wasn't the Alex Karp he is today. He was highly profiled, incredibly well-spoken, and dogmatically passionate about his point of view.

Well, that benchmarking exercise applies not just to artists, but to everything in my life. All the people you mentioned, I identified early as people I wanted to be involved with. When I met Alex Karp 20 years ago, who Peter Thiel introduced me to, he wasn't the Alex Karp he is today. He was highly profiled, incredibly well-spoken, and dogmatically passionate about his point of view.

wasn't that guy. He was just a brilliant guy who had a PhD in philosophy from Germany and frankly looked ill-equipped to run Palander. When Peter asked me to meet with him and I looked at his credits, I called Peter and I said, give me a little color here. You know, now they both spoke German. Peter's from Germany. So they had a common denominator.

wasn't that guy. He was just a brilliant guy who had a PhD in philosophy from Germany and frankly looked ill-equipped to run Palander. When Peter asked me to meet with him and I looked at his credits, I called Peter and I said, give me a little color here. You know, now they both spoke German. Peter's from Germany. So they had a common denominator.

But man, Alex sure didn't look like the guy that was going to lead this highly technical, cutting-edge company 20 years ahead of the AI infatuation. But sitting with the guy, it was the same thing as sitting with a young artist. So 30... I'm guessing 30 years ago. I'm not even sure. Larry Gagosian, who, as you know, was my assistant at the William Morris Agency 50 years ago. Forgot about that.

But man, Alex sure didn't look like the guy that was going to lead this highly technical, cutting-edge company 20 years ahead of the AI infatuation. But sitting with the guy, it was the same thing as sitting with a young artist. So 30... I'm guessing 30 years ago. I'm not even sure. Larry Gagosian, who, as you know, was my assistant at the William Morris Agency 50 years ago. Forgot about that.

I'm crazy about. Calls me and says, you got to go see this young artist that I'm looking at. And I said, sure. So I go to this young artist, her name's Cecily Brown. And I look at the work and I just was mesmerized by the work. She hadn't had a show yet. And I called Larry and I said, she's amazing. He said, yeah. I said, she's really good. I just had lunch with her last week.

I'm crazy about. Calls me and says, you got to go see this young artist that I'm looking at. And I said, sure. So I go to this young artist, her name's Cecily Brown. And I look at the work and I just was mesmerized by the work. She hadn't had a show yet. And I called Larry and I said, she's amazing. He said, yeah. I said, she's really good. I just had lunch with her last week.

She's about as important an artist as there is right now working. I just saw something I liked. And it was the same with Carp. When I met Alex... We met at a conference and we spent, I think at the Allen & Company conference, and we spent three and a half hours talking about everything, not about his business, just about life, about tech, where it's going, what's happening politically.

She's about as important an artist as there is right now working. I just saw something I liked. And it was the same with Carp. When I met Alex... We met at a conference and we spent, I think at the Allen & Company conference, and we spent three and a half hours talking about everything, not about his business, just about life, about tech, where it's going, what's happening politically.

trends of the past, things that point to the future. And man, I really liked this guy. I said, we can build a business around this guy. He had something very special. And you could tell that he could be a leader. Glenn had that too. All these people that I've been fortunate enough to come in contact with all have very similar experiences. They're interesting.

trends of the past, things that point to the future. And man, I really liked this guy. I said, we can build a business around this guy. He had something very special. And you could tell that he could be a leader. Glenn had that too. All these people that I've been fortunate enough to come in contact with all have very similar experiences. They're interesting.

They're aggressive to certain degrees in their own way, some blatantly, some not so. They're wicked intelligent. They are perceptive. And they all have this extraordinary burning desire to learn. They want to learn something every minute of the day. and they don't want to waste time. Time is a valuable commodity. So that's pretty much my philosophy.

They're aggressive to certain degrees in their own way, some blatantly, some not so. They're wicked intelligent. They are perceptive. And they all have this extraordinary burning desire to learn. They want to learn something every minute of the day. and they don't want to waste time. Time is a valuable commodity. So that's pretty much my philosophy.

When I started as an agent, I was 21 years old, and I knew right off the bat that time was my enemy, even at that age. Because if I went and met with someone to judge if I could do something for them, if I made a mistake, that mistake was irreparable and a time sink that can't be recovered. And it's not a hiatus. It's a loss. There's a big difference. It's a loss.

When I started as an agent, I was 21 years old, and I knew right off the bat that time was my enemy, even at that age. Because if I went and met with someone to judge if I could do something for them, if I made a mistake, that mistake was irreparable and a time sink that can't be recovered. And it's not a hiatus. It's a loss. There's a big difference. It's a loss.

You could be doing something else with that time. So I started to make a set of parameters when I met people about why I want to continue the dialogue. And I have kind of like a pilot's checklist in my head of things that are important to me. And it doesn't really matter what the vocation of the person is.