Michael Ovitz

Oh, no. It's a postulate for me, and it's a great question because it's highly overlooked. They don't teach it in business school. As a matter of fact, in the curriculum in most business schools, they're impractical. They don't teach the things that I needed to know. No one taught me how to be an investment banker. Yeah, sure, I can.

I can look at a balance sheet and read it. But so what? So can everybody else. You know, there's only four or five numbers that mean anything anyways. But they don't teach you about momentum. Steve Schwartzman understands momentum. Alex Karp understands momentum. Mark Andreessen understands momentum. Josh Kushner understands momentum. Bill Ackman understands momentum.

I can look at a balance sheet and read it. But so what? So can everybody else. You know, there's only four or five numbers that mean anything anyways. But they don't teach you about momentum. Steve Schwartzman understands momentum. Alex Karp understands momentum. Mark Andreessen understands momentum. Josh Kushner understands momentum. Bill Ackman understands momentum.

Teddy Forsman understood momentum. Glenn Lowry understood creative momentum. All these executives in their varying silos never took no for an answer. If they were shut down in one silo, they went right to the next. They hired people that could take their jobs. I remember when some of these executives hired people that there was all this back channeling. Are they crazy?

Teddy Forsman understood momentum. Glenn Lowry understood creative momentum. All these executives in their varying silos never took no for an answer. If they were shut down in one silo, they went right to the next. They hired people that could take their jobs. I remember when some of these executives hired people that there was all this back channeling. Are they crazy?

They're going to take their job, you know? I remember Steve hiring a guy to run Blackstone, who we all know who's fantastic, Tony James. And everyone was saying, is Steve leaving? And my answer was, he just got an amazing guy, makes him 10x stronger than he was. He had confidence. I had a meeting yesterday with a young guy that Ollie and I are recruiting.

They're going to take their job, you know? I remember Steve hiring a guy to run Blackstone, who we all know who's fantastic, Tony James. And everyone was saying, is Steve leaving? And my answer was, he just got an amazing guy, makes him 10x stronger than he was. He had confidence. I had a meeting yesterday with a young guy that Ollie and I are recruiting.

And I called Ali after the meeting and I said, we've got to shore this guy's confidence up. He's much better than he thinks he is, which is odd for me to say, because as an employer, you want them to think they're not, so they're weak. I want them to realize what his strengths are to make a decision from a positive place, not a negative one. And all these people that I've mentioned are

And I called Ali after the meeting and I said, we've got to shore this guy's confidence up. He's much better than he thinks he is, which is odd for me to say, because as an employer, you want them to think they're not, so they're weak. I want them to realize what his strengths are to make a decision from a positive place, not a negative one. And all these people that I've mentioned are

All about momentum. In other words, they remind me of this toy I bought my grandson that's a remote control truck that when it hits a wall, it bounces off and turns in the other direction. That's kind of these people. There's no stopping them. And there's no idea that isn't worth considering. You know, at CA, we had every 90 days a gong show.

All about momentum. In other words, they remind me of this toy I bought my grandson that's a remote control truck that when it hits a wall, it bounces off and turns in the other direction. That's kind of these people. There's no stopping them. And there's no idea that isn't worth considering. You know, at CA, we had every 90 days a gong show.

And we lined everyone up in a circle, 250 people that were working executives. And they were all seated within an inch of each other, tight in an oval. They had 90 seconds to present a new idea. I didn't care what the idea was. We got some amazing stuff out of it. Just when you think there's no new ideas. That's what I love about technology. What are the top enemies of momentum? Oh, that's easy.

And we lined everyone up in a circle, 250 people that were working executives. And they were all seated within an inch of each other, tight in an oval. They had 90 seconds to present a new idea. I didn't care what the idea was. We got some amazing stuff out of it. Just when you think there's no new ideas. That's what I love about technology. What are the top enemies of momentum? Oh, that's easy.

Loss of confidence, fear of failure. Fear of failure is the greatest problem outside the United States. So I was in London a couple months ago in a business meeting with five or six business people. And one of them looked at me and said, how do we do this? And these are prominent people. And I said, what do you do what? He said, you've been up, down, and sideways, but you never stop.

Loss of confidence, fear of failure. Fear of failure is the greatest problem outside the United States. So I was in London a couple months ago in a business meeting with five or six business people. And one of them looked at me and said, how do we do this? And these are prominent people. And I said, what do you do what? He said, you've been up, down, and sideways, but you never stop.

And you don't take no for an answer. And you just keep building. But you know how to build off success and off failure. He said, if we fail in Europe, it's over. We run away. We're embarrassed. We're never allowed to come back. I said, if we fail in America, we take it as a badge of honor. I can't tell you the number of pivots my young companies have made.

And you don't take no for an answer. And you just keep building. But you know how to build off success and off failure. He said, if we fail in Europe, it's over. We run away. We're embarrassed. We're never allowed to come back. I said, if we fail in America, we take it as a badge of honor. I can't tell you the number of pivots my young companies have made.

I mean, Kevin Systrom, fourth pivot was Instagram. Fourth. I have a young kid I love. I've mentioned him last time, James Proud. That deal failed the first one. Second one, huge hit. You can't stop. I think if some of these great entrepreneurs, I mean, when Mark and Ben wanted to start, everyone told them they were crazy. There were 190 VCs on Sandale Road. They were going to be another one.

I mean, Kevin Systrom, fourth pivot was Instagram. Fourth. I have a young kid I love. I've mentioned him last time, James Proud. That deal failed the first one. Second one, huge hit. You can't stop. I think if some of these great entrepreneurs, I mean, when Mark and Ben wanted to start, everyone told them they were crazy. There were 190 VCs on Sandale Road. They were going to be another one.

We had conquered all areas of entertainment. We had a 76% market share of talent. We had 46 of the top 50 grossing directors in the world. We controlled almost everyone except Disney's motion picture offerings. That was 10 different studios. We packaged everything. We made the biggest hit movies of anyone, of all of them added together.