Michael Ovitz Quotes

I work in a strange business, and 'trust' is a word that's not even in the vocabulary.

It makes it so much easier to work with people who you can implicitly trust.

The NFL is a unique work place. There are no secrets anymore. Technology has taken over, and secrets are exposed. People are going to know what you're all about. You have to make sure you have real honesty in the work place, or you're going to be exposed.

At this stage of my life I would rather try and have some small impact within a company and suffer through those things than make such a big stink that nobody can trust to work with you. It's very important in an environment of a big institution that people don't feel threatened that you're going to expose them in any way.

Sam Walton's values are: treat the customer right, take care of your people, be honest in your dealings, pass savings along to the customer, keep things simple, think small, control costs and continuously improve operations.

I think trust is primarily built through relationships, and it's important because it's the foundational currency that a leader has with his team or his followers.

I have a rule on my team: when we talk to one another, we look each other right in the eye, because I think it's tough to lie to somebody. You give respect to somebody.

Transparency, honesty, kindness, good stewardship, even humor, work in businesses at all times.

Winning our fans' approval will come from all of us doing the right things for the right reasons, me included.

Things will absolutely go wrong. In a healthy team, as soon as things go wrong, that information should be surfaced. Trying to hide or obscure bad news creates an environment of distrust or lack of transparency.

Do not trust people. They are capable of greatness.

Work hard to achieve integrity in your work and your relationships with the people you work with.

It is much easier to establish trust than it is to reestablish it once you have lost it.

Never explain - your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.

I remember, years ago, if I had had an opportunity to leave the Lakers, I would have left for one reason: because I did not like an owner that was not telling me the truth. And it would have made no difference what they would have offered me; I would have left.

I've played for managers who said one thing and did another and players find you out like that. You've got to trust them and they've got to trust you.

Trust brings a higher level of communication and a higher level of commitment and accountability.

If you don't put your crew on your album, you're a snake.

For me it was just about staying the course, staying true to who I believe that I am, being open, being honest, being transparent with the players, being firm with the players but at the same time listening to the players.

I had a rule - I didn't have a lot of rules - and one of them was we're going to operate from a mutual respect. I won't embarrass you, and I don't expect you to be embarrass me.

You never want to lie to your customers.

It's never my goal to throw any of my peers under the bus.

You can't start anything and not trust nobody. You trust everybody until they do something wrong.

My workers are efficient - instead of trusting those backstabbing, trust those who work honestly.

I'm very open about my referencing; I'm very open about who I work with.