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# Lessons from Michael Ovitz
- URL: https://www.antoinebuteau.com/lessons-from-michael-ovitz/
- Published: 2025-08-17T02:17:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-05T03:27:28.000Z
- Description: Michael Ovitz, the Hollywood super-agent and co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, built a career around influence, controversy, groundbreaking strategy, and hard negotiation. His record offers a sharp study of how relentless ambition operates amid power and high-stakes dealmaking.
- Author: Antoine Buteau
- Tags: Profile, Business Leaders & Executives Profiles

Hollywood super-agent and co-founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Michael Ovitz, is a figure of immense influence and controversy. His career has been marked by groundbreaking strategies, tough negotiations, and a relentless drive for success.

![Infographic for "Lessons from Michael Ovitz".](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/content/images/2026/07/3a6f5b4a-a566-4a74-ae97-3ed8d8ac1aeb-38a5fa84-abf1-4947-99ca-f12df46de566-optimized.webp)

## Strategy, Negotiation, and Foresight

1. **On Start with the Desired Endpoint:** Before a complex negotiation, define the outcome you want and work backward from it instead of treating each exchange as an isolated contest. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Examine the Problem from Every Angle:** A preferred counterparty becomes clearer after the problem has been considered from every relevant angle. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Make Tomorrows:** Strong agents do more than react to offers and ultimatums; they create a deliberate path for the client before the next crisis arrives. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Understand the Person:** Negotiation improves when understanding what motivates people becomes a sustained discipline rather than a last-minute tactic. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Build an Information Advantage:** Representing decision-makers across an industry can reveal the whole chessboard, allowing an organization to spot likely moves before they become public. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Keep Power in Perspective:** Power is temporary, so operating as if it were permanent is a strategic and personal mistake. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

## Building CAA and Shaping Culture

1. **On Know the Capital of a Service Business:** In an advisory business, time and expertise are the scarce capital; spending them well is central to the model. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Create Useful Visibility:** Early-career opportunity can come from placing yourself where important work is visible and then proving useful when it appears. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Take the Unclaimed Work:** Leadership often starts when someone notices that necessary administrative work has no owner and keeps moving the checklist forward. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Commit Before Conditions Are Comfortable:** CAA's founders secured their first office by putting their homes behind the business, converting conviction into a concrete operating base. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Culture Is a Million Dots:** Organizational culture emerges from countless small choices that only form a coherent picture when viewed together. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Make Hiring a Shared Commitment:** Having the whole company participate in interviews can create broader buy-in for each person who joins. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
7. **On Design for Team Reliability:** A team's strength depends on the reliability of adjacent colleagues, so cooperation must be designed into how the group works. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
8. **On Raise the Standard:** Mediocrity becomes contagious when leaders tolerate it; maintaining standards requires addressing it directly. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

## Execution, Momentum, and Operating Discipline

1. **On Protect Momentum:** Momentum is built through sustained hard work, deep knowledge of the field, awareness of adjacent domains, and a clear view of competitors. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Explain the Business Quickly:** If the purpose of a business cannot be explained clearly in about twenty seconds, the underlying proposition probably needs more work. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Prioritize Communication:** A deliberate callback system can protect attention while ensuring that urgent questions and important relationships receive timely responses. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Delegate Relationships Gradually:** Passing work to younger colleagues is safer when responsibility shifts through repeated supported interactions rather than one abrupt handoff. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Let Persistence Compound:** Ovitz called Mort Janklow at the same time every week for a year before receiving an opportunity, showing how disciplined follow-up can build credibility. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
6. **On Match Effort to What Matters:** Looking back, Ovitz concluded that working ten percent less would not have reduced his professional success and would have returned meaningful time to his life. — [*Reference: Christopher Ming — Notes from Who Is Michael Ovitz?*](https://christopherming.com/notes/who-is-michael-ovitz-michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

## Reputation, Competition, and Judgment

1. **On Do Not Optimize for Popularity:** Winning in a competitive business may require accepting that sound decisions will not always make the decision-maker popular. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Distrust Both Praise and Attack:** Public praise and criticism are unstable signals; neither should become the foundation of self-assessment. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Tell the Truth Directly:** Truth delivered without hesitation builds a more durable operating environment than strategic ambiguity. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Respond to Challenges:** When someone confronts you, silence can be interpreted as permission; a measured response establishes a boundary. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Judge Character in Absence:** How someone discusses people who are not present is evidence of how that person will discuss everyone else later. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)

## Learning, Time, and Self-Awareness

1. **On Read Deeply and Widely:** Remain deeply read in your own field while reading broadly outside it; context and cross-domain knowledge improve judgment. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
2. **On Learn from Other People's Mistakes:** Other people's failures are an inexpensive source of operating knowledge when studied before making the same decisions yourself. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
3. **On Watch for Self-Deception:** Ego makes self-deception easier, so leaders need practices that keep their own reputation from becoming their reality. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
4. **On Treat Time as the Constraint:** Time is the resource that runs out fastest, making its allocation more consequential than many financial tradeoffs. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)
5. **On Choose Honesty More Often:** People can tolerate direct honesty better than leaders often assume. — [*Reference: The Knowledge Project — Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power*](https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/michael-ovitz/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)