My philosophy is to always find the smartest people you can. Hire people smarter than you.

There are agencies who are good losers, places where losing is not only accepted, it becomes part of the culture, it is expected. That is debilitating. Don't let that happen to you. At Deutsch we go into every pitch assuming we are the Yankees. It's amazing what happens when you go into a room of smart, hungry people and say, "Failure is not an option." People are galvanized.

Every great business leader I've ever met, in addition to being very smart, very driven, they have this, 'Why not me? Screw it, I deserve it, let's go.' And if you don't have that, you can't achieve greatness.

The best bosses understand the people working for them. That's the first component: what makes my people tick? What are they in it for?

You can be hard on people as long as you're just as hard on yourself.

I appear wild on the outside, but I'm a conservative businessman.

Once you realize that there are no geniuses out there, you can think, "I can do that". One reason I've succeeded is that I have that naïve sense of entitlement.