David Geffen

I don’t think people get to be successful without ambition.

Did I have a problem with lying to get the job? None whatsoever.

The opportunity for an entrepreneur to start a company from scratch today is abysmal.

My father died in 1960. He was an intellectual. . . . She made the money and he read a lot. He wasn’t successful or ambitious. He spoke lots of languages. There were times that kids said to me, ‘What does your father do?’ and I had to make something up because I actually didn’t know what he did.

If you’re successful, people will talk about you. There’s nothing you can do about it. People make up stories.

I’m going to go down and take care of the bill. I’m not going to embarrass you, just let me do it. I had such a great time, I just want it to be my treat. [On returning after several minutes red faced] They won’t take my check, I don’t know what we’re going to do. [Robertson said ‘David, what we’ve spent here, we’re going to have to do a lot of dishes.’] I’m going to call Prince Rupert [Loewenstein] and ask him to call the hotel and tell them I’m good for it. Or maybe he can pay the bill and then I’ll pay him back or something. [Prince Rupert vouched for his credit and the hotel agreed to accept Geffen’s check.]

In the Ford Motor Company we emphasize service equally with sales.

Always be smarter than the people who hire you.

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

A manufacturer is not through with his customer when a sale is completed. He has then only started with his customer. In the case of an automobile the sale of the machine is only something in the nature of an introduction. If the machine does not give service, then it is better for the manufacturer if he never had the introduction, for he will have the worst of all advertisements-a dissatisfied customer.

In the long run people are going to buy the cheapest and the best article no matter where it is made.

We have a very open culture at the company, where we foster a lot of interaction between not just me and people but between everyone else. It’s an open floor plan. People have these desks where no one really has an office. I mean, I have a room where I meet with people. But it has all glass, so everyone can see into it and see what’s going on.

When prices go up, business goes down.

Salesmanship is limitless. Our very living is selling. We are all salespeople.

We have had just one main purpose during these years, and that is to give the people transportation of the most dependable quality at the lowest possible cost. Our car was called the Universal Car thirty years ago, because it fulfilled so many needs; it is The Universal Car today for the same reason.

I built a great company, one of the – some of the most iconic assets in the world, $10 billion of net worth, more than $10 billion of net worth, and frankly, I had a great time doing it.

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.

I live on a plane. I like to visit London. If I had to think where I could live if not Moscow, London would be my first choice, and second would be New York. In Moscow I feel most comfortable. I’m used to four different seasons; it’s difficult for people in London to understand. People brought up in Russia like my kids want to play in the snow.

If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.

Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn’t sell much of anything.

As a rule, we find what we look for; we achieve what we get ready for.