My place in London is very small, so a piano would take up a third of the room. I leave home in the morning when I'm there and go to my studio. I close the door, and it's soundproof. There's no phone or TV or computer, and I can work uninterruptedly. That has been a huge advantage over the years.
There's no better place to do a longform project than HBO. I loved the creative teams I got a chance to work with.
It's very important to like the people you work with. Otherwise, your job is going to be quite miserable.
People work better when they know what the goal is and why. It is important that people look forward to coming to work in the morning and enjoy working.
If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?
When I was a young student, I only listened to foreign music, mainly rock music and hard rock. Then I surprised myself by discovering ethnic music. Now I like to listen to music from different places, and in many situations. Even when you work, some ethnic music calms the nerves.
The comedies are not a million laughs on the set. Its business and the dramas are business as well, really. When I'm writing it I struggle more with drama because I started out in comedy.
The majority of our happiness at work is determined by the people who surround us. Strong teams produce more content, launch more products, and sign more contracts. And most importantly, they have fun doing it.
Me and Vince are like cool, man. Good relationship with Vince, man, and I've been on a lot of trips with Vince, as far as with overseas, going to visit the military. And even at work, man, ideas, he's open to a lot of people, everybody, pretty much. If you have a good idea, he wants you to go in there and prepare with it.
In the States actors get their own trailers, but in Korea all the actors group up in one room, and stay there together the whole day.
Teamwork was more accepted 40 years ago.
Personal ambition is 'I want to be CEO.' Greater vision ambition is, 'I want to lead this company so that people want to work here.'
It's nice getting to always work with such extremely talented people.
Be extra careful in the work environment with those who like to maintain their position through charm and being political, rather than getting things done. They are very prone to envying and hating those who work hard and get results. They will slander and sabotage you without any warning.
Obviously there's not much options when you're a cartoonist - you pretty much either work at home or rent an office I guess, and working at home just seems easier.
It all has to do with the director, the captain of the ship. He sets the pace, the mood. If the director is quiet, the set is quiet. If the director is loud, then everybody has to be louder to be heard.
I love being on movie sets. It's a very particular setting. And not all of the time, most of the time, there's always people you don't like, and you have to see them every day.
When I started Oracle, what I wanted to do was to create an environment where I would enjoy working. That was my primary goal. Sure, I wanted to make a living. I certainly never expected to become rich, certainly not this rich. I mean, rich does not even describe this. This is surreal. And it has nothing to do with money. I mean, you buy clothes with money, and cars. But I really wanted to work with people I enjoyed working with, who I admired and liked.
When I first went to work in the West Wing, the most daunting thing was how small this place was... You walk in: it's three floors, and there's a few offices on each floor, and that's it.
I've always loved working, doing interviews with the guys on the 'Today' show; everyone's really easygoing, and I always feel comfortable on the show.
When an executive walked on our floor, it was at their own risk. As far as what others thought of working for me, I know I was very tough at times, and would storm down the hall after watching some bad animation from Korea. But overall, I feel we had a good time.
I would never go to a studio. I need my space, you know what I mean? I need to be able to chain smoke and pace about, cry and like... spit. Just make noise, make a huge mess. I also feel like if I was concerned for the cost of the studio - like, 'this is costing 40 dollars an hour' - I wouldn't be able to work.
At the end of the day, you want to work with people you want to work with - regardless of what they've done. Being able to spend 15 hours on a set with somebody and enjoy every minute of it - that's what it's really about.
You'll get the maximum potential out of everyone on your team when you create harmony, when you treat each employee well.
With colleagues in the work environment, we fail to see the source of their envy or the reason for their manipulations; our attempts at influencing them are based on the assumptions that they want the same things as ourselves.
