The School of Greatness - 786 Keep Your Standards High with Phil Rosenthal

Episode Date: April 19, 2019

ALWAYS QUIT. That doesn’t mean you should bail when things are hard. It means that you are not a victim to your circumstances. If the level of the project that you’re taking part in is not up to your standards, you have to leave. You can’t let other people ruin you. Your name is all you have. For this Five Minute Friday, I revisited a conversation I had with writer and producer Phil Rosenthal where he shared the secret to doing work that you’re proud of. Philip Rosenthal is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. He is also the creator and star of Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix, Exporting Raymond, and I'll Have What Phil's Having. Phil tries to keep his shows at a level that he is happy with. If they’re not working, he is willing to leave and try something else. It’s not easy, but ultimately it’s for the best. Learn how to have high standards and be in control of your narrative in Episode 786. In This Episode You Will Learn: The secret behind the success of Everybody Loves Raymond (2:00) Why you should quit when things aren’t up to your level (3:00) The importance of keeping your name intact (4:00) How to learn from the things you love and emulate them (4:40) Follow me on: instagram @lewishowes twitter @lewishowes Facebook @lewishowes

This is 5-Minute Friday! I had the pleasure of sitting down with an incredible human being. His name is Phil Rosenthal. And he's an American television writer and producer who is best known as the creator, writer, and executive producer for the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. He has had 70 Emmy nominations for his show and won two Emmys.

Also an author and currently producing a new show, I'll Have What Phil's Having. Did you feel like your identity was tied up in the show for that long? Yeah. Or did you feel like... Yeah, that's what I do. That's who I am.

I make that show. And I'm proud of it. And I'm going to work my butt off to make sure it's good every week. Some shows are better than others. How could they not be? But there's a level you should never go below. Of course. I learned that in school too.

We had a professor who said there's a level of quality you can't go below. And if we keep that line in our heads, maybe our work is better. Right? Yeah. Otherwise, we have no standards. Right. So it's good to have standards. What was a show that you did that you felt like it went below there? Everything else. Everything else. Yeah. Because look, had i had as my friend used to say you got the horses on that show you know you got the horses meaning the great actors yeah and the great writers too i had everything working right uh and you're at the right time and yes i try in my work not to go below a certain level that I can live with and I quit. I quit if it's not good.

When I go and speak to kids at schools, I go to colleges and talk to people sometimes, I tell them that I'm only half joking. If you take one thing away from this meeting today, always quit. Okay. What does that mean? Quit if the iced tea isn't

cold enough? No. If the level is unsatisfactory to you, if you feel like you're getting so many notes that it's now diminished what you had in mind, you have no recourse but to leave. All we come with is ourselves, and all we can go with is with ourselves, right? Sure, sure. So, no, you cannot ruin me.

I won't allow it. i have standards if you don't now am i being political when i do that am i playing them am i trying for something no i really mean it when i quit and it's agonizing it's not something i do lightly but sometimes you have to go because it's not going to be right and And if it's not right and you've tried everything, I'm not saying quit on the first day. I'm saying you've tried everything. You see the train is going to hit that wall. Jump off that train. Yeah, right, right.

Jump off that train. If the train is going to hit the wall, we try to take the wheel. We try to steer it so it doesn't. But if you see it the last minute, oh, my God. You got to get out of there. You got to because your name is all you have. And when did you realize that it was like now is the time? Was it the seventh season where you're like, okay, maybe I've got a couple seasons left?

Or was it like during the last season? You're like, oh, this is it. No, I planned it. Really? Yeah. Because I learned from the shows that I loved that went before us. Smart. Well, why not learn from the best?

Yeah. So you see these things that you love, and you try to emulate them. You try to use them, use the good examples then.