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Ed Catmull (center) works through story ideas with his team at a retreat for Toy Story 3. The Quarterly: You mentioned signals a moment ago; say a bit more about that. Ed Catmull: Restarting something that doesn’t work is costly and painful, but in doing so, we send a major signal to our company.
The trick to fostering collective creativity, Catmull says, is threefold: Place the creative authority for product development firmly in the hands of the project leaders (as opposed to corporate...
- Building Great Teams Requires Humility
- Embrace Failure and Encourage Iteration
- Keep Communication Lines Open
- Great Ideas Can Come from Anywhere
- Leadership Is About Protecting, Serving, and Developing Others
Assemble the best teams possible was Catmull’s early mantra when spinning up Pixar with co-founder Alvy Ray Smith. “Getting the right people and the right chemistry is more important than getting the right idea,” he writes. The goal was to hire people smarter and more qualified than him. This takes leaders who are humble enough to admit when they m...
Fear of failure is another key theme in Creativity, Inc.Catmull asserts, “While we don’t want too many failures, we must think of the cost of failure as an investment in the future.” As a result, he spends time helping recalibrate the reader so that failures are seen as opportunities and stepping-stones on the way to achieving goals, versus somethi...
In Catmull’s early years at Pixar, he felt an “open door policy” was a bold move that would give him access to anyone with an issue that he could help solve quickly. But he soon realized that no one ever reached out to him and the only thing that didwork was his actively seeking out problems in open-ended 1-on-1 sessions. That’s where he’d get hone...
“If there are people in your organization who feel they are not free to suggest ideas, you lose,” Catmull writes. “Do not discount ideas from unexpected sources. Inspiration can, and does, come from anywhere.” To help staff and ideas grow, Pixar runs on a steady diet of daily review meetings, 1:1s, postmortems when projects are complete, extensive ...
The job of a manager, Catmull writes, is about supporting others, not seeking the spotlight. His advice: Work hard to bring out the best in everyone while being on the lookout for any problems getting in the way of the goal. “My job as a manager is to create a fertile environment,” he writes, “keep it healthy, and watch for the things that undermin...
Apr 9, 2014 · Co-founder and president Ed Catmull on keeping things secret, bringing Marvel into the mix, and the future of 3D animation.
Sep 22, 2023 · You may not know Ed Catmull’s name, but there’s almost no doubt you’re familiar with his work. As the co-founder of Pixar, he’s responsible for helping to create movies ranging from the original Toy Story on through The Incredibles, Wall-E, Moana, and Inside Out.
Mar 22, 2019 · Ideas were freely exchanged in a safe environment without any feelings of offence or defensiveness. Catmull saw that this environment was ideal for generating great work, and would later model his team at Pixar on this collaborative environment. He also learned to look for the best creative people and let them fly!
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Nov 13, 2018 · The president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios shares his approach to creative problem-solving and managing teams.
