Creativity.inc is an incisive book about creativity in business authored by Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios. Ed takes us straight into the Pixar offices where we see new ideas foster and challenges faced by a young and budding organization. The tagline of the book sketches it out well as “Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration” making it an ideal inspiration for innovation in your workplace.
The book starts off with Ed as a kid growing up idolizing Walt Disney and pursuing maths, physics, and computer science in college. Ed became one of the early pioneers in the field of graphics and animation. His journey started off by working in Lucasfilm which was eventually acquired by Steve Jobs leading to the birth of Pixar.
Pixar Journey with Catmull
Pixar’s journey is documented with gripping details. It explains how Toy Story changed animation forever 9 years after the formation of Pixar. Creativity.inc shows how Pixar developed a unique business culture to encourage innovation and defy conventional thinking. Glimpses of a flat and agile organization show how effective management paved the way for creativity.
Currently, Ed Catmull serves as the president of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He started off as a technical guy contributing to major technologies in the graphic domain. He was able to realize his dream of entertainment and technology in his first company Lucasfilm.
Pixar has been a champion in animation films having released 14 films with all of them becoming major box office and critical hits. Later, when Pixar was acquired by Walt Disney, Disney Animation saw a resurgence under the leadership of John Lasseter and Ed.
Inspiring thoughts for managers
- Creativity is dynamic and requires efforts to maintain and grow. This highlights how change is the only constant and requires the adoption of new ideas without resistance.
- As organizations grow and become more challenging, teams become more complacent with success, and inspiration is often lost. Larger organizations could lead to a lack of flexibility leading to the stunt of creative thoughts.
- The relevance of open communication and how organizational structures can hinder it unknowingly. Hence, candor is important for the teams to thrive.
- Good talent and open voice can lead to great ideas in the workplace. Looking at more viewpoints is additive, rather than competitive.
- The utility of having a strong brainstorm team. Braintrust were these creative sessions at Pixar where the stakeholders deliberated on problems at length and everyone had a voice.
- Insights are present on management styles across a growing organization as in the case of Pixar. And, in larger organizations (when Pixar was acquired by Disney) it is critical to adapt to effective management techniques. How larger companies are like beasts who need to be fed success is explained with the “beast analogy”.
Conclusion
We need to mention that Creativity.inc does not include the success stories and storytelling genius of their best movies like Up and Toy Story. Big Pixar fans expected something on that front. Additionally, the book is for managers and teams and does not offer much creative inspiration to the DIYers who work alone. Even though the thought process and management techniques can be extrapolated for different walks of life.
I would recommend reading Creativity.inc as a creative exercise and getting insights from Ed himself. All trials and tribulations of leading a large creative organization are inspiring. Managers can learn a great deal from how Pixar recreated not just animation, but also the everyday workplace. Management theory and creative experimentation make Creativity.inc an insightful and vibrant journey. Be sure to comment here and share your thoughts after you’ve read Creativity.inc.