Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull is a great inspirational book, one of the best books ever written about creative business and creative leadership.
Ed Catmull, is co-founder with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter of Pixar Animation Studios. In Creativity, Inc, Ed Catmull tells the story of Pixar from his perspective as a founder and President of the company. He provides great inspirational insights into the challenges of growth and change and about making sure that your organization and product truly reflect your companies values.
As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, and later established a partnership with George Lucas that over a period of time led to the founding of Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. When Toy Story was released in 1995, it changed animation forever. According to Catmull, one of the main reasons of Toy Story’s success, and of the movies that followed, was the special environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention.
My Favorite Top 20 Quotes From Creativity, Inc.
“Failure isn’t a necessary evil. In fact, it isn’t evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
“If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Don’t wait for things to be perfect before you share them with others. Show early and show often. It’ll be pretty when we get there, but it won’t be pretty along the way.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
“If you aren’t experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
“Getting the right people and the right chemistry is more important than getting the right idea.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
“When it comes to creative inspiration, job titles and hierarchy are meaningless.”
― Ed Catmull
“Fear can be created quickly; trust can’t.”
― Ed Catmull
“For many people, changing course is also a sign of weakness, tantamount to admitting that you don’t know what you are doing. This strikes me as particularly bizarre—personally, I think the person who can’t change his or her mind is dangerous. Steve Jobs was known for changing his mind instantly in the light of new facts, and I don’t know anyone who thought he was weak.”
― Ed Catmull
“What is the point of hiring smart people, we asked, if you don’t empower them to fix what’s broken?”
― Ed Catmull
“The future is not a destination – it is a direction.”
― Ed Catmull
“Making the process better, easier, and cheaper is an important aspiration, something we continually work on—but it is not the goal. Making something great is the goal.”
― Ed Catmull
“You’ll never stumble upon the unexpected if you stick only to the familiar.”
― Ed Catmull
“But I should caution that if you seek to plot out all your moves before you make them—if you put your faith in slow, deliberative planning in the hopes it will spare you failure down the line—well, you’re deluding yourself. For one thing, it’s easier to plan derivative work—things that copy or repeat something already out there. So if your primary goal is to have a fully worked out, set-in-stone plan, you are only upping your chances of being unoriginal.”
― Ed Catmull
“Be patient. Be authentic. And be consistent. The trust will come.”
― Ed Catmull
“it is not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It is the manager’s job to make it safe to take them.”
― Ed Catmull
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
― Ed Catmull
“By ignoring my fear, I learned that the fear was groundless. Over the years, I have met people who took what seemed the safer path and were the lesser for it…I had taken a risk, and that risk yielded that greatest reward…Always take a chance on better, even if it seems threatening.”
― Ed Catmull
“THERE IS NOTHING quite like ignorance combined with a driving need to succeed to force rapid learning.”
― Ed Catmull
“We want people to feel like they can take steps to solve problems without asking permission.”
― Ed Catmull
