"Creativity, Inc.," by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace achieves something that many business books strive for, but that few achieve. It tells an engaging story of the formation of a well-known company, while imparting lessons that can apply to almost any business endeavor.
At its core, this book is about how a group of men built a company that allows its employees' creativity to thrive in a truly open, collaborative setting. What seems unique is that Catmull tells readers in simple terms, how they can do it too.
Catmull had a dream, to create a computer animated film, back when computers were not even considered in the animation process. His first short animated film was a digital rendering of model of his left hand, and while it was rough (the technology did not allow computers to show curved objects very well), the end product was featured at a computer science conference in the 1970s and y the time he was done with it, he'd created a program that allowed the computer to show the movement of his hand, as well as the rounded edges.
From there, "Creativity Inc." becomes not just the story of Catmull's dream of creating a computer animated film, but also the story of the company that would ultimately become Disney Pixar. He writes about working for George Lucas, meeting Steve Jobs, and working with Jobs after he purchased Pixar from Lucas Film in its earliest days.
Lessons from Pixar's Founders
Some of the lessons that Catmull imparts for managers and others who read this book include that taking the stress away from delivering honest opinions and feedback makes it easier for individuals to offer that feedback; perhaps one of the biggest tips is that finding the right people is key, but the search should focus on an individual's potential, not their current skill set.
A good manager encourages his or her employees to take risks, and makes sure that the workplace is a safe environment for employees to take those risks. At Pixar, they encourage employees to take risks in their work to create animated feature films. If something doesn't work out, the failure is not a bad thing, but something to learn from. That's another lesson from Catmull: failure is a chance to see where you can improve.
"Failure isn't a necessary evil. In fact, it isn't evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new," Catmull writes.
For experienced leaders who want to make a change in the culture of their organization or new leaders who want to create a culture where employees' creativity is encouraged and fostered, "Creativity, Inc." is a must read. It is an inspiring and thought-provoking book that many could learn from, whether in the business world or not.
