Book Notes: Creativity, Inc.
I have written in this space about my love for movies. I don’t know if I have always been totally interested in the cinematic arts, but I don’t really remember a time when I didn’t love going to the movies. A large part of that has to do with the incredible movies that I got to see in theaters as a kid, many of which were produced by Pixar. Since the release of Toy Story when I was very very young, Pixar has been a must watch portion of my theater-going experience. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone my age who felt differently.
That’s why, when someone recommended the book Creativity, Inc., by Ed Catmull, I was immediately interested. Catmull was the Chief Technical Officer of Pixar and was part of the founding team. He is one of the pioneers of the computer animation space and has a track record that speaks to his incredible impact on the space. One of his early life goals was to create the first computer animated feature length film, which he did with the release of Toy Story in 1994, to much critical and financial acclaim.
But you probably don’t need me to spend too much time talking about how successful Pixar has been over the past 2.5 decades. Chances are pretty high that you have seen some of their work, laughed at their humor, and cried during one of the more emotionally gutting opening ten minutes to a movie (looking at you Up). But, like probably a lot of people, I wondered what made Pixar such a wildly successful company that seemed to never have a misstep.
That’s where this book comes in. It serves as more of a managerial advice book, but it can also double as a historical account of Pixar’s successes. Catmull has a lot of experience growing and scaling a unique, creative organization, and as a result, he has a lot of good advice to share with his reader.
Below are a couple of my favorite takeaways from the book:
The Braintrust - Pixar has this concept where a Braintrust of experts, mostly existing directors and strong creative types with loads of insights, get together every couple of weeks / months during the production cycle for each movie. During this meeting, the director of the movie on which the meeting has been called presents where they are with the development of the story, where they are having issues, and what they are excited about. The director is tasked with being very open and honest about the struggles he is undergoing. As a result, the rest of the brain trust has the responsibility of reviewing the work and being honest and helpful when providing criticism and feedback. What’s important is that everyone learns to exercise a level of respect, while also not taking anything too personally. This is partially because none of the feedback should be personal - it’s all about the story, not the director. What’s critical here is that the director is then given complete autonomy to do with the feedback whatever he wants. The Braintrust is not a place for votes to be cast or for other directors to meddle in the making of a film - it is where experienced peers provide insights to a member of their team. They are all trying to succeed, so they all want to find a way to help the other directors succeed as well.
Build a Process, Not a Goal - Journey’s don’t end when a goal is reached, they are just transformed - Catmull believes in focusing more on building a successful machine and less on the actual success. Catmull opened up in the book about how, after releasing Toy Story to much success and acclaim, he was a little bit at a loss. He had achieved his lifelong goal of creating the first ever theatrical computer animated movie, but then what? He went out and found a new goal, which was more sustainable: building a world class culture at Pixar and creating a process to produce high quality, computer-generated films. He focused more on building a good team and the process, and less on the end result (chop wood, carry water). He believes that if you do this, you will find life to be more sustainable and fulfilling.
Think in Models - When things start to get really tough, it’s helpful to have models to help you think through various situations. There was one chapter in particular where Catmull profiled several of his employees and what the models they use to overcome various situations. One of the ones I liked the most was thinking about the movie they were making as a giant block of granite, and them the sculptor. The sculpture is contained within that block of granite somewhere, but they need to start chipping away. Great ideas typically start out as a big block of granite. In general, it’s important to have a model in your head when things get tough, so you can fall back on something and that keeps you centered and focused. It’s when you are in your most confusing times that you need to remind yourself of your plan and your strategy - and having a model in place that does that can do wonders for you.
The Hungry Beast and the Ugly Baby - As organizations grow in size and scale, they start turning into a Hungry Beast. There are more heads to feed, more employees to keep happy, more headcount to keep busy, and more growth to be achieved. As a result, the organization needs more and more and more of whatever it feeds on to succeed. Sometimes this means more content, or more deals, or more widgets, or more customers. But no matter what, it almost seems like there is never enough. So as a result, big organizations get boxed in by their prior successes and can feel the pressure. But it’s important that they go on to feed their baby’s as well - the infantile ideas that are sprouting up all over the organization. And while these babies are ugly (they are just new ideas, not fully fleshed out), they can grow into powerful projects that can reshape a company. Sometimes, however, that baby can just stay an ugly baby. So companies need to tow the line between feeding the beast (staying motivated) and nurturing the baby (fostering ideas, good and bad).
So why is this book helpful for anybody that’s not a computer-animated movie studio? Well, it can be helpful building a creative enterprise. Startups are, inherently, creative entities - they are solving existing problems with creative solutions. They are doing things that the status-quo does not recognize and, as a result, need to innovate many times over. Startups need to maintain a creative culture if they want to be successful.