LeaderLounge: Creativity Inc.
•Transferir como PPTX, PDF•
4 gostaram•975 visualizações
A look at Ed Catmull's Pixar-based book, Creativity Inc., in regards to leadership, hiring, and team building.
Recomendados
Mais conteúdo relacionado
Mais procurados
Mais procurados (20)
Destaque
Destaque (15)
Semelhante a LeaderLounge: Creativity Inc.
Semelhante a LeaderLounge: Creativity Inc. (20)
Mais de Smart, Savvy + Associates
Mais de Smart, Savvy + Associates (16)
Último
Último (17)
LeaderLounge: Creativity Inc.
- 2. • Communications Recruitment Practice @ Smart Savvy • Sales team leadership • 25+ years in comms/marketing Catherine Ducharme
- 3. • Marketing and Creative Recruitment Practice Vancouver & US @ Smart Savvy • 9 years marketing experience Maxie Friendly
- 4. • Director, Film Production + Partnerships Lululemon Andrea Rathborne
- 5. Who is Ed Catmull and what shaped his vision for Pixar?
- 10. Focus on Leadership • Why did companies go off rails? • What was blinding them? • How do I protect Pixar?
- 11. 1. People 2. Honesty & Candor 3. Fear and Failure 4. Hungry Beasts and Ugly Babies 5. The ‘Hidden’
- 12. People
- 13. “As we struggled to get Pixar off the ground, Deming’s work was like a beacon that lit my way”
- 14. “Apply as many minds as possible to the most difficult problems” ~ Ed Catmull
- 15. “Always take a chance on better, even if it seems threatening” ~ Ed Catmull
- 16. Story is King
- 17. “For all the care you put into artistry, visual polish frequently doesn’t matter if you are getting the story right.”
- 18. Honesty & Candor
- 20. The ‘braintrust’
- 21. Creating a braintrust • Draft the right mix of people – Intelligence – Insight – Grace – Make you think smarter – Put lots of solutions on the table • Can be anyone if they can do that
- 22. Fear and Failure
- 26. Be wrong as fast as you can.
- 28. Build trust.
- 30. Discussion: Determine where to use in presentation
- 31. The Hungry Beast and the Ugly Baby
- 32. The ‘Ugly Baby’ aka ‘protecting the new’ Definition: Ugly babies are not beautiful…They are truly awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete
- 34. Beast Definition: Any large group that needs to be fed an uninterrupted diet of new material and resources in order to function
- 35. Taming the BEAST
- 36. Discussion: Determine where to use in presentation
- 37. The ‘hidden’
- 38. • We say what people want to hear • We think we know more than we actually do • The higher your position the less access to candid info from staff • We often aren’t open to knowing more • We see 40% through our eyes
- 40. “If you don’t try to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill prepared to lead.
- 41. Discussion: What are some of the hidden obstacles in your work environment?
- 42. What does Pixar do to stay real?
- 43. • Braintrust • Dailies • Post Mortems • Notes day
- 44. Research Trips
- 46. Discussion:
- 47. Reflection: What are some mechanisms you could apply to your team?
- 50. Story is King
- 51. Candor
- 52. Fearlessness
- 53. Self Awareness
- 54. Case study: How Lululemon sustains creativity.
- 55. Reflection: Determine where to use in presentation
- 56. Discussion: Determine where to use in presentation
- 59. February The Introverted Leader February 22nd The Introverted Leader
Notas do Editor
- Tonight we are covering the book Creativity – Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration. In this book Ed Catmull tells the behind-the-scenes story of the immensely successful Pixar Animation Studios, giving insight on their management style and corporate philosophies. Presenting this book review tonight are….
- Ed Catmull is Born 1945 in West Virginia
- Two inspirations – Walt Disney (iconic image) and Albert Einstein (understanding the world) Wanted to be Disney animator but didn’t know how and felt he wasn’t good enough to went into science. Graduated from University of Utah with 2 degrees – one in physics one in computer sciences. Joined computer science department and U of U.
- Worked for 3 iconoclastic men different styles – calls it a crash course in leadership Joined New York Institute of Technology -Alex Shure – visionary about the role computers would play in animation – he enabled much ground-breaking work to be done. Had total confidence in the people he hired. Hired by George Lucas to merge technology with firm – ran the computer division and built the Pixar Image Computer to digitize images new video editing system – evolved animation. Sold computer Division – primary asset was the Pixar Image Computer Enter Steve Jobs 1985 who bought the asset and started as a hardware/software company. Catmull became president of Pixar. Whole side story on Steve Jobs and his influence on Pixar and on Catmull.
- From the outset Catmull had quietly set one defining goal: To build the first computer-animated feature film 20 years later in 1995 Pixar’s Toy Story came to the screen It changed animation for ever.
- So I’ve achieved my goal…. Now what? He was’t feeling inspired anymore. He needed a new goal and mission.
- Watched many start ups in Silicon Valley burn bright with success and then flame out. (Sun Microsystems/Silicon Graphics) He asked? What was causing smart people to make decisions that sent their companies off the rails? What was blinding them and keeping them from seeing the problems that threatened to up end them? He believed they looked outward at competition and not inward where destructive forces were at work. So his mission became about protecting Pixar from the forces that ruin so many companies and he turned his focus to leadership and building a sustainable and thriving creative culture. Tonight we are going to share some of what he learnt and how he applies it.
- Maxie Now that you know about who ED Catmull is, and what inspired him to create Pixar. We are going to dig deeper into the chapters of his book. There is a lot of really valuable information in the book – but these are they key areas Catherine and I choose as most relevant takeaways …
- Tell this more like a sotry – has anyone heard of Deming – he was significant to Catmull because …. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Deming’s approach – W. Edwards Deming was a statistician known for his expertise in quality control. In 1947 Deming revolutionized the standard mechanical and ‘creativeless’ assembly line tradition that proceeded it. Deming believed that the responsibility for finding and fixing problems should be assigned to every employee, from the most senior to the lowest person on the production line. He encouraged and expected anyone who saw a problem in the manufacturing process to stop the assembly line. Instead of merely repeating an action – workers could suggest changes, call out problems and feel pride when they helped to fix what was broken. Ed was fascinated with the fact that American Business leaders were blind to Deming’s ideas. They typically ran very top – down, and left little room for people to feel safe to say when something wasn’t working. Deming’s work made a huge impression on ED and helped frame his approach to managing Pixar – Ed aimed to create an environment where people had the ability to speak, take responsibility and be free.
- This quote is a theme and guiding principle in Ed’s book. Ed believes that If you get the right team, they will get the right Ideas - he stresses that you hire people not ideas. Ed was lucky to have experienced working with top-notch individuals while at the University of Utah in the computer science department, which paved way for who and how he would hire at Pixar. To give you some history - in ~1960 the United States created ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency) – its mission was to support scientific researchers in America’s Universities and aimed to sponsor great minds. Their Motto – “collaboration could lead to excellence” . The U of U computer science department was largely funded by ARPA. In this department - it was necessary to share and collaborate – if someone invented something – the rest of the team would immediately piggyback on it. This resulted in pushing the idea forward. Even if there were setbacks – the overriding feeling was of progress towards a goal. Ed believed the environment at UofU was rare and worth fighting for – it provided him the knowledge for how to lead and inspire other creative thinkers.
- Still on the theme of people …. Clean up slide a bit. At Pixar, Ed talks about how he realized early on, that to succeed in what he was trying to do, he needed to attract the sharpest minds, and to attract the sharpest minds, he needed to put his own insecurities away. He said - the payoffs of exceptional people are they innovate, excel, and generally make your company – and by extension, YOU – look good! One of Ed’s very important hires was Alvie Ray Smith; a Ph.D in computer science who also had a killer resume. Ed had conflicting feelings when we he me Alive, because he seemed more qualified to run the lab then even ED thought he could. He was feeling extremely threatened but decided to hire him anyway. Ed knew that in order to succeed, he needed to hire the sharpest minds – and to do this he needed to push his own insecurities away. Alvie became one of Eds most trusted friends and collaborators – and ever since this hire, he has made a policy to hire people who are smarter then he is. High risk = High rewards. Who here has hired someone who they initially thought would/could be a threat? How did it turn out?
- This is a guiding principal at Pixar. It is a mantra that Pixar employees live by and it is deeply rooted in their history and in all that they do. Nothing gets in the way of the story. Toy Story was a technological breakthrough but when it came out reviewers talked about how it made people feel and not about the intricate technical details. This principle is why Pixar has been able to keep their movies consistently great. They aspire to the highest level or story telling. They are selling stories not technology.
- Ask Andrea Rathborne to comment on this quote from her perspective as a story teller.
- Should people be honest? (question to audience?) To say no is to endorse dishonesty. But there are often good reasons not to be honest. (recount early career experience of being honest). When interacting with people in a work environment there are times where we choose not to say what we really think. This creates a dilemma – the only way we solve problems and collaborate effectively is by communizing fully and openly. But our own fears and instincts for self preservation often cause us to hold back. Need to free ourselves of honesty baggage by replacing the word honest with candor because it has few moral connotations. Candor is forthrightness and frankness – it communicates truth telling but a lack of reserve.
- A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions and constructive criticisms. Lack of candor, if unchecked, ultimately leads to dysfunctional environments. There are many valid reasons why people aren’t candid with one another in a work environment. Your job is to search for those reasons and address them.
- One of the ways Pixar uses candor is through something called the brain trust. Video clip from Willowcreek – explains the Braintrust (5 minutes) / 4 principles Peer to peer – made up of people with deep understanding of story telling and process. (Bigger than life presence ie: CEO (Steve Jobs) makes it harder to be candid) No power structure – Analogy if Pixar is hospital and its movies are patients – the braintrust is made up of trusted doctors (including movie producer/directors) – gathered a panel of consulting experts to get input and find diagnosis – original doctors of the patient make the decisions. A vested interest in each other’s success in film - You are not your idea and if you identify too closely with your ideas you’ll take offense when they are challenged. Healthy feedback system – is focusing on the problem not the person. We give and listen to good notes – notes intended to bring the true causes of problems to the surface – not to demand a specific remedy. Generous/genuine – constructive. Viewpoints are additive not competitive. “A good notes says what is wrong, what’smissing, what isn’t clear, what makes no sense. Offered at a timely moment, not too late to fix problem. It doesn’t make demands and doesn’t have to include a proposed fix (only to illustrate). It is specific and should inspire the recipient. Pixar relies on the braintrust to push them toward excellence and to root out mediocraty.
- Draft the right mixtures of people with intelligence, insight and grace People you choose must make you think smarter and put lots of solutions on the table in a short amount of time. Can be anyone if they can do that. You don’t want to be a company where there is more candor in the hallways than in the board room
- Ed stresses to the reader of Creativity Inc. that failure is a necessary natural process that encourages creativity.
- That said, Ed mentions that people often still try to “… resist and reject failure and try to avoid it, because regardless of what anyone says, mistakes feel embarrassing” In a fear based culture – people will consciously or unconsciously avoid risk. Work derivative not innovative. How do you make failure into something people can face without fear?
- How to create a fearless culture : Slide on each ways to fail 1. Address failure head on - If leaders can talk about their mistakes and their part in them, they make it safe for others. At Pixar, people are open about their melt-downs. 2. Be wrong as fast as you can – failure is like learning to ride a bike. Its going to happen. Get a bike that is low to the ground, put on elbow and knee pads and go! If you apply this mindset to everything new you attempt then you can subvert negative connotations (at Pixar they spend more time in RD then production) 3. Failure as exploration – if you are not experiencing failure then you are planning to avoid it – and this dooms you to fail longer and harder 4. Trust – best tool for driving our fear. If someone makes a mistake – trust that they will act to help solve it. Ed’s goal is not to drive fear out completely because fear is inevitable in high-stake situations, but he works hard to loosen its grip. While a company doesn’t want too many failures – Ed thinks of the cost of a failure as an investment in the future.
- Ed speaks about how originality is fragile. In its first few moments, its often far from pretty. Ugly babies are not beautiful, miniature version of adults they eventually grow up to be. They are truly awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete. They need nurturing and time to grow. It is the creative leader job to protect the baby from being judged too quickly – and, protect the new.
- Feeding the beast are the deadlines, budgets, other company pressures that often cause teams to discard ideas, initiatives etc that are “ugly” Keeping the business running
- Feeding the beast are the deadlines, budgets, other company pressures that often cause teams to discard ideas, initiatives etc that are “ugly” Keeping the business running
- How many of you face that challenge between feeding the beast and protecting the ugly baby? In this chapter – Ed asks the question - how do we hold off on ‘Feeding the beast’ and curb its appetite without putting his company in jeopardy. He accepts that every company needs its beast Because this translates to hunger and urgency – which is a good thing. The trick is that there needs to be balance. And to balance nobody WINS – instead, everybody is CLEAR on the final goal. In animation – there are many constituencies: story, art, budget, technology, finance, production, marketing etc. The people within each section have priorities that are important and often opposing. Each person is focused on their own needs and no one has a clear view of how their decisions effect the other groups. In a healthy culture – all groups recognize the importance of balancing competing desires – they want to be heard but do not need to win. Ed says that clear goals yields the balance.
- There are forces at work in any company that make it hard to see. How much are we able to see? And how much is obscured from view? Are we listening and seeing? According to Ed Catmull - these questions are essential to sustaining a creative culture. Success convinces you that you are doing things the right way. That’s why companies fail – they are not open to other viewpoints. Catmull resolved to bring as many hidden problems as possible to light. It was an uncommon commitment to self-assessment and awareness. He felt that leaders were not attuned to problems the couldn’t see so because they weren’t aware of these blind spots they assumed the problems didn’t exist. We all have blind spots – it is part of the human condition. I spent many years as a communications consultant interviewing staff and management and can tell you there is typically a huge disconnect between what management believe is the situation and what people really feel. Here’s some realities We are wired for self preservation so we tell people what they want to hear. We manage up. The higher you go in an organization the less access to information you have from staff. Hierarchies contribute to hiding information. We think we see more than we actually do Why were Silicon valley companies/leaders making bad decisions – despite experience and grand ambitions, didn’t think they were making bad decisions nor did they think they were being arrogant. Delusion set in … as bright as they were these leaders missed something essential to their continued success. The implication for Pixar – we would be inevitably be subjected to those same delusions unless we come to terms with our own limited ability to see. We had to address “the hidden” (page 168)
- Here’s some realities We are wired for self preservation so we tell people what they want to hear. We manage up. We think we know what is going on – but people don’t speak up The higher you go in an organization the less access to information you have from staff. He summarizes it by saying “hindsight is not 20/20 – not even close” - we think we see what happened clearly so we are not open to knowing more. 40% of what we see comes through our eyes the rest id made up from memory or patterns we recognize from past experiences.
- In addition to not having all the information or all the perspectives – there’s are barriers in the workplace that get in the way of creativity. One example of Pixar was their meeting room. The rectangular table used for meeting created a hierarchy and an obstacle that discourage people from jumping in. Meetings got so big that place cards were used so people would know where to sit. People felt excluded or that the power was at the middle of the table. Not everyone was involved. Changed to a square table which helped even it out. But they didn’t change the tradition of the place cards. It wasn’t until someone came into the meeting and pointed out that the place cards were creating the hierarchy did things really change and collaboration where everyone had a voice really happened.
- Ed Catmull says “We start from the presumption that our people are talented and want to contribute. We accept that, without meaning to, our company is stifling that talent in myriad unseen ways. Finally, we try to identify those impediments and fix them.” ~ Ed Catmull
- To address the hidden and fix problems, Pixar employs many mechanisms of self assessment that seek to uncover what is real. There are about 7 of them but I’m going to highlight three.
- Braintrust, dailies, post mortems and notes days are all efforts to reinforce the idea it is okay to express yourself in the quest to stay real and honest. Covered Brain Trust earlier: Dailies are about - solving problems together: Constructive mid-stream feedback every day. Participants check their egos at the door – they are about to show incomplete work to Director and peers. Director’s job to create a safe place for problems to be surfaced and to make it fun, energetic, challenge people Post Mortems help understanding. Difficult because if something is a success or failure – people want to talk about what’s right not what’s wrong. Value of post mortems What has been learned Teach others who weren’t there Forces reflection – gets people to think and evaluate Don’t let resentment fester Pay it forward – raise questions that can be asked on next project. Arms people with right information. Notes day: Is a company wide initiative where all staff have the opportunity to tell leaders how to make Pixar better. Solving problems together/improving together. “Good ideas come from anywhere”. It’s a complex process of distilling themes/ideas and involving the organization.
- Research Trips: Power of Research Rataouille team went to France to Michelin restaurants and went into kitchens to see how they worked. The Nemo team took a trip to San Francisco sewage plants to study how the oceans connect and how fish could get through a plan. The brought an Ostrich into the office for inspiration for the movie Up. Takes place early in the process to fuel film’s development Even if we haven’t been there as the audience we believe in the authenticity.
- Short experiments – shouldn’t be required to justify everything. We must leave the door open for the unexpected. Pixar’s short films are a way of experimenting and pushing technology. Don’t yield profi/hard to justify Shorts are inexpensive way to screwing up Mistakes are not only unavoidable they are valuable and should be celebrated “Better to have train wrecks with miniature trains than with real ones”
- Why? It was wrong. It was bad advice (they didn’t understand the context or what I do anyway). I didn’t respect or like or trust them. The coaching doesn’t match who I am – it’s not aligned with my values. I was too stubborn. I was in love. Getting better at receiving feedback does not obligate you to take the feedback. Some of these are great reasons – maybe Problem – we decide too fast As human beings, we are very good at wrong-spotting – if I find what’s wrong with it, I can set it aside and move on with my life. If it’s right, I have to keep worrying about it.
- In 2006 – Steve Jobs strikes a deal and Disney acquired Pixar. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger puts Ed Catmull and John Lasseter in charge of reinvigorating the Disney animation studios. This gave them the rate opportunity to take the ideas they had honed over decades at Pixar and test them in another context. Their question was ‘would our theories bear out in a new environment?’ Those theories being…..
- If you look at the Disney movies before 2006 and after 2006 -- the answer is yes – those theories did play out at Disney. And they can play out in your work environments too. By applying this thinking, this style of management and these techniques you can overcome the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration, true innovation and sustained creativity.
- What we’ve presented this evening is a very high-level overview of Creativity Inc. It is rich in content and there is so much we’ve left on the cutting room floor. We encourage you to read it from cover to cover. We now want to turn the stage over Andrea Rathborne. Andrea’s areas of expertise are organizational development, branding, marketing, communication, film, photography and design management. She has a passion for brand and team building and development, beautiful design and meaningful storytelling. Something she applied at Lululemon when she was Director, Brand Film, Operations + Partnerships Tonight she’ll talk about the steps Lululemon took to sustain its creative culture.
- Questions?
- .
- .