Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull *****

 Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

If you work in a group, live in a family, or produce a film, this is the book! Ed Catmull is a smart guy who thought about Pixar’s success and has written his conclusions in a clear, readable, and engaging book. Learn about removing barriers to success. Read it.

This book undersells itself by pretending to be about creativity and movies. If you are a parent wondering how to raise children who are resilient and successful in their relationships and careers, this is your book. If you lead a group of people for fun or profit, if you want them to solve problems together, this is the book for you. While the examples cite film directing and producing, and screenwriting, only the slightest imagination is needed to apply this Pixar founder’s universal advice far beyond these endeavors. Read it.

Selected pieces of advice:

“Experiments are fact-finding missions that, over time, inch scientists toward greater understanding. That means any outcome is a good outcome, because it yields new information.”

Hire people who are smarter than you are.

“Ideas come from people. Therefore, people are more important than ideas.”

“Fail early and fast.”

“Change is going to happen, whether we like it or not.”

Hindsight is NOT 20/20. “We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there,” as Mark Twain once said, “lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.”

“Driving the train doesn’t set its course. The real job is laying the track.”

“Diversity—the inclusion of all genders, races, and ethnicities, for starters, but also of lived experiences, of viewpoints, of disciplines—is essential.”

Historical notes: Most of Steve Jobs’ wealth came from Pixar. This book includes an addendum about Steve Jobs and his contributions to Pixar.

P.S. I was in graduate school at the University of Utah with Ed Catmull. We were an extraordinary group. Other people you might be familiar with include John Warnock, an Adobe founder, and Alan Kay, winner of the Turing Award. Much of the credit for leading this group belongs to Ivan Sutherland, U of U CS Professor 1968-1974.

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