The September 2008 issue of the influential management journal the Harvard Business Review presents as its cover story a 5450-word piece written by Pixar co-founder and current president Ed Catmull, where he expounds Pixar's legendary creativity as an integral part of its unmatached corporate culture.Catmull zeros in the following points:
- What Is Creativity?
- The Roots of Our Culture
- Power to the Creatives
- A Peer Culture (the Brain Trust/the "dailies")
- Technology + Art = Magic (freedom to communicate, offer ideas; staying close to the latest innovations, sharing ideas academically)
- Staying on the Rails ("postmortems", "fresh blood")
Additionally, there are four excellent short sidebars attached to the main article:
- Taking Risks
- Getting Real Help
- Overcoming Inhibitions
- Pixar’s Operating Principles
If you're knowledgeable when it comes to Pixar's history and such, you may find that you already know many of the stories recounted (such as the development of Toy Story 2, to name one), but the article is really an intelligent read nonetheless –especially if you're in management. And if you're not knowledgeable, well, then, learn something!
Read it online here (and take a listen to a conversation with Catmull here).
Thanks to the commenter who pointed to this, who's comment I accidentally erased.
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1 comment:
This article is excellent. Thanks for posting it, Mike, and thanks to the nameless poster who suggested it. I found it very informative.
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