Book Review: Creativity, Inc.

Joseph is the founder of Whitewater Projects, Inc.

 

Ed Catmull is the President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation. He graduated in 1969 from University of Utah with a degree in Computer Science and Physics. He worked as head of the NY Institute of Technology, Lucas Film’s computer animation studio, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation.

In Creativity Inc.:Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, “Getting Started” is largely about the events that led up to the creation of Pixar. The middle two sections “Protecting the New” and “Building and Sustaining” are about how Pixar was and is run. Finally, “Testing” what we know is about how they were able to transfer the knowledge and culture from Pixar to Disney Animation and revitalize that organization. 

Themes
This book follows the story arc of Pixar and Disney Animation, but really is about how the business was built and what it takes to create a culture that can sustainably bring out the best in everyone in an organization. Themes include:

• Leadership and vision
• Teamwork and creating a teaming culture
• Adapting to change and following a vision
• Learning through failure
• The importance of forthright candor
• The value of learning from failure and how to do it
• The importance of continual improvement
• Recognizing our mis-beliefs and that…

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