Ed Catmull

Many have attempted to formulate and categorize inspiration and creativity. What Ed Catmull shares instead is his astute experience that creativity isn’t strictly a well of ideas, but an alchemy of people. In Creativity, Inc. Ed reveals, with commonsense specificity and honesty, examples of how not to get in your own way and realize a creative coalescence of art, business and innovation.

This is best book ever written on what it takes to build a creative organization. It is the best because Catmull’s wisdom, modesty, and self-awareness fill every page. He shows how Pixar’s greatness results from connecting the specific little things they do (mostly things that anyone can do in any organization) to the big goal that drives everyone in the company: Making films that make them feel proud of one another.

Robert I. Sutton, Professor of Management Science at Stanford University, author of The No A**hole Rule and co-author of Scaling Up Excellence

Just might be the best business book ever written

Pixar uses technology only as a means to an end; its films are rooted in human concerns, not computer wizardry. The same can be said of Creativity Inc., Ed Catmull’s endearingly thoughtful explanation of how the studio he co-founded generated hits such as the Toy Story trilogy, Up and Wall-E. . . . [Catmull] uses Pixar’s triumphs and near-disasters to outline a system for managing people in creative businesses—one in which candid criticism is delivered sensitively, while individuality and autonomy are not strangled by a robotic corporate culture

Achieving enormous success while holding fast to the highest artistic standards is a nice trick—and Pixar, with its creative leadership and persistent commitment to innovation, has pulled it off. This book should be required reading for any manager

Charles Duhigg - Author of THE POWER OF HABIT

Steve Jobs—not a man inclined to hyperbole when asked about the qualities of others—once described Ed Catmull as ‘very wise,’ ‘very self-aware,’ ‘really thoughtful,’ ‘really, really smart,’ and possessing ‘quiet strength,’ all in a single interview. Any reader of Creativity, Inc., Catmull’s new book on the art of running creative companies, will have to agree. Catmull, president of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation, has written what just might be the most thoughtful management book ever

It’s one thing to be creative; it’s entirely another—and much more rare—to build a great and creative culture. Over more than thirty years, Ed Catmull has developed methods to root out and destroy the barriers to creativity, to marry creativity to the pursuit of excellence, and, most impressive, to sustain a culture of disciplined creativity during setbacks and success. Pixar’s unrivaled record, and the joy its films have added to our lives, gives his method the most important validation: It works

A wonderful new book . . . Unlike most books written by founders, this isn’t some myth-heavy legacy project—it’s far closer to a blueprint. Catmull takes us inside the Pixar ecosystem and shows how they build and refine excellence, in revelatory detail. . . . If you do creative work, you should read it, now

A fascinating story about how some very smart people built something that profoundly changed the animation business and, along the way, popular culture . . . [Creativity, Inc.] is a well-told tale, full of detail about an interesting, intricate business. For fans of Pixar films, it’s a must-read. For fans of management books, it belongs on the ‘value added’ shelf

Business gurus love to tell stories about Pixar, but this is our first chance to hear the real story from someone who lived it and led it. Everyone interested in managing innovation—or just good managing—needs to read this book

What is the secret to making more of the good stuff? Every so often Hollywood embraces a book that it senses might provide the answer. . . . Catmull’s book is quickly becoming the latest bible for the show business crowd

Too often, we seek to keep the status quo working. This is a book about breaking it

Seth Godin - Author of ALL MARKETEERS ARE LIARS

For those brave enough, Creativity Inc. is a call to strive for the very best, with, just as importantly, precuise instructions as to how to go about it

Fascinating...A smart guide to getting the best out of employees and therefore the business

A great book for anyone interested in inspiring and managing creative talent (Books of the Year)

Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times

an inspiring look at how creativity can - and should - be harnessed for business success by the founder of Pixar

'Just might be the best business book ever written' Forbes Magazine 
'This book should be required reading for any manager' Charles Duhigg 
______________________________________________ 
 
The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands upon his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles used to build Pixar's singularly successful culture, including all he learned in the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve. 
 
For nearly twenty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner thirty Academy Awards. The joyous storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. 
 
As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. A mere nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie's success-and in the movies that followed-was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as: 
 
- Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. It's not the manager's job to prevent risks. 
- It's the manager's job to make it safe for others to take them. The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. 
- A company's communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. 
- Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. 
 
Creativity, Inc. has been expanded to illuminate the continuing development of the unique culture at Pixar. Featuring a new introduction, two entirely new chapters, four new chapter postscripts, and new reflections at the end, this updated edition details how Catmull built a culture that doesn't just pay lip service to the importance of things like honesty, communication, and originality, but commits to them. Pursuing excellence isn't a one-off assignment, but an ongoing, day-in, day-out, full-time job. And Creativity, Inc. explores how it is done. 
 
 
Readers love Creativity, Inc. 
 
'Incredibly inspirational' 
'Great book. Wish I could give it more than 5 stars' 
'Honestly, one of the best books I've read in a long time' 
'Read it and read it again, then read it again and then again' 
'Great book!! Fantastic read'

Ed Catmull

Praise for Creativity, Inc.

Many have attempted to formulate and categorize inspiration and creativity. What Ed Catmull shares instead is his astute experience that creativity isn’t strictly a well of ideas, but an alchemy of people. In ...

This is best book ever written on what it takes to build a creative organization. It is the best because Catmull’s wisdom, modesty, and self-awareness fill every page. He shows how Pixar’s greatness results from con ...

Just might be the best business book ever written

Many have attempted to formulate and categorize inspiration and creativity. What Ed Catmull shares instead is his astute experience that creativity isn’t strictly a well of ideas, but an alchemy of people. In ...

This is best book ever written on what it takes to build a creative organization. It is the best because Catmull’s wisdom, modesty, and self-awareness fill every page. He shows how Pixar’s greatness results from con ...

Just might be the best business book ever written

Many have attempted to formulate and categorize inspiration and creativity. What Ed Catmull shares instead is his astute experience that creativity isn’t strictly a well of ideas, but an alchemy of people. In ...

This is best book ever written on what it takes to build a creative organization. It is the best because Catmull’s wisdom, modesty, and self-awareness fill every page. He shows how Pixar’s greatness results from con ...

Just might be the best business book ever written

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