Between Books - Creativity, Inc.

Creativity Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace provides Catmull's insights into management and animation history.  Many readers may assume that Creativity Inc. is either an autobiography or a personal history of Pixar.  And while there are elements of both, the text is really Catmull's reflections on both innovation and management.  Catmull uses history and personal narrative to provide other managers and innovators insight into his own career.  The episodes reflected on include his own early education and steps into animation, the establishment and then sale of Pixar, success under the ownership of Steve Jobs and later its purchase by Disney including expanded roles at Disney.  His review of history includes his relationship with the at times mercurial Jobs, the Pixar Brain Trust and it's function, and how Catmull and John Lasseter transitioned from Pixar to Disney leadership.

Creativity Inc. is a really good book!  Honestly it is something that managers and innovates need on their bookshelf not just Disney fans.  Catmull is largely honest about his mistakes and missteps that Pixar took under his direction.  Not everything Catmull attempted was a success, including attempts to revolutionize production.  And he shows us how a company losing its vision and edge can at falter after early overwhelming success.  

One of the chief themes in Catmull's leadership is candor.  Catmull and John Lasseter require it.  They make it clear what candor is and is not.  And how candor can be squashed by a inappropriate tone.  One of the examples used throughout the book is the famed Pixar Brain Trust.  Catmull describes its rules including that Pixar directors can and do ignore its advice.  And he explains that everyone is able to provide guidance.  These sessions are meant to hone the director's vision and improve the story.  And largely they do help Pixar to make some of the best animated features in the world.  If I was to criticize Catmull for anything it would be that he does not address claims that the candor of these meetings is not as described, with some not always feeling like they are able to share.  Also, I would say that Catmull does ignore some negative elements of Pixar history like the removal of Alvy Ray Smith, a Pixar co-founder.  In short he is not always candid.    

One of the things that I found fascinating is that Catmull made sure with his transition to Disney leadership that he kept the two animation units separate with clear separate structures.  The two would not mix or help each other.  That way they each could retain separate and clear identities, goals and projects.  Additionally, they chose to retain the one Disney animation executive everyone thought Catmull and Lasseter would remove, Andrew Millstein the head of Circle 7 Productions which produced sequels.  An early goal for the new leaders was no more cheap sequels.  Instead they made him general manager of the studio as he caught their vision.  Still there missteps as Catmull and Lasseter worked to overcome Pixar concerns they had lessened their attention on Pixar.  

Creativity Inc. is a great management and innovation book.  I could easily see reading it on a regular basis with using it for occasional innovation advice.  The book helps reinforce, in his own words, Catmull as a leadership and innovation leader.

Between Books - The Pixar Touch

David Price in The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company details the origins, struggles, and successes of Pixar Animation Studios until its 2006 purchase by the Walt Disney Company.  Price begins his story with college student Ed Catmull who wanted to be an animator but determined that he had limited drawing talent.  The highly intelligent Catmull instead threw himself into computers and became determined to use computers to create animation.  In 1972, he created a graduate film in which he animated his hand.  The video was both simple and revolutionary in showing the potential available in computer animation.  Catmull became recognized as a leader in computer graphics and professionally tied himself to like minded Alvy Ray Smith in the quest to improve computer animation with a shared goal of an animated feature.  Eventually Catmull and Smith found themselves drawn to Lucasfilm, working on computer systems and graphics for the George Lucas’ production company.  While at Lucasfilm, Catmull and Smith recruited a third revolutionary figure, former Disney animator John Lasseter who provided the animation skill needed to create convincing character animation.  Catmull, Smith and Lasseter hid their efforts to achieve their common goal of an animated feature with Lucasfilm, who chose to sell Catmull’s computer unit off or shut down their operation.  They reached out to former Apple executive Steve Jobs who was attracted to the hardware potential in his new acquisition.  Still Catmull lead his team with the goal of animation, despite Jobs’ apprehension.  After years of being a financial lose, Jobs’ incorporated Pixar Animated Studios found enough success with commercials and short films to partner with Disney to complete and distribute an animated feature, Toy Story, which filled with character and innovative animation began an instant hit and classic film.  Price then outlines the problems in the Pixar-Disney relationship including friction between Jobs and Disney CEO Michael Eisner which was leading to an eventual end to their partnership.  Instead of a lasting schism, new Disney leadership under Bob Iger led to the Disney acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios.  This purchase lead to Lasseter becoming Disney’s and Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, including Walt Disney Imagineering, and Catmull being named President of Walt Disney Animation Studios, along with Pixar.  The disgraced Disney animator and the boy who could not draw had become the guiding forces behind the world’s most prestigious animation organization.   

Price does an excellent job of presenting the details of a complex story.  He makes it clear that the leadership of Pixar were always united around a common vision, making an animated movie.  While others may have seen them as computer hardware or software group, the Pixar leaders regardless of their company name, were always dedicated to a common cause.  With their vision not aligned to their owners at times, leaders like Catmull had to make hard decisions or be partially dishonest to do things like add John Lasseter to the payroll.  And Price makes to clear how that vision was shared with others, with Lasseter at one point rejecting a return to Disney in order to make history in the Pixar ranks. 

I was also shocked how my opinions of some within the Pixar story changed.  I had pictured Jobs as a benevolent leader who guarded the Pixar staff from economic forces with his own personal fortune so they could evolve towards making an animated feature.  Price instead gives us a picture of Jobs who is at times more adversary than benefactor, with figures like Catmull protecting the Pixar staff and at times unsuccessfully.  Additionally, Price shows that Jobs was a late comer to the dream of an animated film.  And I found my already high opinion of Catmull being further extended as one realizes the opportunities he turned down for short gain that resulted in his and Pixar’s success in achieving their dream.

The Pixar Touch is well written and engaging.  It is not a fictional thriller, but a straight forward and highly accessible read.  It may be considered a business book, but it is one that any Pixar or animation fan can read and enjoy.  Price takes the time to explain highly technical points, especially around software and hardware, that those not in the information technology realm would not readily know.  And he does a good job explaining these to the common man.  The book clearly demonstrates the power of vision to technical and business leaders.  Additionally, it is well researched based on interviews and primary and secondary sources. 

The Pixar Touch is an engaging and educational book.  It shows how the power of vision and the determination to follow it through can make something clearly amazing.  It is a must read for animation fans, those interested in the history of computing, and Disney enthusiasts.  Those wishing to explore the history of Pixar should begin with The Pixar Touch.