“taking a risk necessitated a willingness to deal with the mess created by the risk.” — Ed Catmull Risk Copy Share Image
“Engaging with exceptionally hard problems forces us to think differently.” — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“Failure was being used as a weapon, rather than as an agent of learning.” — Ed Catmull Education Copy Share Image
“Rejecting failure and avoiding mistakes seem like high-minded” — Ed Catmull Failure Copy Share Image
“The attempt to avoid failure, in other words, makes failure more likely.” — Ed Catmull Failure Copy Share Image
“So, when our two like-minded overlords demanded a list of names of people to lay off, Alvy and I gave them two:… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“For all the care you put into artistry, visual polish frequently doesn’t matter if you are getting the story right.” — Ed Catmull Artist Copy Share Image
“For me, this discovery was bracing. Being on the lookout for problems, I realized, was not the same as seeing problems.” — Ed Catmull Discovery Copy Share Image
“The goal, then, is to uncouple fear and failure—to create an environment in which making mistakes doesn’t strike terror into your employees’… — Ed Catmull Failure Copy Share Image
“if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.” — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“My view was that we were all so far from achieving our goal that to hoard ideas only impeded our ability to… — Ed Catmull Finish line Copy Share Image
“one of my core management beliefs: If you don’t try to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be… — Ed Catmull Faith Copy Share Image
“Which brings us to one of my core management beliefs: If you don’t try to uncover what is unseen and understand its… — Ed Catmull Faith Copy Share Image
“The more time you spend mapping out an approach, the more likely you are to get attached to it. The nonworking idea… — Ed Catmull Approach Copy Share Image
“It was management’s job to take the long view, to intervene and protect our people from their willingness to pursue excellence at… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“Believe me, you don’t want to be at a company where there is more candor in the hallways than in the rooms… — Ed Catmull Business Copy Share Image
“FRANK TALK, SPIRITED debate, laughter, and love. If I could distill a Braintrust meeting down to its most essential ingredients, those four… — Ed Catmull Love Copy Share Image
“This principle eludes most people, but it is critical: You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“It’s folly to think you can avoid change, no matter how much you might want to. But also, to my mind, you… — Ed Catmull Change Copy Share Image
“Katherine Sarafian, a producer who’s been at Pixar since Toy Story, tells me she prefers to envision triggering the process over trusting… — Ed Catmull Disney Copy Share Image
“People who would feel obligated to be honest somehow feel freer when asked for their candor; they have a choice about whether… — Ed Catmull Honesty Copy Share Image
“But if you push the ownership of problems down into the ranks of an organization, then everyone feels free (and motivated) to… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“In most companies, you have to justify so much of what you do—to prepare for quarterly earnings statements if the company is… — Ed Catmull Business Copy Share Image
“At Pixar, Toy Story 2 taught us this lesson—that we must always be alert to shifting dynamics, because our future depends on… — Ed Catmull Disney Copy Share Image
“Every morning, as I walk into Pixar Animation Studios—past the twenty-foot-high sculpture of Luxo Jr., our friendly desk lamp mascot, through the… — Ed Catmull Culture Copy Share Image
“Many of the rules that people find onerous and bureaucratic were put in place to deal with real abuses, problems, or inconsistencies… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“Teach Others Who Weren’t There Even if everyone involved in a production understands what it taught them, the postmortem is a great… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“There’s something else that bears repeating here: Unleashing creativity requires that we loosen the controls, accept risk, trust our colleagues, work to… — Ed Catmull Creativity Copy Share Image
“Once this became clear to me, I began telling people that the phrase was meaningless. I told our staff that it had… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“In 1997, executives at Disney came to us with a request: Could we make Toy Story 2 as a direct-to-video release—that is,… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“To Whom it May Inspire,” Austin wrote. “I, like many of you artists out there, constantly shift between two states. The first… — Ed Catmull Art Copy Share Image
“A management team brought in by George to restructure Lucasfilm seemed concerned mostly with cash flow, and as time went on, they… — Ed Catmull Cash flow Copy Share Image
“That uncertainty can make us uncomfortable. We humans like to know where we are headed, but creativity demands that we travel paths… — Ed Catmull Creativity Copy Share Image
“How, then, do you make failure into something people can face without fear? Part of the answer is simple: If we as… — Ed Catmull Failure Copy Share Image
“TO UNDERSTAND WHAT the Braintrust does and why it is so central to Pixar, you have to start with a basic truth:… — Ed Catmull Creativity Copy Share Image
“I know that a lot of our successes came because we had pure intentions and great talent, and we did a lot… — Ed Catmull Copy Share Image
“Notably, one item was not on our list: Find the person responsible who typed the wrong command and punish him or her.… — Ed Catmull Accountability Copy Share Image
