Ed Catmull, president and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, and president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disneytoon Studios, took to the INBOUND17 stage on Thursday to share his knowledge and experiences in solving challenges surrounding creative work and creative teams.
His book, Creativity, Inc., co-authored with journalist Amy Wallace and published in 2014, also explores the theme of managing creativity, and was quickly hailed as one of the best books to ever explore the subject of creative business and creative leadership. Through his writing and talks, Catmull has established himself as an authority on creativity in the modern workplace.
As he took the stage at INBOUND, he began by clarifying that contrary to popular opinion, Pixar does not make movies for children:
.@edcatmull “We do not make our films for children.” “Children live in an adult world & are trying to figure it out.” #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/VVyEsYV3tn
— Alex Plaxen (@APlaxen) September 28, 2017
Creative🗝: “New ideas are fragile & often off track. Figuring things out is a creative act in itself” @edcatmull of @DisneyPixar #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/tBFrz2fR1j
— Meghana (@signedbyhana) September 28, 2017
Pixar, therefore, takes an unexpected approach.
We don’t make our movies for kids. We make them for adults, but they’re accessible for everyone.” —@edcatmull #inbound17 pic.twitter.com/V9ndYkd0VU
— Sarah Corley (@srcorley) September 28, 2017
Catmull also stressed that when you work in a company with a team of creatives, a healthy and productive company culture becomes extremely important.
Build a sustainable company culture that elicits the best of out of your team and allows them to be creative @edcatmull #INBOUND17 @INBOUND
— Vee Wainstein (@VeeWainstein) September 28, 2017
At Pixar, he found that the best way to do this was to take the power structure out of the room.
One of Pixar’s key to success, they removed the power structure, it’s peer to peer. Directors make the decisions. #INBOUND17 @edcatmull
— Jenessa (@ExpressAnything) September 28, 2017
.@edcatmull “The brain trust is peer to peer, not boss to filmmaker. We removed the power structure from the room.” #INBOUND17
— Alex Plaxen (@APlaxen) September 28, 2017
This allows creative teams access to an unprecedented degree of freedom to explore.
“Ideas come and go without people becoming attached to them.” – @edcatmull @DisneyPixar @INBOUND #INBOUND17
— Niche Modern (@nichemodern) September 28, 2017
.@edcatmull “Every once in a while magic happens. With each film this happens at least once. Ego leaves the room.” #INBOUND17
— Alex Plaxen (@APlaxen) September 28, 2017
Catmull also talked about the need to rethink failure:
“All of our movies sucked at first. I am not saying this to be modest. They sucked.” @edcatmull , co-founder of @DisneyPixar #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/p7FCrrWThI
— SocialCompass (@_socialcompass) September 28, 2017
“zero dumb ideas is not a good goal” @edcatmull #INBOUND17
— Alison Leishman (@alisonleishman) September 28, 2017
.@edcatmull “We had to rethink failure. There are two meanings to the word failure. The professional & the aura of danger around failure.” #INBOUND17
— Alex Plaxen (@APlaxen) September 28, 2017
.@edcatmull talking about creativity: Everyone can be creative, if they feel like it’s okay to fail. #pixar #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/7s43Rc2MmK
— Dingle (@dingletweet) September 28, 2017
“We don’t have the luxury of calling something a failure until after the fact.” @edcatmull #INBOUND17
— Karl Sakas (@KarlSakas) September 28, 2017
.@edcatmull “Failure isn’t a necessary evil, just a necessary consequence of doing something new.” #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/xIkGjEWZ1N
— Alex Plaxen (@APlaxen) September 28, 2017
And stressed that the way we respond to different circumstances is what lets creativity into our lives:
Our job is not to prevent errors, but respond when things go wrong. It is in that response where creativity arises. @edcatmull #INBOUND17
— Stefanie Knapp (@StefanieKnapp) September 28, 2017
Everyone has the potential to be great. Our choices either block or enable creativity. @edcatmull #INBOUND17
— Rachel Mann (@rachelizmann) September 28, 2017
He spoke about how Steve Jobs’ journey is the hero’s journey:
“It was the changed Steve (Jobs) that changed the world with apple, not the Steve that he started out as.” @edcatmull #inbound17
— Jon Hammond (@JonnyHam_) September 28, 2017
.@edcatmull “Steve developed the ability to listen and empathize.” #INBOUND17
— Alex Plaxen (@APlaxen) September 28, 2017
Members of the audience found the session extremely insightful:
Hearing @edcatmull from @DisneyPixar talk about how teams are successful is fantastic #INBOUND17 pic.twitter.com/KPoJ6jTbUA
— Katherine A. Hayes (@KatherineAHayes) September 28, 2017
My favorite session at #INBOUND17 so far. @edcatmull keynote. Nuanced, disarming, even moving at some points. My new hero! pic.twitter.com/Is72k5oJoX
— Suma E P (@sumaep) September 28, 2017
If you missed this wonderful talk in person, watch out for the highlight reel that will be available for viewing over the next few days. And do check out all our coverage of INBOUND17 here.
