Managing creativity

(1 Feb 2020)

I have often been wondering how very creative and also economically productive teams work, for example at Disney and Pixar. Their work is creative in so many ways, from producing great stories to their technical production. Ed Catmull’s book “Creativity Inc.” gave an inspiring summary over that topic. He has worked as a very successful president of the animation studios of Pixar and Disney. His accomplishments are highlighted by the long term success of Pixar, and by the rather recent improvements in the films of the Disney animation studios (which had a long downhill after the death of Walt Disney). The book is very well written, is nice to read and had an impact on my thinking. 

One of the greatest feats of the book is that it considers creativity management from a wide perspective. It aims to capture the key principles of creativity management, while Pixar and Disney are used as practical examples of how the management can be arranged successfully. In my opinion the scientific community would have a lot to learn from these insights. Curiously, however, Catmull did start to build his leadership style by using research group management style of his previous professor (famous Ivan Sutherland) as a guiding example. Ed worked in the research group as a PhD candidate before working in the animation industry. The culture of the research group had a big impact on his thinking. Apparently those feats of the academic world that he admired included freedom, creativity, very candid discussion culture and good level of ambition.

The author’s academic background is reflected also on one of the key components of the organization structure of Pixar and Disney animation studios. It was first developed at Pixar and was adopted also at the Disney studios after Catmull took the lead there. At Pixar, the component is called Braintrust. Practically, it is a rather small team of their most experienced directors, storytellers and other relevant people. The role of the team is to meet the directors and other key players of a movie team and to give them feedback. Together they watch the unfinished movie, think of the storyline, give feedback and discuss issues. Braintrust gives suggestions and the movie team must decide how to use the feedback. It is a bit like the peer-review system in the scientific world: at its best, the most competent people give good feedback on how to improve the work. Braintrust is one of the most important components of the organization structure which boost creativity.

At Pixar, the Braintrust meetings are rather frequent and have typically a very big impact on the movie. In the book, Ed often underlines that the ideas must be challenged and tested to produce good movies. He also makes a lot of effort to point out that they are by all means aiming to create and sustain a culture where the focus of the people is on the movies, on candid feedback and fearless atmosphere. Often in competitive environments (such as the scientific community), some people have very big egos and they are constantly trying to make an impression on other people and to push their own ideas trough. I think that all of us can recognize dominating egos in our working environments. The approach of Braintrust and Pixar is to avoid that by all means and to give space to meaningful feedback which concentrates solidly on the movie. 

According to Ed’s approach, generating real creativity needs a culture where failure is acceptable and the environment is psychologically secure. However, the movies need a lot of critique to evolve. Ed often tells the reader that the Pixar and Disney movies are pretty bad in the beginning. But with constant, candid and open critique from the most skilled and ambitious people, the movies evolve and are great in the end. The storyline may, however, be something completely different than in the beginning. One of the ways to sustain this culture is that the animators and others are constantly encouraged to show their unfinished work to others and to discuss it together. This pushes the team to constantly look for things and problems that you cannot see but could nonetheless be improved. This may create a culture where people do not fear mistakes, but gives them opportunities to solve problems. What I also like in Ed’s approach is that his aim is that the communication structure of an organization should never follow the organization structure of the organization. Everyone should be able to talk with anyone about the problems and issues they face. The culture may be described with one his quotes:

 “Unleashing creativity requires that we loosen the controls, accept risk, trust our colleagues, work to clear the path for them, and pay attention to anything that creates fear. Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right, chances are that they’ll get the ideas right.”

And for all you Steve Jobs fans out there, the book includes many stories of how Steve bought Pixar and had many things to do with the great success of the company. Ed worked with Steve for a long time, knew him very well, and shares many interesting stories in the book.