Great article on helping & supporting creative organizations by Ed Catmull, one of Pixar’s founders: How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity. Here’s something from the introduction:
I don’t think our success is largely luck. Rather, I believe our adherence to a set of principles and practices for managing creative talent and risk is responsible. Pixar is a community in the true sense of the word. We think that lasting relationships matter, and we share some basic beliefs: Talent is rare. Management’s job is not to prevent risk but to build the capability to recover when failures occur. It must be safe to tell the truth. We must constantly challenge all of our assumptions and search for the flaws that could destroy our culture.
It’s pretty long, but full of great, great stuff.
It's especially interesting given the way that the animation industry works. I did a little work with the studios at my last job and the usual model is that people are hired on in project-driven contracts. i.e. you're there to help render the latest toy story movie and that's it. The best people are offered contracts for the next project and most are let go. It's a brutal system.
It's good to see some thoughts on this front from one of the studios.
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