-
Creativity, Inc. is both a memoir and a leadership playbook, recounting how Pixar—from its origins in Lucasfilm’s computer graphics division through its transformation into a world‑class animation studio—built and sustained a culture that champions creativity, innovation, and continuous learning.
Central to its philosophy is the idea that creativity thrives in an environment of candor, psychological safety, and trust: a space where people are empowered to speak up honestly without fear, and feedback is focused on the work—not the individual—as exemplified by Pixar’s famous “Braintrust” sessions. Related to this is the embrace of failure as a natural and essential part of the creative process: rather than punishing mistakes, Pixar treats them as learning opportunities and builds regular “postmortems” into its process to extract lessons from each project.
Catmull also warns against the invisible threats to creativity—fear, ego, complacency, and groupthink—which can quietly undermine innovation if left unchecked. He stresses the importance of balancing creativity with structure: giving people freedom to explore within supportive frameworks, so that creative efforts are aligned with organizational goals without stifling innovation. Practically, Pixar encourages collaboration and diversity of perspective, designs workspaces that foster interaction and inspiration, and gives individuals autonomy over their working styles—including flexible setups and time to pursue side projects.
welcometothejungle.com
“Failure isn’t a necessary evil. In fact, it isn’t evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.” - Ed Catmull