Will I love Creativity, Inc.?

This book changed how I think about leadership and creativity. I’ve always believed that great products come from great teams, and this book reinforced that. Ed Catmull’s insights on building a culture where people feel safe enough to take risks and speak the truth made me rethink how I run teams.

The Braintrust—a space where candid feedback is not just encouraged but expected—stood out. I still come back to this book when shaping teams and cultures. It’s a must-read for leaders who want to build not just great products but great environments where creativity thrives.

I loved this book because it vividly immersed me inside an animation studio (Pixar) and showed how they maximized creativity.

For example, it showed how honest, direct communication in a creative team and a culture of ‘the best idea wins’ can transform a movie. It’s written by a very experienced practitioner and is a practical book, not a theoretical book.

This book offers real-world examples of how peer feedback is critical to creative success. When I lose myself in the creative process, I rely on trusted collaborators to help dig me out of that hole.

Recognizing this is a universal problem for creatives, Ed Catmull introduces us to The Braintrust, a team at Pixar that provided feedback on movie scripts such as The Incredibles and Wall-E. I believe we all need our own personal Braintrust to be successful.

Pixar movies have been seen all over the world by humans of all ages. They make us laugh, smile, and wipe tears.

Pixar has some of the best storytellers on the planet and Creativity, Inc. shares more about how they’ve built their engine. This book looks at the business side of creativity and how you create a culture that can sustain and navigate producing top-quality films every year.

It offers wonderful insights on how to lead people, navigate difficult moments, and bring the best out of others. If creativity or storytelling are any part of your business or life, this… show more.

This is a beautiful, honest, and heartwarming description of how Pixar and their strong company culture works.

It’s written, of course, by their founder, Ed Catmull. The book walks us through the history of the company and how the culture and values were discovered as they went.

I think this book is important for IT folks to read, as we are also in a creative business, and hence need to lead in ways that allow for creativity to flow and spread. I especially love the parts where the author reflects on what didn’t work and how they improved it. And… show more.

Ed Catmull, together with his partner, George Lucas, completely changed the nature of animation with the founding of Pixar Animation Studios. This book outlines the philosophy and management practices that allowed Pixar to achieve unprecedented levels of success with its productions by shaking up traditional norms in the movie business. Sterling bits of advice include: It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them; the cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them; and a company’s communication structure should not mirror its… show more.

We all know that Pixar is uniquely capable to create movies that people love. What you might not realize is that Pixar is also an incredibly methodical organization that focuses on creating psychological safety throughout its organization. 

Creativity, Inc. is written by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace. Catmull co-founded Pixar and uses this book to break down the actual mechanics of their process, and along the way shares captivating stories of an incredible career.