Creativity has to start somewhere, and we are true believers in the power of bracing, candid feedback, and the iterative process - reworking, reworking, and reworking again until a flawed story finds its through line or a hollow character finds its soul.

Edwin Catmull

Categorized in : Character Power Soul Creativity

If everyone is trying to prevent error, it screws things up.

Edwin Catmull

errors screws trying

Creativity doesn't follow titles. It just comes from where it comes from.

Edwin Catmull

titles creativity

If you aren't experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it.

Edwin Catmull

driven mistake desire

Art isn't about drawing; it's about learning to see. What organization doesn't need this ability?

Edwin Catmull

drawing organization art

If you give a good idea to a mediocre group, they'll screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a good group, they'll fix it. Or they'll throw it away and come up with something else.

Edwin Catmull

groups giving ideas

You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.

Edwin Catmull

offense ifs ideas

Success hides problems...you don't need to address problems.

Edwin Catmull

addresses problem needs

You can give a great film idea to a mediocre team and they may screw it up, but if you give a mediocre idea to a great team, they will turn it into a great film.

Edwin Catmull

team giving ideas

Every creative person can draft into service those around them who exhibit the right mixture of intelligence, insight, and grace.

Edwin Catmull

mixtures creative grace

We start from the presumption that our people are talented and want to contribute. We accept that, without meaning to, our company is stifling that talent in myriad unseen ways. Finally, we try to identify those impediments and fix them.

Edwin Catmull

unseen trying people

It's pretty popular today to say that everybody should learn to fail and that failure's a good thing. Intellectually, it's an obvious thing. But in fact, it gets conflated with another meaning of failure, so when we grow up as kids, failing in school was a really bad thing.

Edwin Catmull

growing-up kids school

For me, creativity includes problem-solving. That's the broad definition of it.

Edwin Catmull

creativity definitions problem

I love solving the problems of having groups work together and removing barriers. But to actually turn around and be in the center of that is an awkward place to be.

Edwin Catmull

awkward groups working-together

I actually feel awkward being at the center of attention.

Edwin Catmull

center-of-attention awkward attention

We encourage our people to build their ideas from scratch, and we give them the resources - and, crucially, the candid feedback - that are required to transform the first wisps of a story into a truly compelling film.

Edwin Catmull

story candid people ideas

Sometimes a leap of faith doesn't pan out.

Edwin Catmull

leap leap-of-faith faith sometimes

We have to evolve, we have to change, and in order to do that, we have to initiate the change.

Edwin Catmull

initiate evolve change order

Encourage people to mingle, meet, and communicate.

Edwin Catmull

mingle encourage meet people

When I was in high school in the early 1960s, I wanted to be an animator and even took art classes. But by the time I was in college, I realized I couldn't draw well enough.

Edwin Catmull

high-school time art school

Candor is the key to collaborating effectively. Lack of candor leads to dysfunctional environments.

Edwin Catmull

dysfunctional lack leads key