Edwin Catmull Quotes
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We realized that our purpose was not merely to build a studio that made hit films but to foster a creative culture that would continually ask questions.
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In an unhealthy culture, each group believes that if their objectives trump the goals of the other groups, the company will be better off. In a healthy culture, all constituencies recognize the importance of balancing competing desires—they want to be heard, but they don’t have to win.
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It isn't enough to pick a path—you must go down it. By doing so, you see things you couldn't possibly see when you started out; you may not like what you see, some of it may be confusing, but at least you will have, as we like to say, "explored the neighborhood." The key point here is that even if you decide you're in the wrong place, there is still time to head toward the right place.
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Management’s job is not to prevent risk but to build the ability to recover.
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Merely repeating ideas means nothing. You must act—and think—accordingly.
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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.
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Paying attention to the present moment without letting your thoughts and ideas about the past and the future get in the way is essential. Why? Because it makes room for the views of others. It allows us to begin to trust them—and, more important, to hear them. It makes us willing to experiment, and it makes it safe to try something that may fail. It encourages us to work on our awareness, trying to set up our own feedback loop in which paying attention improves our ability to pay attention. It requires us to understand that to advance creatively, we must let go of something. As the composer Philip Glass once said, “The real issue is not how do you find your voice, but … getting rid of the damn thing.
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Craft is what we are expected to know; art is the unexpected use of our craft.
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Always try to hire people who are smarter than you. Always take a chance on better, even if it seems like a potential threat.
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That means any outcome is a good outcome, because it yields new information.
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For all the care you put into artistry, visual polish frequently doesn’t matter if you are getting the story right.
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Success hides problems...you don't need to address problems.
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I’m not the first to say that failure, when approached properly, can be an opportunity for growth.
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His method for taking the measure of a room was saying something definitive and outrageous—“These charts are bullshit!” or “This deal is crap!”—and watching people react. If you were brave enough to come back at him, he often respected it—poking at you, then registering your response, was his way of deducing what you thought and whether you had the guts to champion it.
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But the truth is, I have no way of accounting for all of the factors involved in any given success, and whenever I learn more, I have to revise what I think. That’s not a weakness or a flaw. That’s reality.
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This principle eludes most people, but it is critical: You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.
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If you aren't experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it.
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We want people to feel like they can take steps to solve problems without asking permission.
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Ideas, though, are not singular. They are forged through tens of thousands of decisions, often made by dozens of people.
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The first principle was “Story Is King,” by which we meant that we would let nothing—not the technology, not the merchandising possibilities—get in the way of our story.
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When it comes to creative inspiration, job titles and hierarchy are meaningless.
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We are meaning-making creatures who read other people’s subtle clues just as they read ours.
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Countless times, I remember watching him toss ideas—pretty far-out ideas—into the air, just to see how they played. And if they didn’t play well, he would move on.
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Art isn't about drawing; it's about learning to see. What organization doesn't need this ability?