An excellent front page story by Claudia Eller on Pixar's Ed Catmull in today's L.A. Times (registration may be required). Couple of quotes from the article worth noting:
"Sometimes, it's the leadership that's blocking something," Catmull said in a recent interview in his new office at Disney, a place where animators have griped for decades about being micromanaged. "I've always believed that you shape the management team around the talent rather than try to force people into a certain way of doing it."Later in the piece Eller notes several of Catmull's managerial beliefs:
Ed believes that you should always hire people who are smarter than you.Ed believes that it's more important to invest in good people than good ideas.
Ed believes in a "talent-ocracy." If you make films for everybody, you need to listen to everybody's ideas, whether they come from a janitor or a storyboard artist.
Ed believes that you learn by making mistakes and that success often disguises problems.
Ed believes that magic happens when you don't operate out of fear.