Any successful feedback system is built on empathy, on the idea that we are all in this together,
A conversation with him took you places you didn’t expect. It forced you not just to defend but also to engage. And that in itself, I came to believe, had value.
You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged. To set up a healthy feedback system, you must remove power dynamics from the equ...
Yet randomness remains stubbornly difficult to understand. The problem is that our brains aren’t wired to think about it. Instead, we are built to look for patterns in sights, sounds, interactions, an...
When I advocate for protecting the new, then, I am using the word somewhat differently. I am saying that when someone hatches an original idea, it may be ungainly and poorly defined, but it is also th...
What interests me is the number of people who believe that they have the ability to drive the train and who think that this is the power position—that driving the train is the way to shape their compa...
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 ide...
We had learned long ago that while everyone appreciates cash bonuses, they value something else almost as much: being looked in the eye by someone they respect and told, Thank you.
We are striving to tell you something impactful and true. When attempting to make good on that promise, no detail is too small.
Tom nudged them along, sending this hypothetical prompt to anyone who asked: The year is 2017. Both of this year’s films were completed in well under 18,500 person-weeks …. What innovations helped the...
Third, and relatedly, Notes Day was led from within. Many companies hire outside consulting firms to organize their all-staff retreats, and I understand why: Doing them well is a monumental, enormousl...
The way I see it, my job as a manager is to create a fertile environment, keep it healthy, and watch for the things that undermine it. I believe, to my core, that everybody has the potential to be cre...
The story has been told and retold about how, as a young filmmaker, in the wake of American Graffiti’s success, he was advised to demand a higher salary on his next movie, Star Wars. That would be the...
The oversight group had been put in place without anyone asking a fundamental question: How do we enable our people to solve problems? Instead, they asked: How do we prevent our people from screwing u...
The definition of superb animation is that each character on the screen makes you believe it is a thinking being. Whether it’s a T-Rex or a slinky dog or a desk lamp, if viewers sense not just movemen...
Rather than trying to prevent all errors, we should assume, as is almost always the case, that our people’s intentions are good and that they want to solve problems. Give them responsibility, let the...
Quality is the best business plan.
People who take on complicated creative projects become lost at some point in the process.
No lo puedo evitar, pero de todas las películas de Pixar uno de mis momentos favoritos es aquel en que Anton Ego, el hastiado y temido crítico gastronómico de Ratatouille, entrega su reseña del Gustea...
I’m not the first to say that failure, when approached properly, can be an opportunity for growth.