The key is to look at the viewpoints being offered, in any successful feedback group, as additive, not competitive.
The good stuff was hiding the bad stuff. I realized that this was something I needed to look out for: When downsides coexist with upsides, as they often do, people are reluctant to explore what’s bugg...
Steve had a remarkable knack for letting go of things that didn’t work. If you were in an argument with him, and you convinced him that you were right, he would instantly change his mind. He didn’t ho...
Some people make the mistake of thinking that they are being mindful because they are focusing diligently on problems. But if they are doing so while subconsciously bound up with their worries and exp...
Second, this was an idea championed by those at the highest levels of the company. Had the enormous task of making Notes Day a reality been shunted off on someone who didn’t have the clout to throw mu...
People join us with a set of expectations about what they think is important. They want to please, impress, and show their worth. They really don’t want to embarrass themselves by showing incomplete w...
Likewise, we trusted the process, but the process didn’t save Toy Story 2 either. Trust the Process had morphed into Assume that the Process Will Fix Things for Us. It gave us solace, which we felt we...
I’m a firm believer in the chaotic nature of the creative process needing to be chaotic. If we put too much structure on it, we will kill it. So there’s a fine balance between providing some structure...
It’s folly to think you can avoid change, no matter how much you might want to. But also, to my mind, you shouldn’t want to. There is no growth or success without change.
Instead, he favors being decisive, then forgiving yourself if your initial decision proves misguided.
If you’re sailing across the ocean and your goal is to avoid weather and waves, then why the hell are you sailing?
If one looks at creativity as a resource that we continually draw upon to make something from nothing, then our fear stems from the need to make the nonexistent come into being.
I remember going home at night, exhausted, feeling like I was balancing on the backs of a herd of horses—only some of the horses were thoroughbreds, some were completely wild, and some were ponies who...
I believe that no creative company should ever stop evolving, and this would be our latest attempt to avoid stagnation.
Engaging with exceptionally hard problems forces us to think differently.
Driving the train doesn't set its course. The real job is laying the track.
Do not fall for the illusion that by preventing errors, you won’t have errors to fix. The truth is, the cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them.
Alex Schure
A trained artist who sees a chair, then, is able to capture what the eye perceives (shape, color) before their recognizer function tells them what it is supposed to be.
A management team brought in by George to restructure Lucasfilm seemed concerned mostly with cash flow, and as time went on, they became openly skeptical that our division would ever attract a buyer....