“Imposing limits can encourage a creative response. Excellent work can emerge from uncomfortable or seemingly untenable circumstances.”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Confined Freedom
“Our job as managers in creative environments is to protect new ideas from those who don't understand that in order for greatness to emerge, there must be phases of not-so-greatness. Protect the future, not the past.”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Advocate, Guardian, Management
“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…”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Experimentation, Failure, Keep Moving, Wrong Is Right
“Which is more valuable, good ideas or good people? No matter whether I was talking to retired business executives or students, to high school principals or artists, when I asked for a show of hands , the audiences would be split 50-50. (Statisticians will tell you that when you get a perfect split l…”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Collective Thinking, Decisions, Hiring, Investing ideas, Where Ideas Come From
“There are many valid reasons why people aren't candid with one another in a work environment. Your job is to search for those reasons and then address them.”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Candid, Honest Communication, Management, Work Environment
“The truth is, as challenges emerge, mistakes will always be made, and our work is never done. We will always have problems, many of which are hidden from our view; we must work to uncover them and assess our own role in them, even if doing so means making ourselves uncomfortable; when we then come a…”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Never Done, Problems, Solution Is The Complex
“Negative feedback may be fun, but it is far less brave than endorsing something unproven and providing room for it to grow.”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Criticism, Feedback, Negative Viewpoints, Negativity, Room for Growth
“It is the responsibility of good leaders to make sure that words remain attached to the meanings and ideals they represent.”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Action, Leadership, Meaning, Theory and Practice
“There is nothing quite like ignorance combined with a driving need to succeed to force rapid learning.”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Ignorance, Learning Strategies, Network
“Most of us walk around thinking that our view is best— probably because it is the only one we really know. You'd think the fact that we all have major misunderstandings with people at times—squabbles over what was said or what was meant— would clue us in to the reality that so incredibly much is hid…”— Ed Catmull, amazon.comTagged: Creativity, Frames of Reference, Listening, Openness, Perspectivism