Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull: A book review

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A tour de force work by creating, living, practicing and improvising a world class creative company culture at Pixar & Disney Animation group.

In particular, the practice has been honed for almost 25 years and additionally tested and successfully deployed inside iconic Disney Animation group. Not many people can claim this impressive repeat creative culture creation.

Any venture wishing to create a lasting creative culture must start with incredible constant self-awareness and absolute candor that begins with top leadership.

Creative culture practice is a marathon and not a sprint!

The most resonant theme expressed is candor at all time and all levels. One of the most misunderstood and ignored concept missing from many prior published works. Candor at all levels is the ability of all people at all levels of the organization having difficult and tough conversations to resolve hidden and unpredictable issues.

One memorable line is: if the hallway knows the truth and conference room does not then it reflects the lack of candor, where people are afraid to speak up without fear of retaliation.

In reading through Pixar quest to live a creative culture, it is very evident that Pixar practices the art of 'Design Thinking' in their particular way for every movie that Pixar has produced. For example, before any movie, the staff went to the actual location to do the 'research' which equates to Design Thinking's observe and empathize techniques.

One example given is, filmmakers of 'Nemo' went and visited dentists offices and then traversed the sewers to find out if fish can escape from dentists office sink to the ocean via sewers. Movies makers also became certified scuba divers to experience what it is like to navigate all the way from sewers to the ocean.

One of the surprises in the book is the last chapter about Steve Job's role at Pixar before its acquisition by Disney. It is the most touching and candid description of Steve Job's transformation to an excellent listener and his knack for giving constructive feedback during Pixar pre-release movie previews.

In fact, Steve's legendary product introductions were stories that people loved to buy iPod, iPhone, and iPad. I am sure he learned the art of storytelling from the master storytellers at Pixar.

This heart touching elucidation runs counter to all what his been written about Steve Jobs after his passing away. Ed Catmull's unique account comes from a close working relationship with Steve Jobs for over 20 years.

Finally, any company trying to navigate through the disruptive digital transformation should make this book a required reading for the entire organization, starting with top leadership.


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The Design of Business: Book Review

The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage by Roger L. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A must read for any leader & corporate boards who are challenged with growth in current times and need to transform their companies into a constantly innovating organization.

Very profound insights as to why the lost art and desire of pursuing the unknown to uncover unmet user needs in this age.

The good news is: the solution is in plain sight!

But it requires deep thinking and calculated risk taking to grow. When companies like CocaCola starts to practice the art, the magic happens.

For corporate managers who are happy milking the current status quo, this book can provide a path forward to grow constantly.

In essence, it requires a transformation in the mind of leaders (leaders themselves must become constant learner's).


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Playtix.com | Did the idea originate from Design Thinking application?

Plytix is an interesting company that is targeting the ability of brands to track their product performance above and beyond google analytics.

The question is what informal or formal did Design Thinking play in the founders discovery of the target customer and their idea?

Their press coverage is here

Company site

Hackathons Lack Design Thinking

The following article from FastCompany articulates some of the shortcomings of hackathons disguised as real innovation.

One added dimension is the lack of original Design Thinking application during the hackathons. Because there is not enough time to develop empathy with target customers.

I never saw any useful innovation come out of hackathons while driving internal innovation efforts for a large payments company.

In fact, saw many ideas that have been tried and discarded already because they did not resonate with the target customers.

Seems the real goal of hackathons within companies is to inject temporary excitement within the workforce that rapidly vanishes.

Continuous innovation culture requires company leadership commitment and resources.

FastCompany Article Here

Apply design thinking to your 2-5 year old's future

Most parents start fiscal planning for their child's future education by setting up college tuition savings fund.......Before you do that......listen to this interesting TED talk:

Building A Company Steve Job's style

This video documentary shows how Steve Job was building his NeXT computer (after leaving Apple). Notice how keeps saying 'let us build the company from our hearts'. There are other insights about how Steve Job's facilitated the company retreats and how he handled strong team members viewpoints.

7 Tips To Sharpen Your Creative Senses

Shattering the myth that creative people are born that way, you can learn to be creative in your own way. Creativity is all about breaking our daily patterns. All you have to do is to set your mind to it and practice some of the following tips:

1.       Learn to read, make a habit out of reading regularly. Start small: pick a book and aim to read one paragraph every night or early in the morning (before your start your work). If you have a really hard time picking up a book, then pick a book about a subject that you absolutely detest. Once you finish the book, you will learn one new thing that you did not know before!

2.      Read widely: Read outside of your area of expertise. In particular, read outside of your technology focus. Perhaps read about behavioral psychology (Book examples: Freakonomics or Black Swan). Why? Great ideas do not emerge from domain experts! Great creative ideas emerge when you connect different dots from wider fields!

3.      Break your daily patterns: If you wear a watch, switch wearing your watch on alternate wrists every day. If you carry a wallet, put the wallet in left or right pockets & switch every day. If you wear your employer badge on the left side, alternate to the right side every other day. This is not a recommended habit with your shoes (i.e. flipping your shoes: right shoe on the left foot & left shoe on the right foot), however. J

4.      Take a different route home at least once a week! Why? You will see different neighborhoods, hear different sounds, as well as different bill boards that will break your daily patterns and sharpen your creative senses.

5.      Learn to doodle & draw. Here is an excellent source www.napkinacademy.com (can’t beat the $39 / year to learn how to draw your creative thoughts). Or download Paper app on your iPad; you will be shocked to learn the ease of drawing & doodling!

6.      Actively volunteer to a non-profit cause. You will find many opportunities to learn and help the people who appreciate all what you will do for them. This is a fertile ground for lots of creativity in order to improve people’s lives.

7.      Take long walks amongst nature at least 2-3 times a month. Why? There are no two similar trees in nature; there are no two similar leaves in nature. Did you know that all great creative people take regular long walks amongst nature? (Read biographies of Newton, Graham Bell, Benjamin Franklin).

If you have your own habits, then please do share them by adding comments here.