http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Innovation_lessons_from_Pixar_An_interview_with_Oscar-winning_director_Brad_Bird_2127
Although stimulating the creativity of animators might seem very different from developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs, Bird’s anecdotes are powerful to stir the imagination of innovation-minded executives in any industry.These were some of his other creative insights from the interview-
Creativity and Innovation
Great ideas come from unexpected places. Who could have predicted that bicycle mechanics would develop the airplane or that the US Department of Defense would give rise to a freewheeling communications platform like the Internet. Seek inspiration in surprising sources.
Fear becoming complacent. Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull, and John Lasseter said, in effect, “The only thing we’re afraid of is complacency—feeling like we have it all figured out. We want you to come shake things up. We will give you a good argument if we think what you’re doing doesn’t make sense, but if you can convince us, we’ll do things a different way.”
Value failure. Bird joined Pixar after coming off a film that was a highly regarded financial failure. Yet, for a company that has had nothing but success, they invited him to "Go ahead, mess with our heads, shake it up". "I worked on a number of badly run productions and learned how not to make a film."
Provide room to experiment ideas - "the heads of Pixar gave us leave to try crazy ideas."
Be 'dirty' In order to do things differently, he had to shake the purist out of those who are things really well—"essentially frighten them into realizing I was ready to use quick and dirty “cheats” to get something on screen if they took too long to achieve it in the computer."
Embrace inequality. "Not all shots are created equal. Certain shots need to be perfect, others need to be very good, and there are some that only need to be good enough to not break the spell. "
Team Dynamics
Importance of pushing teams beyond their comfort zones, encouraging dissent, and building morale.
Get the "involved" for better innovation. Don't just go for the passionate folks; pick people who are involved and engaged- "what they have in common is a restless, probing nature: “I want to get to the problem. There’s something I want to do.” If you had thermal glasses, you could see heat coming off them."
Value of “black sheep”—restless contributors with unconventional ideas. When managed opined that the production of Incredibles would need 10 yr and US$500 million to shoot, he then built him team with "artists who are frustrated", "have another way of doing things that nobody’s listening to" and probably "headed out the door”. He noted "a lot of them were malcontents because they saw different ways of doing things, but there was little opportunity to try them, since the established way was working very, very well."
Synergise diversity. "... find a way to get them to put forth their creativity in a harmonious way. Otherwise, it’s like you have an orchestra where everybody’s playing their own music. Each individual piece might be beautiful, but together they’re crazy."
Innovation takes TIME to make and break, & vice versa. "By the end of the film, that animation team was much stronger than at the beginning, because we had all learned from each other’s strengths. But it took two months for people to feel safe enough to speak up."
Be transparent, even to conflicts. When project failed, instead of working with the individual teams(as previous directos had done), he brought them together and created magic "... we all have different strengths and weaknesses, but if we can interconnect all our strengths, we are collectively the greatest..Everyone will get humiliated and encouraged together. If there is a solution, I want everyone to hear the solution, so everyone adds it to their tool kit. .... if you see something different, go ahead and disagree. I don’t know all the answers.” "I saw directors systematically restricting people’s input and ignoring any effort to bring up problems. As a result, people didn’t feel invested in their work, and their productivity went down. " "..... but the money gets on the screen because we’re open in our conflict. Nothing is hidden."
Face challenges ...humbly. A staff said to Bird, “I want to know why you’re doing this.” Bird thought:" And there was a part of me that wanted to say, “Because I’m the director, that’s why. Do you want to take this problematic thing over?” After a pause, he explained his rationale. He noted that once he gave that answer, everyone felt, “OK, we’re on this ship and we’re going toward a definite destination.”
Work on the morale. "In my experience, the thing that has the most significant impact on a movie’s budget—but never shows up in a budget—is morale."
Reach for the impossible dream. "The first step in achieving the impossible is believing that the impossible can be achieved. ...You don’t play it safe—you do something that scares you, that’s at the edge of your capabilities, where you might fail. "
Encourage people to upgrade. Pixar calls thier optional classes “PU,” or Pixar University- to basically encourage people to learn outside of their areas, which makes them more complete. "Sometimes, people even move from one area to another."
Weed out the passive agressive people - people who don’t show their colors in the group but then get behind the scenes and peck away—are poisonous (toxicity in organisations)
Leadership
Innovative leaders are subversive. "I think the best leaders are somewhat subversive, because they see something a different way. "
Be open minded to change. "They(the old animators) were masters of the form, but they had the attitude of a student."
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