Quotes from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Failure isn’t a necessary evil. In fact, it isn’t evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Don’t wait for things to be perfect before you share them with others. Show early and show often. It’ll be pretty when we get there, but it won’t be pretty along the way.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“If you aren’t experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Getting the right people and the right chemistry is more important than getting the right idea.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“I believe the best managers acknowledge and make room for what they do not know—not just because humility is a virtue but because until one adopts that mindset, the most striking breakthroughs cannot occur. I believe that managers must loosen the controls, not tighten them. They must accept risk; they must trust the people they work with and strive to clear the path for them; and always, they must pay attention to and engage with anything that creates fear. Moreover, successful leaders embrace the reality that their models may be wrong or incomplete. Only when we admit what we don’t know can we ever hope to learn it.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“When it comes to creative inspiration, job titles and hierarchy are meaningless.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“When faced with a challenge, get smarter.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Fear can be created quickly; trust can’t.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Craft is what we are expected to know; art is the unexpected use of our craft.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“What is the point of hiring smart people, we asked, if you don’t empower them to fix what’s broken?”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“For many people, changing course is also a sign of weakness, tantamount to admitting that you don’t know what you are doing. This strikes me as particularly bizarre—personally, I think the person who can’t change his or her mind is dangerous. Steve Jobs was known for changing his mind instantly in the light of new facts, and I don’t know anyone who thought he was weak.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“You don’t have to ask permission to take responsibility.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Always take a chance on better, even if it seems threatening.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Making the process better, easier, and cheaper is an important aspiration, something we continually work on—but it is not the goal. Making something great is the goal.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“You’ll never stumble upon the unexpected if you stick only to the familiar.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“The future is not a destination - it is a direction.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“What makes Pixar special is that we acknowledge we will always have problems, many of them hidden from our view; that we work hard to uncover these problems, even if doing so means making ourselves uncomfortable; and that, when we come across a problem, we marshal all of our energies to solve it. This, more than any elaborate party or turreted workstation, is why I love coming to work in the morning. It is what motivates me and gives me a definite sense of mission.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“But I should caution that if you seek to plot out all your moves before you make them—if you put your faith in slow, deliberative planning in the hopes it will spare you failure down the line—well, you’re deluding yourself. For one thing, it’s easier to plan derivative work—things that copy or repeat something already out there. So if your primary goal is to have a fully worked out, set-in-stone plan, you are only upping your chances of being unoriginal.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“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 companies’ futures. The truth is, it’s not. Driving the train doesn’t set its course. The real job is laying the track.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Be patient. Be authentic. And be consistent. The trust will come.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“it is not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It is the manager’s job to make it safe to take them.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“Quality is the best business plan.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“We must remember that failure gives us chances to grow, and we ignore those chances at our own peril.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“By ignoring my fear, I learned that the fear was groundless. Over the years, I have met people who took what seemed the safer path and were the lesser for it...I had taken a risk, and that risk yielded that greatest reward...Always take a chance on better, even if it seems threatening.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“I tend to flood and freeze up if I’m feeling overwhelmed. When this happens, it’s usually because I feel like the world is crashing down and all is lost. One trick I’ve learned is to force myself to make a list of what’s actually wrong. Usually, soon into making the list, I find I can group most of the issues into two or three larger all-encompassing problems. So it’s really not all that bad. Having a finite list of problems is much better than having an illogical feeling that everything is wrong.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“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 identify those impediments and fix them.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“We want people to feel like they can take steps to solve problems without asking permission.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

“THERE IS NOTHING quite like ignorance combined with a driving need to succeed to force rapid learning.”
― Ed Catmull, quote from Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

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Popular quotes

“I find it comforting,” Bell said. “It reminds me of the womb. They say we don’t remember what it is like to be there, but I don’t believe that. I think deep inside we always know. It’s why children burrow under blankets and cats push their heads into your elbow when they sit beside you. I’ve not had those experiences myself, but I know why they happen. I’ve been told my liminal space is like the dark of the grave. But I think of it as the dark from the other end of life entirely. The dark of everything ahead, not everything behind.”
― John Scalzi, quote from Lock In

“Ram, taken by surprise at what was happening, rushed to stop his wife, hold her hand and pull her out, but the earth had closed before he could reach her. All that he could clutch were the ends of her hair that turned into blades of grass. Would the pain have been less had she chastised him before she left? Would the pain have been less had they at least spoken before she left? Would the pain have been less had she at least looked at him before she left? But then she was under no obligation. He had liberated her long ago from the burden of being Ram’s wife. But he would always be Sita’s husband.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, quote from Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana

“I also took up smoking Marlboro Reds and model-scowling at everyone to ensure that I would have no unwanted interactions. It worked, thank God.”
― quote from White Girl Problems

“Pragmatist William James put the matter with characteristic realism: Atheists are like people who live on a frozen lake surrounded by cliffs that offer no means of escape. They know that the ice is melting and the inevitable day is coming when they must plunge ignominiously into the water. This prospect is as meaningless as it is horrifying. The Christian too must endure the chill and the inevitability of death, but his faith enables him to endure them much better. When it comes to suffering, James writes, “Religion makes easy and felicitous what is in any case necessary.” When it comes to death, he adds, Christianity offers at least the prospect of the afterlife and the chance of salvation. “No fact in human nature is more characteristic than its willingness to live on a chance. The existence of chance makes the difference . . . between a life of which the keynote is resignation and a life of which the keynote is hope.”7”
― Dinesh D'Souza, quote from What's So Great About Christianity

“I mean, what are you going to do to him for shooting your dog?” “I will do nothing. I won’t hurt my brother. He acted like a child. He did a bad thing. But he is drunk and his head is not working well. He should not have hurt my dog. It is like my child.” Even when provoked, as Kaaboogí was now, the Pirahãs were able to respond with patience, love, and understanding, in ways rarely matched in any other culture I have encountered.”
― Daniel L. Everett, quote from Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle

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