Innovation Lessons from Pixar
s t r at e g y
april 2008
Innovation lessons from Pixar:
An interview with Oscar-winning director Brad Bird
What does stimulating the creativity of animators have in common with developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs? A lot.
Hayagreeva Rao, Robert Sutton, and Allen P. Webb
Article at a glance Pixar’s Brad Bird makes his living fostering creativity. In an interview, this director of two Academy Award-winning animated films (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) describes how he pushes teams of animators beyond their comfort zones, encourages dissent, and builds morale.
Bird’s experiences and anecdotes hold powerful lessons for executives in any organization seeking to nurture innovation.
If there’s one thing successful innovators have shown over the years, it’s that 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?
Senior executives looking for ideas about how to make their companies more innovative can also seek inspiration in surprising sources. Exhibit One: Brad Bird,
Pixar’s two-time Oscar-winning director. Bird’s hands-on approach to fostering creativity among animators holds powerful lessons for any executive hoping to nurture innovation in teams and organizations.
Bird joined Pixar in 2000, when the company was riding high following its release of the world’s first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story , and the subsequent hits
A Bug’s Life and Toy Story 2 . Concerned about complacency, senior executives
Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull, and John Lasseter asked Bird, whose body of work included
The Iron Giant and The Simpsons , to join the company and shake things up. The veteran of Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, and FOX delivered—winning Academy
Awards (best animated feature) for two groundbreaking movies, The Incredibles
and
april 2008
Innovation lessons from Pixar:
An interview with Oscar-winning director Brad Bird
What does stimulating the creativity of animators have in common with developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs? A lot.
Hayagreeva Rao, Robert Sutton, and Allen P. Webb
Article at a glance Pixar’s Brad Bird makes his living fostering creativity. In an interview, this director of two Academy Award-winning animated films (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) describes how he pushes teams of animators beyond their comfort zones, encourages dissent, and builds morale.
Bird’s experiences and anecdotes hold powerful lessons for executives in any organization seeking to nurture innovation.
If there’s one thing successful innovators have shown over the years, it’s that 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?
Senior executives looking for ideas about how to make their companies more innovative can also seek inspiration in surprising sources. Exhibit One: Brad Bird,
Pixar’s two-time Oscar-winning director. Bird’s hands-on approach to fostering creativity among animators holds powerful lessons for any executive hoping to nurture innovation in teams and organizations.
Bird joined Pixar in 2000, when the company was riding high following its release of the world’s first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story , and the subsequent hits
A Bug’s Life and Toy Story 2 . Concerned about complacency, senior executives
Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull, and John Lasseter asked Bird, whose body of work included
The Iron Giant and The Simpsons , to join the company and shake things up. The veteran of Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, and FOX delivered—winning Academy
Awards (best animated feature) for two groundbreaking movies, The Incredibles
and