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

Finally, we have learned that shorts are a relatively inexpensive way to screw up.

Alan Kay—Apple’s chief scientist and the man who introduced me to Steve Jobs—expressed it well when he said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

It isn’t enough merely to be open to ideas from others. Engaging the collective brainpower of the people you work with is an active, ongoing process. As a manager, you must coax ideas out of your staff and constantly push them to contribute.

Pixar was a place that gave artists running room, that gave directors control, that trusted its people to solve problems.

To be a truly creative company, you must start things that might fail.

It took a serious and unexpected problem to give me a new sense of mission.

Do not accidentally make stability a goal. Balance is more important than stability.

Being on the lookout for problems, I realized, was not the same as seeing problems. This would be the idea—the challenge—around which I would build my new sense of purpose.

What does it mean to manage well?