At the time of this review, my daughter Bernadette is 4 years old. This means that for about the last 2 years solid, I have watched nothing other than Pixar Movies. I like to think that she thinks, I’m doing this for her, because I’m a good dad and I want her to be happy. But in reality, its because I love literally everything Pixar has ever done, period. I’m like the kind of fan boy that makes an extra few loops around the block when I have to go out to IKEA in Emeryville just to see if I can catch a glimpse of anything cool happening on the campus. I’m a Pixar creeper. I would not be surprised to learn that Pixar security has a photo of me in their kiosk, with the words NO, written in big red letters over it. So naturally when Creativity, Inc came out. I got it right away.
This book is inspiring to me as a designer in a lot of ways I wasn’t expecting. To start, it taps into a very self conscious part of myself that I try to avoid thinking about. Then it makes that nervous, unsure version of me feel ok and reminds me that all creative people feel that way, even the president of the greatest company in the world, Pixar. Creativity, Inc also makes it into my top ten because it’s so focused on the trouble the people of Pixar faced as the company was being formed. As an Industrial Designer, I am laser guided to problems and dedicated toward their discovery and solutions. Creativity, Inc gave me all I could ask for and more. It humanized the company and revealed that the people behind this outfit are the same as me. We are strapped with the idea that we are out of place, impostors in a world of god like creative geniuses. We try and fail over and over to get things right, then when things go south even further, we continue to push for more. This book taught me that when your feeling uncomfortable and out place, your likely on the right path. I learned to look out and look forward to this feeling as it was the sure fire way to know progress was being made.
Beyond the doom and gloom of success and failure I found this book enlightening in how it revealed that creativity is not something only available to “artists” but really anyone. From computer programmers, Gift shop cashiers to an HR manager, creativity is available and can be applied to better the organization.
Much of the book is about how to be a better creative manager. Below are a few notes I found along the way. There are tons more in the book and if you are a design manager of any sort I highly recommend you try the book on for size. As a freelancer, I am my own manager so many of the lessons available landed well in my own practice. Have a read and get in touch if you have found the book to be helpful in your own work.
“You need a great team to fix mediocre ideas”
“Never be convinced your right, its shuts down creative input from the team”
“Never downplay problems, sharing them is an act of inclusion”
