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Pixar: Culture and Teamwork. Ivon Gutierrez ivon.gutierrez547@myci.csuci.edu April 21, 2014. What is it? Why it matters?. Culture: the character and personality of your organization. Culture is as important, if not more important, than your business strategy
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Pixar: Culture and Teamwork Ivon Gutierrez ivon.gutierrez547@myci.csuci.edu April 21, 2014
What is it? Why it matters? • Culture: the character and personality of your organization. • Culture is as important, if not more important, than your business strategy • Teamwork: the process of working collaboratively with a group of people in order to achieve a goal.
Creating a sense of culture at Pixar • Goal was making the first computer-graphics movie • Toy Story • Make sure everyone had a voice at Pixar & every job and employee was treated with respect • Reluctance provided by production managers
Continued…. • Spoke to artists and technical people who all said production managers impeded the filmmaking • Extra staff was hired but they did not speak their minds • Were reluctant to speak up, for the fear of being labeled as complainers
Creation of Braintrust • Group of people who display a knack for storytelling • Developed organically by the 5 men who led and edited the production of Toy Story • John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich & Joe Ranft • They gave a solid model of a highly functional working group
Purpose of Braintrust • They meet every few months to assess each movie they are making • The meeting is intended to bring the true causes of problems to the surface • It is up to the director to figure out how to address feedback provided
Key Points • Candor: the quality of being open and honest in expression; frankness. • Candor is only valuable if the person on the receiving end is open to it • They have created an environment where everyone wants to hear each others notes
Reference • Ed Catmull, "Building a sense of purpose at Pixar", McKinsey Quarterly, April 2014 (link) • Ed Catmull, "Inside the pixar braintrust," Fast Company, April 2014(link)
Two Multiple Choice Questions • Which of the following has to do with culture? • Values • Attitudes • Interactions • All of the above • What is the name of the group created by Pixar to help with the development of their films? • The Pixies • Braintrust • Candor Group • Pixar Directors Group
Answers: • 1. D • 2. B