#210: Ed Catmull – Marvelous Moments

Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

Today our guest is Ed Catmull. Ed is the co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios (along with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) and former president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation. He has received five Academy Awards, and his work as a computer scientist has contributed to groundbreaking developments in computer graphics. As if all that weren’t enough, Ed is also the author of the New York Times best-selling book, Creativity Inc.

His list of accomplishments is long and are enough to fill more than one lifetime. But I have asked Ed here today to talk about something else, I want to talk people. As with so many other projects in his storied career, Ed has developed an incredible approach to managing people. Throughout the span of his career, he has made it possible for people to do their best work. He's made it possible for people to disrupt themselves and when they get to the top of that S curve, to keep climbing.

In this episode we discuss how Ed developed his unique approach to management. We learn how he stuck to his recipe in the midst of mergers, leaks and when the team accidentally deleted a year’s worth of work on what would eventually become a blockbuster animated film (you will have to listen to learn which one!).

For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit:

https://whitneyjohnson.com/ed-catmull/