Ed Catmull Quotes

Powerful Ed Catmull for Daily Growth

About Ed Catmull

Edwin Catmull, born on March 19, 1945, is an American computer scientist, animator, and producer, renowned for his significant contributions to the field of computer graphics and co-founding Pixar Animation Studios. Raised in California, Catmull showed a keen interest in mathematics and science from an early age. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1967, where he developed an affinity for computer programming. His passion led him to join the Computer Science Department at the University of Utah, where he worked on the first wire-frame movie, "The Squeeze Toy" and helped create the 'Phong shading' algorithm for realistic surface rendering. In 1979, Catmull co-founded Pixar with Alvy Ray Smith and John Lasseter. The company initially focused on creating hardware for the graphics industry but later shifted to computer animation. Under his leadership as president, Pixar released several successful animated films, including "Toy Story" (1995), which was the first feature-length film made entirely with CGI. Catmull is also known for his work on humanizing technology through his focus on understanding and managing creativity within organizations. He is the author of two books: "Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration" (2014) and "The Story of Pixar Poster Collection" (1996). Catmull's influence extends beyond Pixar as he is a strong advocate for fostering creativity, innovation, and open communication within organizations. He continues to serve as a senior advisor at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. In 2018, Catmull was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Trump for his pioneering work in computer graphics and animation.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"It's not about being in your comfort zone, it's about expanding it."

The quote by Ed Catmull emphasizes that growth and development aren't about maintaining one's comfort but rather pushing beyond it. It suggests that personal evolution comes from stepping out of our familiar boundaries and venturing into new experiences, challenges, and learning opportunities. By consistently stretching ourselves, we expand our comfort zone, fostering personal growth, resilience, and adaptability.

"The biggest barrier to change is not the lack of good ideas but the lack of courage to act on them."

This quote by Ed Catmull highlights that fear or hesitancy, rather than a scarcity of innovative thoughts, often prevents progress. It suggests that while there may be plenty of great ideas floating around, it takes bravery to execute those ideas and bring about real change. This quote serves as a reminder for individuals and organizations alike to step out of their comfort zones, take risks, and pursue innovation courageously.

"If you give a good idea to a smart person, they'll run with it. If you give a mediocre idea to a genius, they'll either reject it or try to perfect it until it becomes unworkable."

Ed Catmull's quote suggests that individuals with exceptional intellectual capabilities may have higher standards for ideas, leading them to either dismiss average ideas as insufficient or refine them meticulously, potentially transforming them into complex and impractical solutions. This highlights the need for a balance between creativity and practicality in collaborative environments where innovation is key.

"The cost of being wrong when you're innovating is so much less than the cost of doing nothing."

This quote emphasizes that in an environment of innovation, taking calculated risks or making mistakes is more beneficial compared to not trying at all. The reasoning behind this is that the potential losses from failures (being wrong) are typically smaller than the opportunity costs associated with missing out on progress or growth by refusing to innovate (doing nothing). This perspective encourages a mindset that values experimentation, learning, and resilience over fear of failure in the pursuit of advancement and improvement.

"We treat creativity as if it belongs to special people we call 'creative.' In fact, creativity is a process, not a personality trait."

This quote by Ed Catmull suggests that creativity should not be viewed as an innate ability possessed only by a select few individuals referred to as 'creative'. Rather, it is a systematic process that can be cultivated and developed by anyone. In essence, he's stating that creativity is something we all have the potential to harness, not just a special group of people.

I can't look at 'WALL-E' or 'Finding Nemo' or 'Up' and look at in the same way as people outside of the company would look at it. Each one of them had angst.

- Ed Catmull

Them, Had, Each One, Angst

If you see a bad live action film, what are the conclusions you draw? Typically, it is that they made a bunch of mistakes, a bad script, wrong casting. You get into 2D, and you get a few films that are not strong films. And what is the conclusion? That it's 2D? I beg to differ. It's a convenient excuse, but it's just wrong.

- Ed Catmull

Strong, Bad, Beg, Action Film

When I see a film, I'll remember that there was a time when it wasn't working, and there was some pain and angst in order to get it to work.

- Ed Catmull

Work, Pain, Some, Angst

When companies are successful or not successful, they almost immediately jump to the wrong conclusions about how they got there or why they got there.

- Ed Catmull

Why, About, Almost, Conclusions

I worked closely with Steve Jobs for twenty-six years. To this day, for all that has been written about him, I don't believe that any of it comes close to capturing the man I knew.

- Ed Catmull

Been, Closely, Jobs, Capturing

Are the Simpsons cool? They are, and that is crude 2D animation.

- Ed Catmull

Cool, The Simpsons, Crude, Simpsons

At Pixar, we believe strongly that filmmakers should develop ideas they are passionate about. This may sound like a no-brainer, but in fact in Hollywood, the big movie studios have whole departments devoted to acquiring and developing projects that will only later be paired with a director-for-hire.

- Ed Catmull

Fact, Big, Hollywood, Big Movie

After Pixar's 2006 merger with the Walt Disney Company, its CEO, Bob Iger, asked me, chief creative officer John Lasseter, and other Pixar senior managers to help him revive Disney Animation Studios. The success of our efforts prompted me to share my thinking on how to build a sustainable creative organization.

- Ed Catmull

Other, Sustainable, Officer, Prompted

A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions, and criticisms. Our decision-making is better when we draw on the collective knowledge and unvarnished opinions of the group.

- Ed Catmull

Ideas, Feel, Hallmark, Group

Sometimes a leap of faith doesn't pan out.

- Ed Catmull

Sometimes, Leap Of Faith, Pan

If you put out 20 films, you hope that a number are successful. It's like human reproduction versus frog reproduction. Frogs produce thousands and hope a few succeed. Humans don't produce many babies but put a lot of energy into them, which is kind of where we are. They still don't always succeed, but you try a lot harder.

- Ed Catmull

Hope, Babies, Put, Versus

The Braintrust developed organically out of the rare working relationship among the five men who led and edited the production of 'Toy Story' - John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, and Joe Ranft.

- Ed Catmull

Production, Joe, Led, Organically

My best advice came by examples. A supportive environment at home, school, and grad school. Support at the New York Institute of Technology, then George Lucas, Steve Jobs, and Bob Iger. The examples meant that I should support other people, even when things aren't going well. It will pay off.

- Ed Catmull

Other, Supportive, Lucas, None

The skill of a good creative leader is being comfortable with blowing up an idea and knowing it will get better.

- Ed Catmull

Leader, Will, Idea, Blowing

A movie contains literally tens of thousands of ideas. They're in the form of every sentence; in the performance of each line; in the design of characters, sets, and backgrounds; in the locations of the camera; in the colors, the lighting, the pacing.

- Ed Catmull

Movie, Sentence, Tens, Pacing

One of Pixar's key mechanisms is the Braintrust, which we rely on to push us toward excellence and to root out mediocrity. It is our primary delivery system for straight talk.

- Ed Catmull

Excellence, Delivery, Which, Primary

Candor is the key to collaborating effectively. Lack of candor leads to dysfunctional environments.

- Ed Catmull

Dysfunctional, Effectively, Candor

We'll fund a project even if I'm skeptical because I'd rather be proven wrong by somebody on the inside than by somebody on the outside.

- Ed Catmull

Project, Rather, Proven, Skeptical

In the early 1970s, I headed to graduate school at the University of Utah and joined the pioneering program in computer graphics because I realized that's where I could combine my interests in art and computer science.

- Ed Catmull

University, Pioneering, Graduate School

If something works, you shouldn't do it again. We want to do something that is new, original - something where there's a good chance of failure.

- Ed Catmull

New, Original, Works, Good Chance

I've really thought a lot about why other companies fail or succeed. I had to be a student of failure and find out why things went off the rails. I did that at a fairly deep level, and it's still something I do.

- Ed Catmull

Deep, Thought, Other, Rails

In life,you're going to have risk, so you have to say, 'My attitude going forward is how to I fix the problem.' And it's not trying to cling onto the past. When I look around, most problems happen because people are trying to cling onto the past.

- Ed Catmull

Problem, How, Around, Cling

When it comes to producing breakthroughs, both technological and artistic, Pixar's track record is unique. In the early 1990s, we were known as the leading technological pioneer in the field of computer animation.

- Ed Catmull

Leading, Artistic, Pixar, 1990s

I apply the term 'creativity' broadly... it's problem solving. We are all faced with problems, and we have to address them and think of something new, and that's where creativity comes in.

- Ed Catmull

Think, New, Solving, Faced

If you're a director presenting a new idea, and the person who can judge whether or not it goes ahead is in the room, that makes you somewhat defensive.

- Ed Catmull

New, Director, New Idea, Defensive

One term that's used in this industry a lot is this notion of 'feeding the beast.' You've got all of these people whose livelihoods are dependent on it. There are enormous pressures to keep material going into it, and the pressures to feed it are not irrational. They're the basis of your business.

- Ed Catmull

Beast, Used, Industry, Pressures

We need business leaders who have a respect for technical issues even if they don't have technical backgrounds. In a lot of U.S. industries, including cars and even computers, many managers don't think of technology as a core competency, and this attitude leads them to farm out technical issues.

- Ed Catmull

Leaders, Issues, Technical, Industries

The problem is some of our riskier films just don't make as much money. But if you only make films that will just be commercially successful, then you can also sink yourself as a studio.

- Ed Catmull

Some, Studio, Films, As Much Money

One reason for keeping Disney animation separate from Pixar was that by solving their own problems when they finished a film, Disney could say, 'Nobody bailed us out; we did it.' And it's a very important social thing for them to do that.

- Ed Catmull

Reason, Very, Solving, Animation

For me, one of the great tragedies is the conclusion studios have drawn about traditional animation. I believe that 2D animation could be just as vital as it ever was. I think the problem has been with the stories.

- Ed Catmull

Think, Been, I Think, Animation

I don't think most of our films should be realistic, but you want that as an artistic possibility. Then, the artist can take the realism of the world and push it in ways that we can connect with.

- Ed Catmull

Think, Artist, Films, Possibility

Outsourcing, in and of itself, isn't responsible for the erosion of America's high tech infrastructure. The short-term thinking that led to a lot of bad outsourcing decisions is the root cause. And short-term thinking isn't a problem confined to the executive suite. It's a problem in Washington and in our society as a whole.

- Ed Catmull

Bad, Cause, Confined, Outsourcing

I liked the first 'Kung Fu Panda.'

- Ed Catmull

First, Kung Fu, Liked, Kung

Programmers are very creative people. And animators are problem solvers, just as programmers are.

- Ed Catmull

Problem, Very, Animators, Programmers

I did like 'Despicable Me.' I thought it was quite good.

- Ed Catmull

Me, Thought, Like, Despicable

We have to evolve, we have to change, and in order to do that, we have to initiate the change.

- Ed Catmull

Change, Evolve, Initiate, Order

When I was in high school in the early 1960s, I wanted to be an animator and even took art classes. But by the time I was in college, I realized I couldn't draw well enough.

- Ed Catmull

College, By The Time, Took, Well Enough

When I was young, it was television that was taking off, and so you had people worried that people were spending too much time watching television.

- Ed Catmull

Television, Young, Had, Worried

Creative ideas aren't like Jenga blocks, where they fall apart and you've got to start from scratch, though it can feel that way.

- Ed Catmull

Like, Though, Blocks, Apart

What happened in the early days of Disney is that Walt Disney used all of the new technologies as they came out. When matting came out, they adopted it. They adopted sound and color and xerography. Walt did that. And then, when he died, people began to think that this is just about making films, so they stopped bringing in new technologies.

- Ed Catmull

Color, Sound, Early Days, Adopted

The trick is, in everything we do, there are things we love. And sometimes the things we love get us stuck. And it's only if we let go of some of those things that we free the movie up to become greater.

- Ed Catmull

Love, Some, Movie, Let Go

I know that with most companies that have a lot of success, it tends to throw you off, and you can become more conservative. One of our questions is, How do we keep from being pulled into conservatism because we're afraid of not being successful again?

- Ed Catmull

Questions, Conservative, Our, Tends

Communication needs to be between anybody at any time, which means it needs to happen out of the structure and out of order.

- Ed Catmull

Needs, Which, Means, Structure

Every one of our films, when we start off, they suck... our job is to take it from something that sucks to something that doesn't suck. That's the hard part.

- Ed Catmull

Sucks, Part, Films, Suck

The need to challenge the status quo is just more obvious when you're failing than when you're succeeding. But it's no less urgent.

- Ed Catmull

More, Need, Quo, Status Quo

I love solving the problems of having groups work together and removing barriers. But to actually turn around and be in the center of that is an awkward place to be.

- Ed Catmull

Love, Solving, Having, Work Together

We encourage our people to build their ideas from scratch, and we give them the resources - and, crucially, the candid feedback - that are required to transform the first wisps of a story into a truly compelling film.

- Ed Catmull

Compelling, Our, Required, Candid

Pixar is a community in the true sense of the word. We think that lasting relationships matter, and we share some basic beliefs: Talent is rare.

- Ed Catmull

Think, Sense, Some, Basic

We have a whole industry which is gigantic: games. Games is very successful. It's its own art form, though, and it's not the same as a linear narrative.

- Ed Catmull

Art, Very, Which, Art Form

It doesn't even matter how successful a movie like 'Up' is: you'll never sell a lot of toy walkers. But that's the way we spread out the risk.

- Ed Catmull

Movie, Like, Sell, Successful

Look at the computer industry. I've watched a lot of companies come and go, some that were right at the pinnacle of their success.

- Ed Catmull

Go, Some, Industry, Pinnacle

Linear narrative is an artfully-directed telling of a story, where the lighting and the sound is all for a very clear purpose. You're not just wandering around in the world.

- Ed Catmull

Very, Telling, Linear, Lighting

I started off life at Pixar with interesting technical problems. But as time has moved on, I found that the social and management problem was far more complex and interesting.

- Ed Catmull

More, Social, Technical, Moved On

As I look back on my career, I had a goal, which was to build the first feature computer-animated film.

- Ed Catmull

Goal, Career, Which, Feature

At heart, we believe that the films that work well are the films that do touch people emotionally.

- Ed Catmull

Work, Films, Touch People, Emotionally

I actually feel awkward being at the center of attention.

- Ed Catmull

Feel, Center, Actually, Awkward

Everything's interconnected. That's the way life is.

- Ed Catmull

Everything, Interconnected, Way Life

Technical understanding should be a core competency of any company.

- Ed Catmull

Should, Technical, Core

Virtual reality's been around for 40 years. People have been talking about storytelling in that world for all these years, and there have been experiments around of people trying to do that, and always excited about it.

- Ed Catmull

Always, Been, Virtual, Experiments

The desire to avoid meltdowns actually is one of the things that screws up live-action films.

- Ed Catmull

Desire, Actually, Films, Avoid

Encourage people to mingle, meet, and communicate.

- Ed Catmull

Meet, Communicate, Encourage, Mingle

Lucasfilm has always had an openness to technology.

- Ed Catmull

Technology, Always, Had, Openness

Believe me, sequels are just as hard to make as original films.

- Ed Catmull

Me, Original, Films, Sequels

The Pixar name means more than any other name. It's very important to us to keep that name at a high level.

- Ed Catmull

Very, Means, High Level, Pixar

It is only by trying new things that we can hope to create products that are original. Don't just say those words; act like you believe them.

- Ed Catmull

New Things, New, Original, Products

It is not the manager's job to prevent risks. It is the manager's job to make it safe to take them.

- Ed Catmull

Risks, Prevent, Take, Manager

With every one of our films, we try to touch emotions, but we don't try to touch the same emotions each time.

- Ed Catmull

Emotions, Same, Films, Each Time

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