Fast Company has an excerpt of Ed Catmull’s new book Creativity Inc. In the excerpt, the head of Pixar and Disney Animation discusses establishing the Disney “brain trust”
Now, prior to the acquisition being finally approved, we were not allowed to fundamentally alter their business. But we did have a group of Disney people come up here [to Pixar headquarters] and watch a Braintrust meeting. They couldn’t say anything or give notes; they just observed. The next day we all got on a plane, including the Pixar Braintrust, and went down to Disney, where they had their own–and their very first–Braintrust meeting, where our guys couldn’t talk. This was right at the end of Meet the Robinsons, which had started long before we got there. That day, according to their producer, they gave the best notes they’ve ever given. Just observing our Braintrust in action had freed them up somewhat.
Creativity Inc. is available through iBooks and Amazon.