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This book has 10 recommendations
Mark Zuckerberg (CEO/Facebook)
This book is written by the founder of Pixar and is about his experience building a culture that fosters creativity.
His theory is that people are fundamentally creative, but many forces stand in the way of people being able to do their best work.
I love reading first-hand accounts about how people build great companies like Pixar and nurture innovation and creativity. This should be inspiring to anyone looking to do the same, and hopefully there will be lessons we can apply to connecting the world!
Gunhee Park (Co-Founder/Populum)
Some other books I’ve really enjoyed: Creativity, Inc. [...]Bogdan Iordache (Co-Founder/How to Web and TechHub Bucharest)
Creativity, Inc. - I know it's a classical book, but I just got to read it.Kevin Lamping (Founder/WebdriverIO)
I've read many, many great business books out there; each building upon the others to provide a valuable sense of direction.
If I had to pick one to recommend above all overs, it would have to be Creativity, Inc.
Not only is it an engaging story about the cherished Animated Movie studio, it holds several valuable lessons about creativity in the workplace, and the natural human tendencies that squash that creativity.
What makes Pixar special is that we acknowledge we will always have problems, many of them hidden from our view; that we work hard to uncover these problems, even if doing so means making ourselves uncomfortable; and that, when we come across a problem, we marshal all of our energies to solve it.
Even if you have no interest in management, this book holds valuable lessons in understanding how creative teams work together and how important critical feedback is in producing great works.
Audrey Russo (President & CEO/Pittsburgh Technology Council)
Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path?
Answer:
- Anything by Peter Senge.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
- Once you are Lucky, Twice you are good – Sara Lacey
- Revolutionary Wealth – Alvin Toffler
- Black Swan – Taleb
- Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, by Ellen Pao.
- Creative Class – Richard Florida
- Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
- American Government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, Everything You Need to Know About US Politics – Kathleen Spears
- The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
- Any book by Herman Hesse
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
Marin Gerov (Co-Founder/DULO)
As for a non-fiction/business book I would say Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull. It is a great look inside the mind of one of the founders of Pixar, but also a great case study on how to deliver blockbuster success time and time again.Benjamin Humphrey (CEO & Co-Founder/DoveTail)
This book gives a fascinating insight into how Pixar works, and a lot of what they do to create amazing movies is highly relevant to designing and building great products. It's been a while since I read it, but it's full of useful and practical examples to boost creativity and problem solving in teams.Anop Anthony (CTO & Co-Founder/Sapaad)
Creativity Inc, narrated by Pixar's co-founder Ed Catmull, documents the meteoric rise of Pixar from its humble roots as a technology company to the movie studio powerhouse it is today. The book offers a treasure of insights to anyone running a business that involves creative production of any kind. Ed talks about crucial strategies used by Pixar — the idea that every person in an organization is accountable for quality, that creative freedom and exploration are instrumental to building great products, that failure early in the process is not just acceptable but also to be encouraged, and many others.Brene Brown (Author & Researcher)
I opened this book seeking answers about the relationships between creativity, vulnerability, and courage. I didn't expect it to profoundly change the way I work. This is one of the most important leadership books of our time.Tim Ferriss (Author & Entrepreneur)
No matter your circumstances, storytelling and creativity are two 'meta-skills' that can take your business and life to the next level. Ed is a master.This book is part of our collection:
– Entrepreneur Biographies
Amazon description
As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the world’s first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream first as a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, where many computer science pioneers got their start, and then forged an early partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later and against all odds, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever.
Since then, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner twenty-seven Academy Awards. The joyousness of the storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Now, in this book, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques, honed over years, that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable.
Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new heights, a manual for anyone who strives for originality, and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation Studios—into the story meetings, the postmortems, and the ‘Braintrust’ sessions where art is born. It is, at heart, a book about how to build and sustain a creative culture—but it is also, as Pixar co-founder and president Ed Catmull writes, ‘an expression of the ideas that I believe make the best in us possible.’
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See more books recommended by
Mark Zuckerberg, Gunhee Park, Bogdan Iordache, Kevin Lamping, Audrey Russo, Marin Gerov, Benjamin Humphrey, Anop Anthony, Brene Brown, Tim Ferriss
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Sources
- 23 Book Recommendations from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
- Gunhee Park (Populum co-founder) interview
- Bogdan Iordache's best books read in 2017
- Kevin Lamping, Founder of WebdriverIO, on How Books Can Create Change
- Audrey Russo, President & CEO of Pittsburgh Technology Council, Has an Active Reading List of 20 Books at a Time
- Marin Gerov, Co-Founder of DULO, Learned at Least One Valuable Lesson from Each Book Read
- Benjamin Humphrey, CEO & Co-Founder of DoveTail, Shares His Most Inspiring Business-Books
- Anoop Anthony, CTO & Co-Founder of Sapaad, Shares His Remarkable Love for Books
- Brene Brown's 6 favorite books that inspire bravery
- 10 Books Tim Ferriss Thinks Every Entrepreneur Should Read