The Pixar Touch – The Making of a Company

I just finished reading The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company
, by David A. Price. This was an interesting book, starting with the history of Pixar (I had no idea Pixar was started about 30 years ago) and finishing with Pixar’s current state of success, shortly after the merger with Disney and just before launching Ratatouille.

One big theme in the book is conflict. Steve Jobs is obviously difficult at times and Disney, particularly Michael Eisner, proved to be just as difficult to work with. In the end, Jobs and Pixar definitely won, though Disney Animation was also saved in the process when Disney acquired Pixar. Surprisingly, this deal was also what made Steve Jobs a billionaire, not his involvement with Apple.

Not to imply Jobs was only a negative influence on Pixar. I’m quite amazed that he had the vision to see what Pixar could become and put his money at risk on what was at the time a completely unproven company in 1986 (though clearly Pixar was loaded with brilliant, creative people).

In my mind, John Lasseter emerged as the creative force most responsible for the amazing success of Pixar’s movies. What is even more interesting is that he was fired from Disney (where he was an animator) prior to his joining Pixar. Disney had a real problem seeing the future of animation and computers and couldn’t let go of it’s old 2D animation dogma until long after seeing Pixar’s success.

I read this book looking for business lessons, not because I’m a fan of Pixar (I’ve seen most of its movies but not all). This book is long on the history of Pixar, but maybe a little short on the business details. However, I thought one of the greatest business lessons found is the importance of having the ability to look outside your circle of expertise (where Disney animation was stuck for a long time) and see what is changing in the world around you (fast rate of technology growth changing the way animation would be done in the future).

I think the other key lesson to be learned from this book is to not let personal grudges get in the way of business. A lot of money was left on the table due to stubborness or personal vendettas. This was a problem for virtually all parties involved—clearly the ability to put these issues aside could provide a huge advantage in business.

Overall I enjoyed the book. If you are a fan of both technology and business (or just a Pixar junkie) you’ll definitely enjoy it.