Bill is in the running (Top 5) to win "Best Speaker/Management," an annual contest conducted by a prominent speakers bureau, Speakings Platform. If you'd like to vote for him, you can do so at:
http://www.speaking.com/top5.php. If he wins, he gets special perks and great placement on their website.
Every little bit helps! THANK YOU!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
INNOVATE THE PIXAR WAY - INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHORS
'Innovate the Pixar Way' — West Olive is home to business consultants, authors of new book
By BEN BEVERSLUIS
The Holland Sentinel
Posted Nov 28, 2009 @ 08:15 PM
Ottawa County, MI —
First came The Disney Way, Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company, a Fortune Magazine Best Business Book of 1999.
Now Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson are the authors of Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground, released Friday.
The two are spreading Pixar’s West Coast message across the United States from our very own West Coast of Michigan. They live and write in West Olive. And in April, their book will be featured as the keynote business presentation for the Holland Area Arts Council.
Below, they talk with The Sentinel about themselves, their book and business in West Michigan.
Question: You have a national presence in the business world, but live in West Michigan. Tell a little about yourselves — who you are, what you do and, mostly, how in the world you ended up here?
A: Bill — I grew up in the Chicago area and earned degrees in economics and mathematics from Illinois State University. I spent five years in the insurance industry and over 30 years in management consulting. From 1981 to 1984, I consulted for Sealed Power (now SPX) in Muskegon. During that time, I was living at the Spring Lake Holiday Inn five days a week, and fell in love with the area. Lynn and I met when, as members of the faculty of the University of Southern Indiana, we launched their business consulting initiative. At that time, we began teaching The Disney Way principles to an international client base. In 1993, we formed Capodagli Jackson Consulting. In 1995, when we began to write The Disney Way, we searched for a tranquil getaway to do our writing. Bill brought Lynn back to West Michigan to witness firsthand the beauty and peacefulness of the area, and she was instantly captivated. That year, we purchased our home on the lake in West Olive.
Q: Which Pixar characters are each of you?
A: Bill — Doc from Cars; Lynn — Sally from Cars They both embraced an environment of mutual respect and trust at Radiator Springs.
Q: You earned a national spotlight with the 1999 best-seller The Disney Way. How did that book change your lives?
A: Prior the writing The Disney Way, we helped clients create collaborative, customer-centric, innovative cultures. We would work with executives and teams over a period of two to four years to help them transform their organizations. After the success of the book, our business shifted from 10 percent speaking engagements and 90 percent long-term consulting engagements to 90 percent speaking engagements and 10 percent consulting. Our speaking engagements vary from 30-minute keynote presentations to three-day seminars on leadership, customer service and innovation.
Q: The Disney Way, now Innovate the Pixar Way. Sounds kind of “left coast.” And yet your roots are firmly planted here in the Midwest. Talk about any difficulties — or advantages — of that perspective.
A: One of our discoveries during our vast international team development experience is that the shared values of people from different nations greatly outweigh their differences. Similarly, we have found through working with teams from all around the U.S. that they have more in common than the stereotypic perception would lead you to believe. It makes no difference whether a person is from India or Brazil or Los Angeles or Holland, Michigan, all human beings want to be respected, trusted and their ideas valued.
Q: The world already has untold numbers of business advice books. Why another one? What’s new under the sun?
A: Ask any child to talk about Woody and Buzz Lightyear, Nemo or Lightning McQueen, and you will believe you’re hearing a story about a trusted friend. These characters were born in the corporate playground known as Pixar. Today, any organization has two choices … they can either provide boring, unimaginative products and services that any of their competitors can copy, or they can create 3D Technicolor, innovative, magical experiences for their customers that only they can provide. And what better example than Pixar, with 10 blockbuster hits in a row grossing well over $5 billion and costing a little over $1 billion to make? Innovate the Pixar Way brings to life how Pixar has established a culture that breeds innovation. Innovation does not come from a miraculous revelation on the road to Damascus. It comes from habitual, non-stop, Pixar-style collaboration!
Q: You don’t have to give away the whole book for free, but tease us with a few of your favorite lessons from Pixar.
A: There are 13 chapters in the book and an appendix highlighting six other “corporate playgrounds.” The book is filled with Pixarian ideas. Here are five ideas you can put to use immediately:
• Begin with the story. Don’t just rework your old and boring product or service — destroy, demolish, eradicate it! Then, once you have totally wiped out the old, think like a director of a play and visualize the major pieces of the production. It all begins with the story that emotionally connects you and your product with your customer.
• Instill mutual respect and trust. Pixar cofounder Alvy Ray Smith told us, “If you are going to have really talented people, it is important to have mutual respect and dignity across organizational lines.”
• Make work fun. Pixar director Andrew Stanton has great advice for preventing emotional burnout. “Laugh hard, twice daily.” Fun is a key element in creating an innovative environment.
• Collaborate. Collaboration at Pixar means bringing together the skills, ideas and personality styles of an entire team to achieve a shared vision.
• Quality is the best business plan. This is the mantra of John Lasseter. Never compromise quality… you do, you’re dead in the water.
Q: Sure, the movie business needs innovation. But how does it apply to making seat liners — or newspapers, for that matter?
A: Innovation is critical to every business. Did you ever wonder why it took so long for the fast-food hamburger business, started by White Castle back in 1912, to become such a staple of the American way of life? It took a creative visionary like Ray Kroc, who was influenced by another visionary — Henry Ford and his assembly line production innovations. Likewise, the discount department store has been around for more than a century; Woolworth dime stores date back to 1879. Again, it took creative visionaries like Sam Walton and West Michigan’s own Fred Meijer to revolutionize the one-stop shopping experience. Creativity abounds in all organizations — they simply have to unleash it.
Q: West Michigan industry was built on some significant innovation: Steelcase, way back when, Herman Miller, Haworth, BuhlerPrince. What are your thoughts about them and how they’re doing?
A: For the second consecutive year, Herman Miller has the distinct honor of being named to Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Places to Work For. They are one of three Michigan-based companies to appear on the list and the only representative from the office furniture industry. Brian Walker, Herman Miller president and CEO, endorsed Innovate the Pixar Way. Herman Miller’s culture is like Pixar is many ways - collaborative, risk-taking, great employee spirit and a dedication to quality no matter what.
Lynn: As a board member of the Holland Area Arts Council, I have been so fortunate to be part of a network of many of the most innovative leaders and champions of the arts in our community. Although it’s clear that most local organizations have been seriously affected by the economic turndown, our hope is that these innovative leaders will be well positioned to grow when we emerge from this uncertain business cycle.
Q: We hear from the governor, from MEDC, from Lakeshore Advantage that innovation is badly needed for Michigan’s future. No secret there. What do you see for West Michigan’s future, “to infinity and beyond?” Any bright spots?
A: We believe that innovation needs to be stimulated at the grass roots level — innovation comes from collaboration within organizations, not from government stimulus. For example, Lee Iacocca took over as chairman of Chrysler in 1978 and orchestrated a government $1.5 billion loan. However, he was afforded the freedom to innovate, the result being the first of the K-Car line, the Dodge Aries and the Plymouth Reliant and in 1983, the first minivan. The minivan went on to lead the automobile industry in sales for 25 years. As a result of these innovations, Chrysler was able to repay the government-backed loans seven years earlier than expected. Today, the government seems to be creating an environment of control rather than innovation. Creativity demands awareness — attention to managing the failures that happen on the path to success. The reason this is such a daunting task for most organizations is that they bog down in bureaucracy, hoping and praying a problem won’t turn into a crisis or going on a witch hunt to find someone to blame. Creative people in any industry must learn that failure really is, as Pixar University Dean Randy Nelson put it, “that negative space around success.”
Q: Where can you learn more about how to implement the Pixar principles in West Michigan?
A: The Holland Area Arts Council is hosting the keynote presentation, Innovate the Pixar Way, at the Pinnacle Center on April 20, 2010. For more information, please contact the HAAC at (616)396-3278.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Dare to Make a Difference – A Tribute to a Legendary Educator: Jan Drees 1946-2009
As we were preparing to write this week’s blog, we received the sorrowful news of the death of our dear friend Jan Drees, founder and retired principal of the Downtown School of Des Moines, Iowa. We featured Jan and her tremendous leadership at the Downtown School in our 2007 revised edition of The Disney Way. Bill first met Jan in 1999 when he was the keynote speaker at Des Moines’ Business Expo. A few days before his keynote, Jan called our office and asked if Bill could address the school board while he was in town. She wanted her colleagues to learn how Dream, Believe, Dare Do -- The Disney Way principles -- applied to the field of education.
Bill told Jan that he had some definite opinions regarding the problems in public education, and cautioned her that his message might ruffle the feathers of her board members. This was exactly what Jan Drees wanted to hear! To say the least, Bill does not believe in a conventional approach to teaching. Ever since 1983 when the National Commission on Excellence in Education declared the US “a nation at risk”, Bill has championed a learning model that is still contrary to that of the public school system. When Bill and Jan realized they shared the same passion for reinventing the traditional model of education, a bond was formed between them. Jan once told us, “I look for teachers who do not want to be the power person in the classroom. I don’t want teachers who feel ‘I’m the boss, you’re the student, now go sit down.’ I want teachers who are child-centered!”
Fortunately, Jan had a great deal of support in her hometown of Des Moines. In 1990, her Downtown School “dream” became the focus of a partnership between the Des Moines Business Alliance and the Des Moines School District. Jan was named executive director of the Alliance and spent three years researching what worked and what failed in other institutions. Jan said, “The research is clear: When you give students an experience, the learning is much more memorable – much better than if they read it or hear a lecture.” The Downtown School was a true collaboration between business, the school district, teachers, students and parents. This consortium took the best-of-the-best and created the Downtown School. Launched in 1993 with 45 students, the Downtown School’s premise was that everyone is there to learn by true experience and discovery. Jan and her team created a world- class learning environment. In their first two years of operation, 2038 educators, school board members and business people visited the Downtown School from 22 states and 10 countries. When Jan retired in 2006, there were nearly 300 students enrolled and 900 on a waiting list.
On the issues of hiring teachers, challenging tenure agreements, parent participation, grading, and drugging students with Ritalin who suffer ADHD (When we initially interviewed Jan, she told us that she had only one student who was taking Ritalin; the national average would have suggested 15!), Jan dared to challenge conventional educational “wisdom.” In The Disney Way, you can read more about the phenomenal results of the Downtown School.
After Jan’s retirement from the Downtown School, she became known for her work with the Great Ape Trust of Iowa whose mission is to “provide sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, study their intelligence, advance their conservation and provide unique educational experiences about great apes.” Jan was their K-12 education director who helped create the Great Ape Academy. The Academy, an interdisciplinary education program -- the only public education program of its kind in the world -- grants more than 1,000 Des Moines school students the opportunity to learn more about great apes and related topics. As Jan stated at the official launch of the Academy in 2007, “the education program will introduce students to real-world problems, require them to seek solutions and inspire them to become the scientists of the future. Students want to be involved in solving problems, and they have worthwhile, valuable ideas about how to do that.” she said. “They are going to be handed serious, complex issues, and they will learn that the choices and decisions they make today will have an impact on the Earth and its inhabitants.”
Jan Drees certainly made an impact on this Earth and countless inhabitants –we treasure the impact she made on our lives, both personally and professionally. Jan’s dear friend, former assistant principal of the Downtown School, and current director of the Business/Education Alliance’s Professional Development Center, Renee Harmon, was the one who contacted us to tell us that Jan had passed on. We were unable to attend the funeral this past week, but Renee graciously described Jan’s visitation, vigil service and funeral to us. A few of Renee’s words seem fitting to repeat here: “a room filled with flowers and honors from those throughout the country. . .stories of Jan…words of love, respect and wisdom. She would have been humbled by their words and would have disliked being the center of attention, but what an honor to have so many love and respect you. A traditional catholic funeral. . .the room filled with past students, parents and teachers from the Downtown School. . .business and community leaders added to the number who honored her service and life of love…What a tribute…
If you are a business leader, why should you be concerned about the quality of education? For one thing, it makes good business sense. Businesses spend an estimated $3.7 billion a year on remedial reading, writing and mathematics skills for high school students entering the workforce. The Alliance for Education reports that nearly 33% of incoming college freshmen have to take some form of remedial reading or mathematics classes. The national high school graduation rate is 69.2%. We are not only failing our students… we are failing our teachers as well. Fifty percent of new teachers leave the profession within their first 5 years. Turnover is costing our public educational systems over $7 billion a year. Insanity may be defined as “doing the same thing and expecting different results.” That is what school districts have been doing for decades! How many of your businesses could survive with just a 69.2% production yield and 33% customer defect rate? We can’t just copy old, boring, ineffective ways of teaching—we need to destroy, demolish, eradicate, nuke, vaporize and zap the educational system! Then, as Jan Drees did, create a 3D Technicolor, unique, memorable, engaging educational experience for students, teachers and parents.
As leaders in the business community, let Jan’s legacy inspire you to dare to make a difference. The future of our country is on the line, the US is still “a nation at risk.” We need to learn from Jan’s example and continue her legacy of excellence in education whenever and wherever possible. You can make a difference in your community’s educational system with non-stop collaboration; the courage to challenge conventional wisdom; trust and a mammoth dose of respect for your collaborators.
Bill told Jan that he had some definite opinions regarding the problems in public education, and cautioned her that his message might ruffle the feathers of her board members. This was exactly what Jan Drees wanted to hear! To say the least, Bill does not believe in a conventional approach to teaching. Ever since 1983 when the National Commission on Excellence in Education declared the US “a nation at risk”, Bill has championed a learning model that is still contrary to that of the public school system. When Bill and Jan realized they shared the same passion for reinventing the traditional model of education, a bond was formed between them. Jan once told us, “I look for teachers who do not want to be the power person in the classroom. I don’t want teachers who feel ‘I’m the boss, you’re the student, now go sit down.’ I want teachers who are child-centered!”
Fortunately, Jan had a great deal of support in her hometown of Des Moines. In 1990, her Downtown School “dream” became the focus of a partnership between the Des Moines Business Alliance and the Des Moines School District. Jan was named executive director of the Alliance and spent three years researching what worked and what failed in other institutions. Jan said, “The research is clear: When you give students an experience, the learning is much more memorable – much better than if they read it or hear a lecture.” The Downtown School was a true collaboration between business, the school district, teachers, students and parents. This consortium took the best-of-the-best and created the Downtown School. Launched in 1993 with 45 students, the Downtown School’s premise was that everyone is there to learn by true experience and discovery. Jan and her team created a world- class learning environment. In their first two years of operation, 2038 educators, school board members and business people visited the Downtown School from 22 states and 10 countries. When Jan retired in 2006, there were nearly 300 students enrolled and 900 on a waiting list.
On the issues of hiring teachers, challenging tenure agreements, parent participation, grading, and drugging students with Ritalin who suffer ADHD (When we initially interviewed Jan, she told us that she had only one student who was taking Ritalin; the national average would have suggested 15!), Jan dared to challenge conventional educational “wisdom.” In The Disney Way, you can read more about the phenomenal results of the Downtown School.
After Jan’s retirement from the Downtown School, she became known for her work with the Great Ape Trust of Iowa whose mission is to “provide sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, study their intelligence, advance their conservation and provide unique educational experiences about great apes.” Jan was their K-12 education director who helped create the Great Ape Academy. The Academy, an interdisciplinary education program -- the only public education program of its kind in the world -- grants more than 1,000 Des Moines school students the opportunity to learn more about great apes and related topics. As Jan stated at the official launch of the Academy in 2007, “the education program will introduce students to real-world problems, require them to seek solutions and inspire them to become the scientists of the future. Students want to be involved in solving problems, and they have worthwhile, valuable ideas about how to do that.” she said. “They are going to be handed serious, complex issues, and they will learn that the choices and decisions they make today will have an impact on the Earth and its inhabitants.”
Jan Drees certainly made an impact on this Earth and countless inhabitants –we treasure the impact she made on our lives, both personally and professionally. Jan’s dear friend, former assistant principal of the Downtown School, and current director of the Business/Education Alliance’s Professional Development Center, Renee Harmon, was the one who contacted us to tell us that Jan had passed on. We were unable to attend the funeral this past week, but Renee graciously described Jan’s visitation, vigil service and funeral to us. A few of Renee’s words seem fitting to repeat here: “a room filled with flowers and honors from those throughout the country. . .stories of Jan…words of love, respect and wisdom. She would have been humbled by their words and would have disliked being the center of attention, but what an honor to have so many love and respect you. A traditional catholic funeral. . .the room filled with past students, parents and teachers from the Downtown School. . .business and community leaders added to the number who honored her service and life of love…What a tribute…
If you are a business leader, why should you be concerned about the quality of education? For one thing, it makes good business sense. Businesses spend an estimated $3.7 billion a year on remedial reading, writing and mathematics skills for high school students entering the workforce. The Alliance for Education reports that nearly 33% of incoming college freshmen have to take some form of remedial reading or mathematics classes. The national high school graduation rate is 69.2%. We are not only failing our students… we are failing our teachers as well. Fifty percent of new teachers leave the profession within their first 5 years. Turnover is costing our public educational systems over $7 billion a year. Insanity may be defined as “doing the same thing and expecting different results.” That is what school districts have been doing for decades! How many of your businesses could survive with just a 69.2% production yield and 33% customer defect rate? We can’t just copy old, boring, ineffective ways of teaching—we need to destroy, demolish, eradicate, nuke, vaporize and zap the educational system! Then, as Jan Drees did, create a 3D Technicolor, unique, memorable, engaging educational experience for students, teachers and parents.
As leaders in the business community, let Jan’s legacy inspire you to dare to make a difference. The future of our country is on the line, the US is still “a nation at risk.” We need to learn from Jan’s example and continue her legacy of excellence in education whenever and wherever possible. You can make a difference in your community’s educational system with non-stop collaboration; the courage to challenge conventional wisdom; trust and a mammoth dose of respect for your collaborators.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Why Collaboration is Important in Schools and in the Business Workplace – The Pixar and OMA Models
Last week, we addressed the importance of unleashing your childlike potential by trying something new, learning from the experience (yes…even failing!) and trying again. This is one of the hallmarks of Pixar’s phenomenal success that we reveal in the soon to be released Innovate the Pixar Way – Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground. The Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) Opening Minds through the Arts student achievement program (OMA) is a fantastic example of how to unleash the true potential of our greatest treasure – our children. (If you have not visited edutopia.org to watch these students in the learning process, you are missing something great – what they can teach us is amazing).
This week, we will reveal another hallmark of Pixar’s success formula -- collaboration. And, we’ll share why the OMA student achievement program is a shining example of Pixar-style collaboration in the public school system!
When you think of the term “collaboration,” you might be thinking about networking, cooperation, coordination and or partnerships. While these may seem like synonyms for the term, actually each has unique differences:
Networking: an informal sharing of information with loose links between individuals; usually informal communication; no decision making and little, if any, leadership.
Example: trade shows, professional society meetings
Cooperation: central body of individuals collected together to ensure that some task is completed with formal links and structured communication; complex decision making with multiple leadership often representing conflicting agendas.
Example: Design and implementation of a new software system requires cooperation between user departments and information technology to complete the task. They rarely share a common vision and often have conflicting objectives.
Coordination: multiple groups of individuals with clearly defined roles; communication is usually on an as-needed basis; autonomous leadership and decision making within each group.
Example: On an automotive assembly line, the car body must be completed before the door assembly can be attached. Obviously, these two departments must coordinate their efforts.
Partnerships: multiple groups coming together willing to share ideas and resources; roles are usually formal, but communication often informal; leadership is shared with formal decision making among members. Example: Packaging vendor and production line managers work together to optimize packaging requirements and efficiencies.
Now for Collaboration: one group with a shared vision; spontaneous communication where ideas are freely shared; consensus decision making with highly trusted and trusting leadership.
Example: New product development team with dedicated representation from engineering, marketing, finance, procurement, etc. A team in which members rally around a common vision rather than their individual departmental objectives.
At Pixar, the mantra “art is a team sport” represents the very essence of learning and working in a collaborative fashion. Fittingly, Pixar University’s crest is “Alienus Non Diutius”, meaning alone no longer.
Collaboration at Pixar is bringing together the skills, ideas and personality styles of an entire team to achieve a shared vision; “Yes, and” (rather then “No, this is better”) is part of Pixar’s common lexicon that fosters collective creativity, and keeps the vibe and energy in the room upbeat and alive.
Randy Nelson, dean of Pixar University stated, “Collaboration for Pixar means, amplification… by hooking up a number of human beings who are listening to each other… finding the most articulate way to get a high fidelity notion across to a broad range of people so they can each pull on the right lever.” Wow! What a definition. We just love those words, “high fidelity notion across a broad range of people.” Randy stresses the importance of “making your partner look good.” It’s not important that someone’s original idea might be flawed. It’s up to the team members to “plus” each idea presented within the group to achieve an exciting and productive end result that was truly born through a collaborative effort.
In the creation of OMA, bringing the right team of collaborators together was the key. Joan Ashcraft, director of fine and performing arts at TUSD and co-founder of OMA, said, “I was so grateful to have Gene Jones (founding “dreamer” and champion of OMA) say to me, ‘just do it…find people that support your dreams.’” Roger Pfeuffer, former superintendent of the TUSD, said that it was imperative that the “dream” team collaborate to develop an arts integration curriculum to develop fully functioning individuals. Roger explained, “The OMA model isn’t an add-on--it’s got to be part of the core.”
Collaboration at OMA is the antithesis of the traditional public school system model. OMA classroom teachers work with both arts integration specialists and teaching artists to integrate the art form being utilized at a particular grade level with regular lesson plans for language arts, math and science. Not only does the classroom teacher’s lesson plan enhance the work of the OMA arts integration specialist and teaching artists, their work is reinforced in his or her classroom so that students truly understand the concepts being taught. What a novel idea!
And as OMA cofounder Jan Vesely added, “We integrated art and music into the learning because I believe that higher order thinking comes when you integrate.” Isn’t that what we want for our future innovators… “higher order thinking?”
A “high fidelity notion across a broad range of people” is exactly what OMA is doing. Art and music are no longer a “coordinated” effort between the music teacher and the classroom teacher. Rather it is a collaboration that brings together the classroom teacher, the arts integration specialist, the school principal and the student in an exceptional education experience.
So what can you do? Is your goal to provide memorable, unique, engaging, “3D Technicolor” customer experiences? If so, challenge your team to create a shared vision, keep the communication lines open, build upon one another’s ideas, and most importantly, create an environment of mutual trust and respect.
Innovation does not come from a miraculous revelation on the “road to Damascus.” It comes from a passionate dedication to non-stop Pixar-style collaboration!
Next Blog: Why business should be concerned about our educational system
This week, we will reveal another hallmark of Pixar’s success formula -- collaboration. And, we’ll share why the OMA student achievement program is a shining example of Pixar-style collaboration in the public school system!
When you think of the term “collaboration,” you might be thinking about networking, cooperation, coordination and or partnerships. While these may seem like synonyms for the term, actually each has unique differences:
Networking: an informal sharing of information with loose links between individuals; usually informal communication; no decision making and little, if any, leadership.
Example: trade shows, professional society meetings
Cooperation: central body of individuals collected together to ensure that some task is completed with formal links and structured communication; complex decision making with multiple leadership often representing conflicting agendas.
Example: Design and implementation of a new software system requires cooperation between user departments and information technology to complete the task. They rarely share a common vision and often have conflicting objectives.
Coordination: multiple groups of individuals with clearly defined roles; communication is usually on an as-needed basis; autonomous leadership and decision making within each group.
Example: On an automotive assembly line, the car body must be completed before the door assembly can be attached. Obviously, these two departments must coordinate their efforts.
Partnerships: multiple groups coming together willing to share ideas and resources; roles are usually formal, but communication often informal; leadership is shared with formal decision making among members. Example: Packaging vendor and production line managers work together to optimize packaging requirements and efficiencies.
Now for Collaboration: one group with a shared vision; spontaneous communication where ideas are freely shared; consensus decision making with highly trusted and trusting leadership.
Example: New product development team with dedicated representation from engineering, marketing, finance, procurement, etc. A team in which members rally around a common vision rather than their individual departmental objectives.
At Pixar, the mantra “art is a team sport” represents the very essence of learning and working in a collaborative fashion. Fittingly, Pixar University’s crest is “Alienus Non Diutius”, meaning alone no longer.
Collaboration at Pixar is bringing together the skills, ideas and personality styles of an entire team to achieve a shared vision; “Yes, and” (rather then “No, this is better”) is part of Pixar’s common lexicon that fosters collective creativity, and keeps the vibe and energy in the room upbeat and alive.
Randy Nelson, dean of Pixar University stated, “Collaboration for Pixar means, amplification… by hooking up a number of human beings who are listening to each other… finding the most articulate way to get a high fidelity notion across to a broad range of people so they can each pull on the right lever.” Wow! What a definition. We just love those words, “high fidelity notion across a broad range of people.” Randy stresses the importance of “making your partner look good.” It’s not important that someone’s original idea might be flawed. It’s up to the team members to “plus” each idea presented within the group to achieve an exciting and productive end result that was truly born through a collaborative effort.
In the creation of OMA, bringing the right team of collaborators together was the key. Joan Ashcraft, director of fine and performing arts at TUSD and co-founder of OMA, said, “I was so grateful to have Gene Jones (founding “dreamer” and champion of OMA) say to me, ‘just do it…find people that support your dreams.’” Roger Pfeuffer, former superintendent of the TUSD, said that it was imperative that the “dream” team collaborate to develop an arts integration curriculum to develop fully functioning individuals. Roger explained, “The OMA model isn’t an add-on--it’s got to be part of the core.”
Collaboration at OMA is the antithesis of the traditional public school system model. OMA classroom teachers work with both arts integration specialists and teaching artists to integrate the art form being utilized at a particular grade level with regular lesson plans for language arts, math and science. Not only does the classroom teacher’s lesson plan enhance the work of the OMA arts integration specialist and teaching artists, their work is reinforced in his or her classroom so that students truly understand the concepts being taught. What a novel idea!
And as OMA cofounder Jan Vesely added, “We integrated art and music into the learning because I believe that higher order thinking comes when you integrate.” Isn’t that what we want for our future innovators… “higher order thinking?”
A “high fidelity notion across a broad range of people” is exactly what OMA is doing. Art and music are no longer a “coordinated” effort between the music teacher and the classroom teacher. Rather it is a collaboration that brings together the classroom teacher, the arts integration specialist, the school principal and the student in an exceptional education experience.
So what can you do? Is your goal to provide memorable, unique, engaging, “3D Technicolor” customer experiences? If so, challenge your team to create a shared vision, keep the communication lines open, build upon one another’s ideas, and most importantly, create an environment of mutual trust and respect.
Innovation does not come from a miraculous revelation on the “road to Damascus.” It comes from a passionate dedication to non-stop Pixar-style collaboration!
Next Blog: Why business should be concerned about our educational system
Friday, October 23, 2009
How an Arts Integration School Program relates to Pixar Innovation
You may ask, “Why include an elementary school in a business book about innovation?” In today’s blog, we will address the first of several reasons. As we present in Innovate the Pixar Way, one of the keys to the phenomenal success of Pixar is their ability to and their passion for unleashing the inner childlike potential, creativity and dreams of their people. So, what better place to study childlike potential than in a place that practices an innovative, art-centered approach to education? In an economy where many schools are reducing or eliminating their art and music programs, Tucson’s Opening Minds through the Arts student achievement program (OMA) is thriving. In fact, OMA has become a leader in a national movement to integrate arts education with core curriculum.
In OMA, grade school children are learning reading, writing, math and science NOT by sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher tell them what will be on Friday’s quiz. OMA students learn by experiencing opera, dance or music. Yet, the word “experience” doesn’t adequately describe this innovative learning process. Go to edutopia.org and watch these students! Bill has had the opportunity to observe many of OMA’s classes, and is amazed at how totally immersed the students are in their artistic adventure. They are learning by discovery and ah-has… not by an “expert teacher” screwing off their heads and pouring facts in that they will likely forget two days after every quiz!
In December, our youngest grandchild Sophia will be two years old. It was great fun watching her learn how to walk. First she discovered her feet. When she would lie on her stomach, she realized that she couldn’t see her feet and she would get so frustrated. Soon she discovered how to roll over, and was overjoyed that she could once again see her toes. Next came the crawling, standing and walking while holding onto furniture and then one day, she discovered she could walk (and climb!). Many of us have watched with anticipation as our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews go through this discovery process. If Sophie’s parents would have said, “Ok Sophie, you are now 13 months old and it is time that you learn to walk. Put one foot ahead of the other and walk across the room. Practice this all week on Friday we will have our walking test.” How absurd! No parent would ever do this. Babies learn from discovery, trial and error and their experiences. But when children reach school age, all their natural trying and discovery learning process is replaced with repetitive memorization and standardized lesson plans.
So why is unleashing that childlike potential – the discovery learning process -- so important in the workplace? For the same reason it’s important at OMA! Pixar allows creativity to, as president Ed Catmull says, “…come from where it comes from.” Remember… if you tell your employees what to do, they may forget; if you show them, they may remember; but if you involve them in the process, they learn and will reach creativity and performance levels that surprise even themselves.
Next Blog: Why collaboration is important in school and work.
In OMA, grade school children are learning reading, writing, math and science NOT by sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher tell them what will be on Friday’s quiz. OMA students learn by experiencing opera, dance or music. Yet, the word “experience” doesn’t adequately describe this innovative learning process. Go to edutopia.org and watch these students! Bill has had the opportunity to observe many of OMA’s classes, and is amazed at how totally immersed the students are in their artistic adventure. They are learning by discovery and ah-has… not by an “expert teacher” screwing off their heads and pouring facts in that they will likely forget two days after every quiz!
In December, our youngest grandchild Sophia will be two years old. It was great fun watching her learn how to walk. First she discovered her feet. When she would lie on her stomach, she realized that she couldn’t see her feet and she would get so frustrated. Soon she discovered how to roll over, and was overjoyed that she could once again see her toes. Next came the crawling, standing and walking while holding onto furniture and then one day, she discovered she could walk (and climb!). Many of us have watched with anticipation as our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews go through this discovery process. If Sophie’s parents would have said, “Ok Sophie, you are now 13 months old and it is time that you learn to walk. Put one foot ahead of the other and walk across the room. Practice this all week on Friday we will have our walking test.” How absurd! No parent would ever do this. Babies learn from discovery, trial and error and their experiences. But when children reach school age, all their natural trying and discovery learning process is replaced with repetitive memorization and standardized lesson plans.
So why is unleashing that childlike potential – the discovery learning process -- so important in the workplace? For the same reason it’s important at OMA! Pixar allows creativity to, as president Ed Catmull says, “…come from where it comes from.” Remember… if you tell your employees what to do, they may forget; if you show them, they may remember; but if you involve them in the process, they learn and will reach creativity and performance levels that surprise even themselves.
Next Blog: Why collaboration is important in school and work.
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Pixar Book is Coming!
The Pixar book is coming soon!
You will learn how to animate your team and unleash their creative…The Pixar Way.
In Innovate the Pixar Way, we reveal how Pixar has reawakened the innovative spirit of Walt Disney. And, we explore how president Ed Catmull and chief creative officer John Lasseter and the rest of Pixar’s “brain trust” have built an organization on a simple philosophy, “Quality is the best business plan.” It makes no difference if you are making a movie that takes four years or serving a customer that takes four minutes, you have only chance to deliver that magical, magnetic, enchanting experience for your customer. We offer examples of how it’s done – and explain what it takes to get your people to achieve greatness by unleashing the power to dream like a child; believe in their playmates; dare to jump in the water and make waves; and do unleash their childlike potential.
We also share how Google, Griffin Hospital, Men’s Wearhouse, OMA (Opening Minds through the Arts) student achievement program, Nike, Target and the Internet shoe giant, Zappos unshackle their peoples’ imaginations and do outrageously great things. By getting your team to Innovate the Pixar Way you, too, can discover the magic that will help your business stay ahead of the competition, attract the best talent, and fatten the bottom line!
You will learn how to animate your team and unleash their creative…The Pixar Way.
In Innovate the Pixar Way, we reveal how Pixar has reawakened the innovative spirit of Walt Disney. And, we explore how president Ed Catmull and chief creative officer John Lasseter and the rest of Pixar’s “brain trust” have built an organization on a simple philosophy, “Quality is the best business plan.” It makes no difference if you are making a movie that takes four years or serving a customer that takes four minutes, you have only chance to deliver that magical, magnetic, enchanting experience for your customer. We offer examples of how it’s done – and explain what it takes to get your people to achieve greatness by unleashing the power to dream like a child; believe in their playmates; dare to jump in the water and make waves; and do unleash their childlike potential.
We also share how Google, Griffin Hospital, Men’s Wearhouse, OMA (Opening Minds through the Arts) student achievement program, Nike, Target and the Internet shoe giant, Zappos unshackle their peoples’ imaginations and do outrageously great things. By getting your team to Innovate the Pixar Way you, too, can discover the magic that will help your business stay ahead of the competition, attract the best talent, and fatten the bottom line!
Labels:
Innovation,
PIXAR BOOK
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Pixar's Innovative Spirit
Pixar's innovation spirit will be forever linked to Walt Disney himself. Walt Disney once said, "Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it." Truly creative people exhibit a level of enthusiasm for imagination and discovery that harkens back to the days of childhood. Indeed, innovation begins with a beginner's mind...this was true of Walt Disney, and is true of Pixar cofounder and president, Ed Catmull and Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter!
Labels:
Pixar Innovation
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