Second Lamppost: creative media from Brian Hull

The corporate culture of Pixar ties directly into my recent discussion of failure. We know Pixar as the creators of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille, but I doubt most people recognize it is a 30-year old collective of artists, animators, and creative minds who have been backed at various times by Lucasfilm, Apple, and Disney. President Ed Catmull and director Brad Bird both recently gave interviews on creativity and innovation. The interviews were held at different times under different circumstances but both Catmull and Bird seemed to focus around a few key points.

Repeated like a mantra by both men was the statement- don’t minimize risk. “Instead do risky things,” says Catmull, “If you want to be original, you have to accept the uncertainty, even when it’s uncomfortable.” It is the fear of risk and resulting failure that directly hampers creativity. Brad Bird encourages his co-workers to, “do something that scares you, that’s at the edge of your capabilities.” Ed Catmull adds to that idea with, “if we aren’t always at least a little scared, we’re not doing our job.”

I love this idea that at a company with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake on any given project there is still a freedom to walk right out to the precipice and look down. Instead of harping on potential failures, Ed Catmull says Pixar works to “build the capability to recover when failures occur.” They do this by collectively pooling talents, and using dailies as a way to collaborate and discuss areas for improvement. Catmull also notes that there is no reliance on a single “high concept.” Instead he says, “Don’t focus on a single idea. There is no single idea. The importance is in the guiding and filtering of thousands of ideas generated by the collective.”

The final key is something I’ve always held Miles Davis and Neil Young in high regard for- foster a restless artistic spirit. Brad Bird cautions, “worry about being complacent. In areas of past success, guard against simply repeating successful formulas.” When Brad was asked to join Pixar by Ed and Steve Jobs, Pixar had been successful with toys and fish, but had been unable to create believable human characters. Brad immediately got to work on The Incredibles. The film had more backgrounds and locations than any previous Pixar film, and it starred a human family. After the success of The Incredibles Brad went on to direct Ratatouille, which had stagnated in production for nearly 5 years before Brad took the helm. Catmull summed up how Pixar fosters this restless nature to the Harvard Business Review, “Be clear that things never stay the same. We must constantly challenge all of our assumptions and search for the flaws that could destroy our culture.”

I’ve been really interested in failure recently. With a few exceptions I have felt like the failure rate in my own life has been too low. That’s not a braggart’s way of pointing out my tendency to succeed, because that tendency may just as well be subconsciously constructed to prevent failure. It can be hard to tell in something if we’ve gotten lucky or if we simply didn’t reach high enough. In Miles Davis’ bands risk and growth were heavily praised, but perfection brought the wrath of God. If you weren’t stumbling on occasion, you weren’t pushing hard enough.

So what should we fail at? Everything, or at least almost everything. Don’t fail at marriage, friendship, or loyalty, almost everything else if fair game. Creativity is something at which we can, and should, afford to fail. As Twyla Tharp points out in The Creative Habit, much of this failure can be done in private, stretching past your comfort zone to discover new spaces. Failing in private can help reduce the number of failures we share with the public. Still, public failure should not be something that deters forward progress.

As a teen Charlie Parker was chased off the stage by having cymbals thrown at his feet mid-solo, Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime, Emily Dickinson published less than a dozen poems, and everyone knows the story of Michael Jordan failing to make the varsity team his sophomore year. If you follow the career of anyone you deem truly successful you will find moments of perseverance, when they refused to be held down.

I would make the argument for setting almost unreasonably high goals, for “reaching for the stars”. In this regard I am happy to sound cheesy or naive. As a child we were all told we could do anything. At age 5, when asked what you want to be when you grow up, the answers Fireman, Astronaut, and Elephant are all met with the same warm smile and “good for you”. Maybe I have no hope of being an Elephant, but I cling to the belief that given the work ethic anything else is within my grasp. You should too.

Once you have defined parameters for quitting, it is time to get to work. Successful people lean into the dip. Do not be passive. Be aggressive, push harder and change the rules. Under most circumstances pulling through the dip is not a question of being good enough. Instead how dedicated are you? If you want to be the best at anything the answer better be complete. The dip is not kind to those who waiver.

There are a few tools to help you survive. First, even if it feels excessive, return regularly to your plans for quitting. Are you quitting everything you should be quitting? There is a difference between fighting your way through the dip, and languishing in an unprofitable endeavor. For each task on your list ask yourself, “does this further my end goals?” If the answer is no you must quit.

Second, recognize the positive situation at hand. At times the dip can be discouraging, which is why most people don’t emerge on the other side. The repeated theme of The Dip is adversity creates scarcity, scarcity creates value. When you get frustrated, Godin reminds, “adversity is an ally, the harder it gets, the better chance you have of insulating yourself from competition.” Always keep in mind we get frustrated in the dip for the same reason the end reward is so exponentially great, because the curve to success is so steep. If you can see this barrier as an advantage you are one step closer to success.

Most importantly, build a support team. As we have seen, success in the dip requires specialization. A support team rounds out your skill set, but it also gives you the encouragement to continue your own trek up and out of the dip. Many of us get trapped into believing we can do everything better, but the most successful people surround themselves with the brightest, most talented team available. “Giving up control and leaning into the organization gives you leverage” says Godin. This step is non-negotiable. Take a look at any model for success. Even those who developed the work alone, such as Hemmingway or Bob Dylan, had a network to lean on for encouragement and inspiration.

This process does not guarantee success. Much of that is left to your fortitude and discipline in the face of adversity. But planning ahead and coming armed with these tools will certainly improve your odds.

Note: This article is part 3 in a 3 part series on Seth Godin’s book The Dip. If you missed it, go back to part 1 and part 2.

To read more about The Dip I suggest you purchase The Dip by Seth Godin. Seth is a writer/blog/marketing evangelist with several best selling books on business and marketing. I also recommend checking out his blog and his book website for The Dip.

We hit the dip in between the beginners rapid acquisition of skills and complete mastery. This lull in the process is where most people settle or quit. Our growth slows and many people lose interest or determination. The dip is what defines the importance of our work. The steeper this final ascent is, the fewer people emerge on the other side. In order to thrive during this process it is important to marshall all of your resources to help buffer your chances for success.

This requires sacrifice. We have all been taught to value well rounded people. But in order to reach the pinnacle of any worthwhile endeavor, you will have to give up this perceived value of a broad skill set. The dip is about specialization and about being the best in the world. Godin points out a fallacy in education that anyone who reads books of this nature are likely to abide by, “Hardworking, motivated people find diversification a natural outlet for their energy and drive…and yet the real success goes to those who obsess.” With the rare exception of a Bach or Michelangelo, we must sacrifice diversity to succeed.

This specialization means quitting. It means quitting a lot. Godin insists, “quitting regularly to free up the resources to invest in the right business”. Before beginning define what conditions will cause you to quit. Quitting in a frustration or in a panic is amateur. If you want to open a restaurant, map out at exactly what loss of margin and what decline in customer base will cause you to quit. The failure in quitting is not realizing when to quit. Like the restaurant owner who peddles Italian one week and Thai the next, grappling at gimmicks as he watches his business sink.

Lets be clear on what quitting means. Quitting is always a strategy for furthering ones end goals. That means our rock star should never quit music. But if his profession is drumming, he may not have time to learn guitar, produce other artists, and pursue photography on the side. Quit products or features within your market, never quit the market. Quitting the market itself can lead to cyclical short-term quitting. The market is something you are passionate about. Simply walking away may bring back the itch at a later time, causing you to have to begin the dip all over again. Quitting is a long term strategy, not a short term fix.

Note: This article is part 2 in a 3 part series on Seth Godin’s book The Dip. The final installment in this series will discuss leaning into the dip and building a support team. If you missed it, go back to part 1 or read ahead to part 3.

To read more about The Dip I suggest you purchase The Dip by Seth Godin. Seth is a writer/blog/marketing evangelist with several best selling books on business and marketing. I also recommend checking out his blog and his book website for The Dip.