To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History

by Lawrence Levy

If I learned anything at Pixar, it is that story comes first. Pixar’s creative leader, John Lasseter, used to say, “Great graphics will keep us entertained for a couple of minutes; it is story that holds us in our seats.”

“There’s nothing you can do about where the pieces are,” he’d say. “It’s only your next move that matters.”

If this were to be a serious strategy, I would have to understand the economics of the business in detail. Where should I begin? I started at the library.

Corporations are a lot like living creatures. They have personalities, emotions, and habits. The person at the top might seem to be calling all the shots but is often imprisoned in a culture he or she can do little to change. As corporations succeed, they generally become more conservative. The flames of creativity on which a company is built can easily cool as pressures to perform mount. Success brings something to defend, something to lose. Fear can easily trump courage.

Sometimes there comes a point when you jump not because you feel ready or are sure that you’ll make it across the chasm, but because the conditions are forcing you off the edge. That’s when you find out if you can fly. I felt this was the time to jump. We had to start moving, and resolving the options problem was the place to begin.

The problem with success, even a little success, is that it changes you. You are no longer walking along the same precipice that drove you to do great work in the first place. Now you have something to defend: a reputation, money in the bank, a brand, real customer expectations. Success can take the edge away.

Creative excellence is a dance on the precipice of failure, a battle against the allure of safety. There are no shortcuts, no formulas, no well-worn paths to victory. It tests you constantly.

In business relationships, or virtually in any relationships for that matter, there are two factors that determine one’s capacity to effect change: leverage and negotiation.

Marlin’s newfound companion, Dory, in her endearing, quirky, innocent way, says to Marlin, “When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do,” and then in her sweet, rapturous manner she begins to sing: “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.”

For all the innovation and prosperity that modern economies generated, there seemed to be a corresponding increase in stress and anxiety.

Pixar’s entire success depended on developing enough strategy, order, and bureaucracy to give it momentum without killing the creative spirit. This is the entreaty of the Middle Way: to inspire us to give expression to our spirit, creativity, and humanity and still take care of day-to-day needs and responsibilities. The Middle Way is a dance between order and freedom, bureaucracy and spirit, efficiency and artistry. Every film that Pixar made struggled with this tension and ended up better for

I am convinced that we humans do better when we have something to ground us, a deep source from which we can draw wisdom, insight, and inspiration. The goal of that source is to empower us, to bring depth and fulfillment to our lives, to give us the means to soar. Myths, customs, and community rituals have long served these purposes—the Ohlone spoke to the sun each morning for good reason.