A Culture of Candor

“There’s no upside in being wrong.” – Ed Catmull

“I need to sit down.” We were standing in a crowded reception hall and the keynote speaker and I were talking. He had a pained look on his face. The waitstaff was bustling around offering hors d’oeuvres to the conference attendees that had gathered after a “Ralph Breaks VR” demonstration at The Void at Downtown Disney. I spotted a collection of chairs in the corner and motioned toward them, “Let’s grab a seat there.” 

“That’s better!” It was a star-struck moment for me. I was now sitting next to one of my heroes and in an hour or so we would be going to dinner together. I first heard about Ed Catmull in college. I had admired his research in computer graphics including his pioneering work in texture mapping. Sitting there, it occurred to me that the incredible VR demonstration we just saw wouldn’t have been possible without his revolutionary work. Ed smiled, clearly relieved to be sitting down and then continued our conversation. We talked about the technology, cloud computing, PIXAR, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Steve Jobs, John Lasseter, mindfulness and of course, Ed’s book, Creativity, Inc.

“I hated it!” Ed’s shook his head in response to my question about his experience writing the book. It was a lot of hard work. He explained how he had enlisted 40+ reviewers to critique the manuscript and was always wanting more. Despite his elaborate efforts to get that candid feedback, he was convinced that it was still far from perfect. After publication, he said he received abundant feedback from the brilliant folks at PIXAR on all the areas he got wrong. He was motivated and even encouraged by Bob Iger, to make a second edition. I do hope that happens. The thing that impressed me the most about Ed was his insatiable desire to get things right and to enlist the help of others to do so. When I asked why he went to such measures to get that feedback, he told me, “There’s no upside in being wrong.” 

If you ever read Ed’s book, and you should, you know how much emphasis is placed on getting authentic and candid feedback. That approach has shaped the storytelling and creative content powerhouses at PIXAR, Walt Disney Animation Studios and ILM. I told Ed about my first visit to PIXAR and how it left such a huge impression on me. It wasn’t just the great campus, the comfortable open area buildings or the iconic artwork decorating the place. No, the biggest thing to me was the culture of candor. There was no power structure in the rooms. Ego was taken out. There was this incredible respect and expectation for everyone in the room to give and take honest notes. It was transformative and something I have forever sought to encourage and replicate in my own teams. Ed’s comment? “Yes, but I know we still have work to do.”

Ed is right. I have seen organizations achieve good success only to see it calcify processes or limit the ability to receive corrective feedback. As my conversation with Ed underscored, it is critical to continually seek honest feedback, remove power structures from the room and drive changes accordingly. I’m proud to say that I personally continue to see this honest feedback. At least once a week, someone on my team will raise an issue to me where we—and yes sometimes just me—are not doing the right thing, not communicating well, missing an opportunity, or doing something we shouldn’t. These are pure gold. I won’t pretend they don’t sometimes sting or hurt, but I can’t think of a single time where they didn’t result in some improvement that made us all better.

Are you willing to receive candid feedback? Are you willing to give it? As a leader, are you removing the power structure in the room so that you minimize risk and amplify candor?

I recognize that I’m over indexed on optimism, but I also believe that at any given point, something is going wrong. How do we discover that and encourage others to do the same? Getting a true and honest signal when things are going wrong is critical for our organizations if we hope to see them stay relevant, successful and thriving. Look for problems. Reward and embrace honest feedback so that you can change. As Ed would say, “There’s no upside in being wrong.” Strive for being right!

Laughter!

“There is nothing better or more cleansing in this world than laughter.” – Pat Carroll

“Hahaha!” Laughter filled the room. Pat was with her daughters and granddaughter. Tears were rolling down their cheeks like a shower, washing and refreshing with each powerful laugh. It was glorious. The smiles, the sounds, and the senses radiated and adorned Pat’s gregarious and welcoming face.

Pat began acting in local productions when she was just five years old. She was funny. Her wit and humor had gained the attention of brilliant stars like Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett and Danny Thomas. She loved performing live shows, stand-up comedy and doing character acting. She picked up roles on television shows like ABC’s Laverne & Shirley. She started doing voice-over work in the 1980’s for animation programs like Scooby-Doo, Galaxy High, A Goofy Movie, Pound Puppies, Garfield and even voiced the character of Granny in Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro. But her most beloved role would come in 1989.

“I’ve been a Disney fan since I was 5 years old,” Pat would explain. She had joined the Mickey Mouse Club and even had the ears. Her greatest dream was to perform in a Disney film. That day finally came. Disney was working on a new animated film and the directors and musical team were looking for the perfect talent. Pat auditioned six times. Her determination paid off! A year later, she got the call to be the voice of Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.  She laughed! It was a dream come true and she said, “I’ve never enjoyed anything so much in my life.” Her memorable and throaty rendition of Poor Unfortunate Souls would make her one of Disney’s most beloved villains. Can you hear her singing? Can you hear her laughing? That was Pat.

Pat Carroll passed away this past weekend, July 30, 2020, at 95 years old. In a recent interview, she said, “I’ve had the most wonderful life. I’ve done everything I wanted to do and I’ve had a ball doing it.” Indeed she did. To Pat, the greatest thing in the world is laughter. The ability to laugh and make other people laugh is a superpower that is a remedy for so much that ails us. It provides cleansing. It washes our worries, treats our bruises and breathes oxygen into our journey.

Laugh! Make sure you take time to sample some humor today, and every day.

https://twitter.com/DisneyAnimation/status/1554593912894791682/photo/1

Fight for the Users!

“On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy.” – Kevin Flynn

Greetings programs,

“LaserDisc… Prepare to be blown away!” The clerk at the local movie rental store handed us the LaserDisc player and movie and guaranteed that it would level up our home movie experience. My brother and I unpacked the dazzling new player and quickly connected the RCA cables, powered up the audio system and hit play. Seconds later it sprung to life with colorful geometric shapes flying across the screen, taking us on a journey into a virtual realm. The dazzling images on the screen were accompanied by room filling sounds the LaserDisc pumped into the audio system. The ethereal soundtrack by Wendy Carlos transported us into this magical world of the impossible. The characters in the movie were playing video games, but not like my sister and I would play at the local arcade, they were actually in the game, inside the computer! They were “programs”, walking around, pulling power from circuit board rivers of light, recording information on their identity disks, piloting vector based light-cycles, tanks, recognizers and solar sailing ships across the grid. And like any good hero story, they fought against the oppressive evil overlord. The Master Control Program sought to enslave the world of computer programs to do it’s evil bidding to ultimately take over the human world. They were fighting for the “Users”, the human creators of this digital realm. One of those creators, a programmer named Flynn, gets transported into this digital world to join in on the fight. Welcome to the world of TRON!

I was blown away! The clerk had been right. It had inspired me and introduced me into a new world. The world of programs, computers and computer graphics. I was suddenly obsessed with this new found passion. It became an imperative for me to learn everything I could about this computer world. I managed to talk my dad into getting me a Commodore 64 so I could learn to do all these things that I had seen on the screen. Soon, I was crafting my own programs, sprites, animations and audio waveforms. I even made my own space adventure game that I published in our middle school paper, as if anyone would ever type in all that code! I was hooked. Maker clubs, hacker homebrew meetups and bulletin board systems eventually led me to join the computer science and electrical engineering departments at the University of Tulsa. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to fight for the Users, making programs and systems that made the world a better place.

TRON was released to theaters 40 years ago this past weekend. While not a blockbuster for Disney by any means, the film was groundbreaking. As with so many of Disney films, it had inspired people just like me. It even paved the way for computer-generated imagery in animated films. John Lasseter has said that without TRON, there would have been no Toy Story.

We make magic. But that magic isn’t just the compelling storytelling, the visual effects, the powerful adventures or experiences we deliver. No, the real magic is what endures those moments and begins a ripple effect on lives. People become inspired to try new things. New passions awaken. New worlds unfold. The work we do makes an impact that transcends the bottom line and propels us into the future as a species. We inform. We inspire. We improve our human experience, one story at a time.

Are you ready? It’s time to go play the game. Let’s go fight for the Users!

End of Line

Pursue Your Dreams

“Even though I worked hard at times, it was always magical. I have to confess I enjoyed every minute of it. Even the down times I enjoyed, because we were creating something that would make people smile and lift their hearts. You can’t think of a better job than that.” – Floyd Norman

A tall skinny young man passed through the gates of the Walt Disney Studios.  He was on his way to meet Ken Seiling in the Personnel Department.  As he looked around the campus, he must have thought back to his childhood.  He had been so inspired by Walt Disney cartoons and animated features.  He loved drawing.  He often found canvases to adorn with his art.  That included, much to his parent’s dismay, even the walls of his house as a young child.  Growing up he had dreamed of being part of Walt Disney’s magic factory.  His dream motivated him to reach out to Disney and was eventually connected with Ken.  Ken agreed to meet with him after he graduated from High School.  Today was that day.

His dream was happening before his eyes.  He was inside the Disney creative factory speaking with Ken.  Ken offered him a job in Traffic.  But understanding the young man’s passion he quickly added, the wise choice would be going back to school.  “Go back to school,” may have been disappointing to hear.  It would have been tempting to take the easier path and just settle for the Traffic job.  However, that is not what happened.  The young man took the advice and went back to school.  Three years later in February 1956, he, along with other starry-eyed youngsters reported to work at 500 South Buena Vista Avenue to start their careers in the cartoon business.  He later reflected, “like Alice, we had entered Wonderland.” 

That young man was none other than Floyd Norman who went on to become a Disney Legend, spending over 60 years in animation. He is credited on many familiar titles including Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc.

Like Floyd, we all have dreams. But how do we act on them?  Do we settle or do we keep pursuing?  Hopefully, like me, you are inspired by Floyd’s story to keep running after your dreams, don’t be afraid to reach out and try.  But also, don’t be afraid to pivot, learn and try again.  We may not all become Disney Legends like Floyd, but we can all run after our dreams and make a difference.  It begins with us.  Keep trying, keep the faith.

PS – Check out Floyd’s story in this great documentary on his life: Floyd Norman: An Animated Life

Floyd Norman
Floyd Norman

Remove the Barriers

“The talent is here. We just need to remove the barriers.” – Ed Catmull

I confess, I am very sentimental.  At all hands, sendoffs and celebrations, I love to show photos to reminisce about events, people, places and days gone by.  The photo storage platforms I use all know this about me and are always offering me “on this day a year ago…” teasers which I can’t refuse.  I love those.  As we wrapped up January, the AI wizards began sending me reminders of our 2020 and 2019 Cloud Summits.  First of all, I was shocked to realize it has been a year since that pre-pandemic in-person gathering and streaming event in 2020.  Second, I was reminded of the great 2019 event and particularly our special keynote guest, Dr. Ed Catmull.  The talk from this incredibly brilliant technology leader and the prior discussion over dinner was a highlight of a lifetime.  I want to share the impression he made on me by giving you a glimpse into his story 

Shortly after the acquisition of Pixar, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter were given the charge by Bob Iger to reboot the Walt Disney Animation Studios, which had been suffering a string of box office flops.  Pixar was delivering blockbuster movies that leveraged innovative technology to deliver compelling and connecting stories to the big screen.  Walt Disney Animation Studios on the other hand was not.  Ed tells how he dreaded but was expected to clean house and start over, hiring Pixar level talent to reboot the studio.  To his surprise, as he began to spend time there, he discovered that the problem wasn’t the talent.  The problem was the management and the debilitating processes and culture.  They began to change the management, removing obstacles that were blocking the creative process and unleashing the team to be able to deliver results.  That same team that had delivered a series of flops in the past, suddenly were able to deliver blockbuster hits like Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen.  Ed observed, the talent was there, we just needed to remove the barriers.  

I know what you are all thinking.  Sounds great, but Jason, the lesson here is that we need management to remove barriers for us!  Yes, that is true.  Leaders must take on the challenge of empowering people and removing blockers.  Our job is to unleash potential, give opportunity with responsibility, not control people.  But that’s not all, nor does it fall to managers only.  If we want to unleash the generative potential of our organization, we all must be laser focused on removing constraints that slow down the delivery of value to our guests and to our company.  That job falls to all of us.  You are all capable of helping build platforms, tools and processes that empower our cast members to deliver magic, better, faster, safer and happier.  We just need to do it!

This week, I challenge you to look for opportunities to remove barriers.  Devise plans to make it better and raise those with your leadership.  We can swarm, align and drive the change.  Let’s remove barriers and unleash the incredible potential of our talent to do amazing things.

Ed Catmull and Jason Cox
“The talent is here. We just need to remove the barriers.” – Ed Catmull

Creativity, Inc.

creativity-incCreativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration Hardcover

by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

 

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler (2006).

While I haven’t read every biography of this famous visionary, this book about Walt Disney has to be one of the most comprehensive studies of his life.  The attention to detail and depth of research and investigation are exceptional.  The references, notes and bibliography comprise around 100 pages of the 880 page, 2.8 pound volume.

Animation is creating the illusion or alternate reality of life (see the Wikipedia article Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life).   Gabler describes how Walt had an insatiable desire to bring a perfect alternate reality to life.  This steered his passions and energy throughout his life.  Through animation, Walt could project joy, hope, struggles, persistence and emotion onto the two dimensional world of the silver screen.  His desire for perfection demanded quality and innovation.  From the early shorts where he pioneered new levels of animation and synchronized sound (Steamboat Willie) to the realism of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first American animated feature film in movie history, Walt wanted to bring a new level of entertainment to the masses.  He was shaping a reality that would stir people, cause them to laugh and to cry, to enjoy and to aspire. 

Walt was never happy with status-quo.  With the success of Snow White fueling his dreams, he built the Burbank studio to bring to life something even greater.  With Walt pushing for greater realism in animation, Pinnochio and Bambi were trying to exceed Snow White.  But his heart was always leaning toward something grander.  Consistently Walt would become bored with what he had mastered and would need to push through some new wall.  After Snow White, that would be Fantasia.  He wanted to bring music to life on the animated screen.  This new feature would pioneer an early stereophonic technology called Fantasound, making Fantasia the first commercial film with multichannel sound.  The film opened to mixed critical reaction and failed to generate a large commercial audience, which left Walt in financial straits, something that characterized most of his life, at least until Disneyland.  Author, Neal Gabler comments about this in a Q&A session on Amazon.com:

It is astonishing that Walt Disney was always–and I do mean always–in dire financial straits until the opening of Disneyland. The primary reason wasn’t that his cartoons weren’t making money, because they were–at least until the war in Europe when the loss of that market meant disaster for the features. But even as they were making money, the studio was losing money because Walt was constitutionally incapable of cutting corners, enforcing economies, laying off staff. The only thing about which Walt Disney cared was quality. He thought that quality was the way to maintain his preeminence, though quality also had the psychological advantage of letting him perfect his world. The problem was that quality was expensive. To cite just one example, Walt spent more than a hundred thousand dollars setting up a training program for would-be animators, though even then the return was small because Walt was so picky that very few of the candidates actually qualified to work at the studio. Money meant very little to Walt Disney. It was only a means to an end, never an end in itself.

After Fantasia, Walt needed something new but instead found himself trying to manage and sustain his studio.  The creative “family” he had created over the years turned on him with a strike and the unrelenting creditors demands soon steered him toward survival mode.  Walt and his brother Roy managed to keep the studio together, but at a cost of quality.  Economically produced features like Dumbo and a long string of government sponsored shorts and educational films helped float the studio through hard financial times.  Walt was unhappy in his new role.  Instead of inventing something new, Walt invested in new hobbies, backyard railroad and minatures (from Wikipedia):

During 1949, Disney and his family moved to a new home on a large piece of property in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles, California. With the help of his friends Ward and Betty Kimball, owners of their own backyard railroad, Disney developed blueprints and immediately set to work on creating a miniature live steam railroad for his backyard. The name of the railroad, Carolwood Pacific Railroad, originated from the address of his home that was located on Carolwood Drive.

Walt’s passion for the railroad and building miniatures was intertwined with his next great adventure in creating a new reality:  Disneyland.  To dislocate from the now mundane pressures at the Studio, Walt poured renewed energy into his newly formed WED Enterprises to dream and create Disneyland.  This would occupy his focused interest for several years of planning, financing, constructing and operating (with Walt taking personal attention to details and continually “plussing” the park).   Walt loved to meet a challenge and financing Disneyland was definitely a challenge.  However, he had a solution:  Television.   Walt led the charge to bridge the gap between film studios and television.  He has been fascinated with the new medium and his Disneyland idea propelled his desire to enter this new world.  Using a series called Disneyland  and later after the opening of the park, Walt Disney Presents that aired on ABC, Walt would personally host the show that consisted of cartoons, live-action features, and documentaries.  Much of the material was designed to create awareness for Disneyland but was also used to promote upcoming studio feature films.  The show later moved to NBC and taking advantage of the new color television changed its name to Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.

When he did finally pull away from the operations of the park, it was only to focus his attention on a new form of animation, this time in three-plus dimensions: audio animatronics.  Among other things, Walt was focused on creating a believable moving human model in the “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” exhibit for the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair.   After the success of the Mr. Lincoln exhibit, this and other attractions created for the fair (“It’s a Small World” and “Progressland”) were relocated to Disneyland.

Community planning became the next focus on Walt’s life.  He wanted to take the clean and controlled environment that he had been able to create at Disneyland and expand that to a scale of a city.  He invested time and energy researching city planning.  He wanted to bring an idealized community to life through his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT).  This began his search for land that eventually ended up in Florida and became the plans for Disneyworld, now the largest and most visited theme park in the world.  Sadly, he would die on December 15, 1966, prior to realizing the next step in his dream. The night before Walt died, Roy had visited the hospital room and said that he was staring at the ceiling and pointing to where everything was going to be located at EPCOT, including the entrance and exit roads.   With Roy’s leadership of the company, Disneyworld did open but Walt’s community of tomorrow would not be realized.  Instead, a world’s fair, theme park version of his ideas would open in 1982 and be named EPCOT.

Animation

Introduction

I had just started my programming journey into the digital world when TRON appeared in theaters in 1982.  The movie inspired me to pursue my hobby and eventually my career in Computer Science. 

3D Modeling

I have always had a love for 3D modeling.  I assembled my first 3D modeling tool during my Sophomore year in college using C++, X11 Motif and Sun hardware.   Recently I discovered POV-Ray, an open source ray-tracing program that uses a simple Scene Description Language to model primitives.  Naturally, this fits well with the models in TRON so I spent a few hours render various TRON-world objects.   Click Here to see my TRON section.

Tools

Modeling Programs:  Wings3d (freeware), Silo3d (trial-ware), Blender3d (open source)

Converters between 3D formats
Anthony D’Agostino’s Python Scripts for Blender
ExtremeUV

Free renderers
Povray
Yafray
Art of Illusion
Pixie (RIB)
3Delight (RIB) (free for non-commercial use)

Free 3D programs
Anim8or
Art of Illusion
Blender3D
Wings3D

Information about Music and Sound: http://www.jasonacox.com/wordpress/?p=23