Category Archives: Employee Engagement

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Article on Pixar’s Culture Featured in Economic Times

Economic Times LogoPixar’s leadership team has discovered the secret to consistently creating great films, and it has nothing to do with merely hiring great talent (although they do that too). The secret can be summed up in one word: connection.

An article I wrote on the topic has been featured in the Economic Times, India’s premier daily business publication. Be sure to read Animated Leadership: How Catmull & Co. Created a Culture that Consistently Makes Great Films and share your thoughts in the comments.

What lessons from Pixar’s culture will you apply to your own organization?

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Can Phil Jackson Build “the Yankees of Basketball”?

philjackson

As seen on Fox Business.

Phil Jackson, the New York Knicks’ new president of basketball operations, is nothing if not audacious.  After building two basketball dynasties as a coach of the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, he accepted the challenge to achieve a three-peat, but this time in the toughest town of all, New York City.  Furthermore, he will try to build more than a great team.  In his new role, he is responsible for building a broader organization.

Will Jackson end his career in a blaze of glory or will the Knicks and New York City reduce him to smoldering ashes?  Despite the obstacles, I’m betting on the former.  And there will be a lesson for CEOs in watching Jackson in action. 

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3 Ways Pixar Gains Competitive Advantage from Its Culture

As seen on Fox Business.

To infinity and beyond: That’s where Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios are headed, provided they maintain the type of leaders that have gotten them this far. Ed Catmull, President of Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios, describes what he’s learned about leadership and corporate culture in his excellent new book, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.

Pixar has been phenomenally successful with the likes of Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and Up, to name but a few of its films. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar to boost its struggling Walt Disney Animation Studios unit. Catmull and John Lasseter, Pixar’s CEO, were appointed to lead the unit as president and CEO, respectively.  With the leadership change, Disney began to produce hits such as Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph.  If any doubt existed that Disney’s magic was back, it was put to rest with the 2013 release of the blockbuster movie Frozen.  Having earned well over a billion dollars in revenue at the box office in its first six months, Frozen became the highest-grossing animated feature ever and moved into the top-10 worldwide highest grossing movies of all time.

The success of Pixar and Disney Animation begs the question: what’s the secret sauce? In a word, it’s “culture,” i.e. the shared attitudes, language and behavior that consistently produce excellence in a given endeavor.  With 70 percent of American workers disengaged today, Pixar and Disney Animation provide a model for engaging and energizing employees by making culture a competitive advantage.

Here are three ways Catmull and his leadership team create a culture that consistently makes great films.

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Consider the Effect of Physical Space on Connection

Pixar Headquarters

Pixar Headquarters, Photo Credit Pixar Animation Studios

#24 Consider the Effect of Physical Space on Connection

When Ed Catmull, CEO of Pixar Animation, and Steve Jobs, Pixar’s primary owner at the time, designed Pixar’s new headquarters, they created a large centralized space that included the company’s entrance and visitor reception area, meeting rooms, company cafeteria, employee mail slots and restrooms.  Their rationale was that a centralized space would facilitate connection.

Research supports that physical location and office space design does affect connection.  In general, people who work in physical space near one another feel more connected and physical spaces that are more open encourage connection. Consider how your organization’s physical space and office design encourages or discourages connection and how you can make changes to boost connection.

This is the twenty-fourth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Connect by Staying in Touch

Writing a Letter

#22 Hold In-Person Meetings and Regularly Check-In

Good relationships are maintained by staying in touch. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill understood this. Historians have found more than 1,700 letters, notes and telegrams Churchill wrote to his wife so that they would remain connected.

Take a page from Churchill’s playbook. With your direct reports, stay connected by meeting weekly with them in person, if at all possible. If you cannot meet weekly, use “check ins” – phone calls, emails, text messages – to help keep you connected. To stay connected with people who work remotely, regularly call or Skype them. Remote work can be lonely and people should feel you are on their team and want to help them achieve their potential. Besides work issues, inquire about how they are doing personally, too. There is much truth to the old saying that “people don’t care what you know until they know you care.”

This is the twenty-second post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Warren Buffett’s 3 Practices that Attract and Retain Top Talent

Many people look to Warren Buffett for investment guidance, and rightly so.  Buffett is widely recognized as an exceptional judge of corporate value. “The Oracle of Omaha,” as he is known, is arguably the most successful investor in history. Corporate leaders regularly make the trek to Omaha, Nebraska, seeking his wisdom.

With so much attention on Buffett’s investment acumen, it’s easy to overlook another talent: motivating people. It’s one of a host of reasons his investments tend to outperform the market.

The talented managers who run Buffett’s companies remain with him because he keeps them engaged in their jobs.  In Buffett’s own words, “Charlie [Charlie Munger, Buffett’s longtime business partner] and I mainly attend to capital allocation and the care and feeding of our key managers . . . Most of our managers are independently wealthy and it’s up to us to create a climate that encourages them to choose working with Berkshire over golfing or fishing.”

A closer look at Buffett shows, at least in part, how he does it.

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Stay Aligned With Core Values

Ritz Carlton Values on Card#20 Stay Aligned with Core Values

Take your direct reports through the final core values you decided upon. Discuss which values are most important to your team’s success, which values your team is strong in, which values it needs to develop and what can be done to live them out. Follow up with a written summary of action items, responsibilities and due dates that come out of the meeting. Meet periodically to review and revise the action plan. Ask your direct reports to do the same with their direct reports.

Consider having your core values printed on a small card that can fit in a wallet. Each Ritz-Carlton employee receives a card with the organization’s core values (called “Ritz Basics”) printed on the front and back sides of the card. Teams meet briefly every day to review one of the 20 Ritz-Carlton values and each week one example of a Ritz-Carlton employee who lived out a value is shared with all Ritz-Carlton employees worldwide.

This is the twentieth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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To Connect, Communicate Meaningful Core Values

Woman looking into distance whilst thinking#19 Reflect Upon, Write Out and Communicate Your Core Values

Take time alone to reflect on the values you believe in and want to live out in your life. For inspiration, read Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz’s excellent book Pour Your Heart Into It and read the Montpelier Command Philosophy in Fired Up or Burned Out. Write out your core values in a manner that is similar to the Montpelier Command Philosophy, i.e name the value, explain what it means and why you believe it’s important. Ask trusted friends whom you respect to read your values and provide feedback about “what’s right, what’s wrong and what’s missing” from them. When you believe your draft is in good shape, share it with your direct reports and ask them to provide feedback about “what’s right, what’s wrong and what’s missing.” Consider the feedback, make the changes that you believe improve it and then circulate the final to your direct reports.

This is the nineteenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.