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Design Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: To Pixar and Beyond

To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History by Lawrence Levy proves to be a wonderful read. Levy, the former Pixar CFO reveals significant financial challenges Pixar faced upon his arrival.

To Pixar and Beyond

Steve Jobs purchased Pixar from George Lucas for $5 million and then invested $5 million into the company. Steve brought Lawrence to Pixar in 1994. Lawrence Levy shares how Disney really put the screws to Pixar. Disney played hardball with a small company struggling and got away with it.

Lawrence shares how he and Steve took walks around their neighborhood around Palo Alto on Saturdays. He described many of the topics of their walks. This reveals much about Steve’s view of the company. Steve was growing Pixar to be a rockstar animation company.

My insights gained from To Pixar and Beyond is that Steve always saw the company holding an amazing future. There were roadblocks with Disney at times, yet Pixar was unknowingly growing into a change agent for Hollywood.

Much has been written about Steve’s control of Pixar stock. This included a negative image held among Pixar staff when he purchased the company. To be blunt, Jobs burned over $10 million of personal money to keep Pixar afloat. At the time the company really did not have a solid business revenue model for many years.

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Design Education Innovation Reading Technology

Latest read: Creativity, Inc.

Not long ago I began reading Creativity, Inc. Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration the story of Pixar written by co-fonder Ed Catmull.

Creativity, Inc.On the surface you may consider this a story about animation movies beginning with Toy Story. However, you would be wrong. Some may want this to be a historical look at the company from Lucasfilm and their acquisition by Steve Jobs to the merger with Disney. Others want to see the inside of Pixar as Jobs ran the company.

However this book is about management. And, it does not disappoint.