The Rise of Ed Catmull
Ed Catmull grew up idolizing Walt Disney and Albert Einstein. When he studied physics
and computer science at the University of Utah, his classmates included Jim Clark, future
founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape, and John Warnock, who would co-found Adobe.
Working with these brilliant people, he learned that tension always emerges between an
“individual’s personal creative contribution” and the “leverage of the group.” As he and
his colleagues developed computer animation, they built on each other’s breakthroughs.
Catmull felt that the tougher the problem, the more minds should tackle it. But when strong
minds work together, they all must set aside worry about who gets credit, since rivalry
undercuts creativity. A firm suffers if any unit feels its goals are paramount. Short-term
agendas may differ, but everyone shares the same goals.