Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.

Ed Catmull (President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation) mentions above quote in his book ‘Creativity, Inc.‘ while explaining the reasons behind why “Braintrust” – the backbone of Pixar’s creative process is an integral part of Pixar’s success. Braintrust is a group of highly effective and creative people at Pixar, which participates in all new film projects and guides the creative team to achieve unprecedented success.

The essence of above quote revolves around the basic fact that a great team can turn a mediocre idea into a successful one through better teamwork. It is just not the individual member’s talent and skills that matter, but also how those individuals complement each other in a creative process is very critical to its success. A great team addresses and resolves flaws in a mediocre idea through constructive criticism. It helps eliminate root causes of an idea that makes it sound ordinary, and then it recommends different approaches  to steer the team towards achieving its goal. If the idea is not worth of exploring further, such great teams will immediately drop it and come up with something better that is worth of investing time and energy.

Creativity, Inc. is the best book that will help managers who want to lead employees to achieve new heights and build a creative culture in a company. It’s a must read!

Amazon link to the book below.


Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

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