The rebel contribution

I have read the biography of Steve Jobs, watched different movie versions and some documentary takes on his life, career and rise to success. I even had the privilege to interview his biographer Walter Isaacson, a couple of years ago in New York while he gave a talk during a business conference. But a very little known fact about Jobs is his stint with Pixar.

In 2000, Pixar was worried. The senior leaders in the company were all asking the same question: Was Pixar losing its edge? They have had blockbusters in the past. And who would have forgotten the film that propelled the company to fame Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and A Bug’s Life, but at this point in their business life they feared that the creativity that fueled them to success might have been experiencing a decline and, ironically, because of the very successes they have created.

The creative team needed to be fired up, so what the executives did was to hire an experienced animated film director to come and invigorate the team. In Eric Barker’s latest book “Barking Up the Wrong Tree,” he gives us the inside story.

To invigorate the team, they hired Brad Bird, director of the acclaimed animated film Iron Giant to helm Pixar’s next big project. Jobs, John Lasseter, and Ed Catmull felt Bird had the mind to keep the company vibrant.

Steve Jobs himself was well convinced that Bird was the perfect person who to do the job. So here now is the question. Did Bird address the creativity crisis by leaning on Pixar’s established top performers? No. Did he recruit top outside talent and bring in new blood? Nope. This wasn’t the time to play it safe and look for “filtered” talent. It had made them successful, but it had also gotten them to this sticking point.

Eric Barker, in his book, gives us the blow-by-blow account of what happened next. As he assembled his first project at Pixar, Bird revealed his plan to address the creativity crisis: “Give us the black sheep. I want artists who are frustrated. I want the ones who have another way of doing things that nobody’s listening to. Give us all the guys who are probably headed out the door.” Translation: Give me your “unfiltered” artists. I know they’re crazy. That’s exactly what I need.

Bird’s new “Dirty Dozen” of animation didn’t just make a film differently. They changed the way the entire studio worked:

“We gave the black sheep a chance to prove their theories, and we changed the way a number of things are done here. For less money per minute than was spent on the previous film, Finding Nemo, we did a movie that had three times the number of sets and had everything that was hard to do. All this because the heads of Pixar gave us leave to try crazy ideas.”

The rebels were able to create a new project that grossed over $600 million and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. And that project was “The Incredibles.”

How was it achieved? Simple. The “rebels” were allowed to experiment with their ideas and they did it successfully. Not because they were “rebels” alone who challenged convention, but because they were allowed to do it by someone who had the penchant of being a rebel himself, Steve Jobs. And top management supported it.

There are many “rebels” in your business organizations. They are usually the millennials who have the ability to invent new things and are attuned to the changing times. But they usually do not have their voices heard because some traditional, conventional managers see them as being unruly, undisciplined, misbehaving, impatient spoiled brats that make their “managing” difficult.

In other words, they are labeled as “rebels.” What is worst is that some tenured senior managers who never even bother to read the latest business books and to search for self-development shoot their ideas down, frustrate them and drive them away bringing with them their intellectual assets to their competitors.

“Rebels” are viewed as arrogant, dishonest, and disorganized. We have a lot of these in schools, they had low grades, they misbehave and they tend to question things they do not agree with and their teachers hate them for it. Yet years later you find that many of the classroom rebels turn out to be very successful entrepreneurs.

Would “rebel” employees in your organizations win “Employee of the Month Award?” They hardly do and senior managers would never view them as great employees. It’s no surprise that creativity is inversely correlated with employee performance reviews. They are never objective.

Now let me be clear. When I talk about “rebels” here, I do not mean people who have a propensity to commit crime, embezzlement, immorality or are involved in ethical breaches in the organization. They should be dealt with legally and accordingly. But the rebels in your organization – meaning those who would challenge convention, come up with “crazy” ideas and are willing to initiate creative initiative should have a chance to have their voices heard.

Ideas are the currencies of the future.

I guess the question I need to ask you now is, are your creative and innovative people in your organizations churning out fresh new ideas that may just bring your business to the next level? And would you or your managers support them? Time to reflect on this.

(Experience two inspiring days of leadership training with Francis Kong in his highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership seminar-workshop this Aug. 23-24 at Seda Hotel, BGC. For registration or inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798.)