Albert Fong’s Post

Book Review: To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History— by Lawrence Levy https://amzn.to/4b5Aykx The book describes Pixar's journey from a loss-making unviable venture, into a profit-making, well respected, publicly listed company. An excellent treatise on how a great team can create a miracle and pull a fledgling company out of the depths of near failure. The author of the book, Lawrence Levy, is invited by Steve Jobs to become the CFO of Pixar at a time when it had already burnt a big hole of $50 mn in Jobs's personal pocket. Jobs had been funding Pixar from his personal resources till then. Somewhat unsure of the decision, Levy still agrees to come on board as Pixar's CFO. But after he joins, he is shocked to find so many issues plaguing Pixar: # products are not selling,  # only one of the 3-4 product lines is in profit,  # Steve Jobs is not a people's person, # the team which has spent years building Pixar is completely disgruntled with Jobs himself,  # the lack of stock options for employees is only adding fuel to the fire,  # the company is badly in need of funds to grow, and Steve Jobs isn't interested in infusing more of his of personal funds into the company, # the last but not the least, before Levy came on board, Pixar has signed a hopelessly one-sided contract with Disney to make animation films for the latter, the terms of which almost ensured that Pixar would at best be left with the tiniest possible share of the profits from the movie and from the future movies over the next several years. Then Levy, the magician, gets cracking. The book describes how he identifies and tackles each of these problems, urges Jobs to renegotiate the terms of the contract with Disney, devises a stock option plan. Levy is also largely responsible for taking Pixar public, that too at a handsome valuation, following the hugely successful box office show of "Toy Story". In fact Levy insists that the IPO and its price should only be announced once Toy Story has been released theatrically. And the move does pay off! Pixar doesn't just attract the interest of institutional investors but also is priced handsomely. The IPO lists on the stock exchange at a premium to the issue price, making Steve Jobs a billionaire in the process. Finally, the book describes the sale of Pixar to Disney. This book is an ideal text for MBA students, startup founders and professionals across almost every sector. Also, a lot to learn from how Levy handles the various people he comes across, at Pixar and outside.

Our whole family with three teens saw Inside Out 2 this weekend. Pixar is back! It made $295MM opening weekend! It's the biggest global animated opening of all time. Everyone should go see it, especially if you have teens. The premise of Inside Out is - Everyone has emotions at a console who help process life - The 1st Inside Out has 5 emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger & Disgust - The 2nd has four more: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy & Ennui (boredom) The first movie is a battle between Joy and Sadness. The second movie is a battle between Joy and Anxiety. It made me wonder when entrepreneurs and executives build strategy, which emotions are at the helm? Category Pirates strategy chessboard lays out three dominant strategies: 1. Compete (e.g., be the winner) - Primary emotions are Fear, Anger, Anxiety, Embarrassment and Envy - These emotions are directed at competition 2. Improve (e.g., be the best) - Primary emotions are Joy, Fear, Anxiety, Envy - These emotions are directed at the product/service 3. Create (e.g., be different) - This strategy uses all the emotions - Directed at the status quo: Anger, Sadness, Disgust, Embarrassment, Ennui - Some are directed at the future: Joy, Envy, Anxiety & Fear Pixar helps me understand why there is so much fun when it comes to Category Design, as there's a much better balance of emotions. It also explains why Category Design creates so much economic abundance, because it requires you to bring all of your emotions to create the future. What emotions are at the helm when it comes to your strategy? https://lnkd.in/gZvRPvUu.

Two weeks outside of PIXAR, you guys, and I’ve got a few thoughts I’m trying to focus. This is a long one, but maybe it’s for you if you’re fighting the good storyteller’s fight. Over the past few years, we’ve all had life hit us with politics, a pandemic, senseless wars, and in entertainment, strikes. Somewhere in there, audiences decided they’d wait for streaming and stop going to theaters like they used to. Budgets, schedules, and expectations all went sideways. And now, studios are struggling to understand where to focus. The thought that keeps surfacing for me, that keeps coming into focus, is ironically something storytellers and visual artists can’t live without. It’s inherent in creating, and it’s inherent in capturing an audience. But it’s something almost everyone shies away from: Conflict. The “rule of threes” is driven and defined by conflict. Jazz works because it does the unexpected, conflicting with pattern. Characters are usually the most fun to watch when they don’t get along, and we lean in closer for free therapy when characters don’t get along with themselves. They’re in conflict with what they want versus what they need, just like us. Act structure is an orchestrated pinball machine that’s designed to knock characters around in unexpected ways—reacting—and “reaction” itself is intrinsically locked in a sort of conflict with monotony. Two weeks ago, when friends at Pixar didn’t know what to say to their suddenly-past-tense-coworkers, I often offered up this little idea: “You have to think of these layoffs like we’re the first kids that stepped off the boats at Normandy. We took some fire so others can advance. We bought you time. How will you use that time?” Man, you point at the conflict and it stops people cold. But if you choose to embrace the conflict, maybe there’s a strange sense of progress. That goes for the people at the studios, and those of us that’ll patch our wounds and keep fighting from the beaches outside the studios. Entertainment itself is in conflict with how to proceed, with how to react/reorganize/reshuffle. With how to make decisions. Leaders are left to second and triple guess their gut instincts. It leads to falling back on “what’s been done before” and fear of gambling on innovation. Look, I’m no dummy. I know I make things up for a living. My job is to avoid growing up—to try to remember the wonder I felt when I experienced things for the first time, and then to seed that dynamic into crafted storytelling experiences. My job is not to keep telling the same jokes, but to understand why people laugh…why they feel, and then use it against them to help them feel. You can’t keep going back to the same well when every audience member wants something different than the water you’re pouring. Embrace the conflict and focus. Sometimes the clarity you’re after is right there in the middle of the mayhem.

Look no further than Steve Jobs for why companies should use shareholder letters to communicate. Check out his 1997 Pixar Animation Studios annual letter as CEO. What's noteworthy is the clarity with which Jobs describes Pixar's strategy & focus areas - the backhalf of the letter focusing on the Disney deal & Pixar's core capabilities is fantastic reading. (The historical context is also fun - 12m before Jobs returns to Apple, catching Pixar just after its IPO and initial Toy Story success, the reminder that Pixar was a spinout of Lucasfilm and that Jobs sat on the The Walt Disney Company board post Pixar's acquisition, and that Disney would buy Lucasfilm 12m after Jobs passed away). Another HT to the team @ KG for this find. https://lnkd.in/gHtvP6p9

JOY RETURNED TO HOLLYWOOD THIS WEEKEND Even better ANXIETY and its ally FEAR were banished! What brought JOY back? 295 million dollar WW opening for Inside Out 2 including estimated 155 from North America Great EXITs- 71 def recommend and A Cinemascore Broad Demos with outsized turnouts from teens, Hispanics and non family audiences Why is Box Office Anxiety finally pushed aside? Despite worries that Pixar brand was damaged by straight to Disney + titles, polarizing messaging and theatrical’s slow summer start, Pixar has their second biggest opening all time behind The Incredibles 2 What tactics propelled this massive win? We at EDO measured and marveled at a campaign that built optimized and expanded at every critical phase The Disney marketing machine excelled with their long length story spots that reignited Nostalgia for the first film’s concept for families The result of getting the family audience job done early was they were able to kick into a high gear opening week using 15 reviews spots as well as villain conflict story spots to bring onboard general audiences that enabled huge walk up business Friday So if you are looking for a little joy, catch this gem of a film that mixes humor, emotion and an ultra intelligent look at what determines sense of self

Inside Out 2 Is Pixar Doing What Pixar Does Best Over the past 3 decades, Pixar made a sanction for itself making animated films that perfectly thread the needle. On the 1 side? Vibrant, kid-friendly entertainment. The other? Complex, powerful, relatable big themes. Wall-E is a movie astir a robot, but it’s besides astir love, loneliness, and the extremity of the world. Toy Story is astir talking toys but it’s besides astir loyalty, selfishness, and friendship. In caller years, the institution has struggled to find that just-right balance, but Inside Out 2 does that and past some. It’s a reminder that erstwhile Pixar gets things right, magic is possible. Sonos First Ever Headphones Are Too Expensive For What They Offer Inside Out 2 picks up close wherever things near disconnected successful Pete Docter’s Oscar-winning 2015 original. Riley Andersen is present 13 years old, and aft antecedently being controlled by lone 5 halfway emotions (Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, Disgust), puberty necessitates respective caller ones articulation her mind. There’s Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and astir importantly, Anxiety (Maya Hawke), who rapidly takes a enactment role. This forces Riley’s archetypal emotions connected a travel to find Riley’s existent self, arsenic they continually tally up against the idiosyncratic Riley has go present that she’s driven by her caller emotions. Much similar the archetypal film, the champion happening astir Inside Out 2 is conscionable however clever it is. Almost each azygous happening that happens successful it volition person you shaking your caput and wondering “How did they travel up with that?” It starts with Riley forming beliefs and extends to clever realizations of concepts specified arsenic sarcasm, brainstorming, and watercourse of consciousness. Other highlights see a fewer caller characters recovered successful Riley’s vault wherever she keeps her biggest secrets, and an intense, frankly astonishing infinitesimal adjacent the extremity of the movie that pushes the boundaries of kids’ movies. (Hint for immoderate parents, what’s the archetypal connection you deliberation of aft you perceive the connection “anxiety”?) The caller emotions.Image: Pixar Many of those characters and situations let Pixar to research antithetic types of animation astatine assorted points successful the film, specified arsenic hand-drawn and paper-cut. Now, they’re astir apt each inactive machine generated, but seeing Pixar’s classical CG characters broadside by broadside with these different styles gives Inside Out 2 its ain unsocial benignant and voice. Speaking of voices, the film’s caller dependable actors springiness the archetypal formed (and their replacements) a existent tally for their money. While ...

Innovative Processes ▶︎ Strategic Advantage Innovative processes can be used to cultivate a competitive edge and create an enduring strategic advantage. Consider Pixar. Pixar’s innovation processes are rooted in a deeply collaborative and iterative approach to storytelling and animation. Their culture is characterized by openness, candidness, and rigorous feedback. Scripts undergo frequent and intense review sessions from peer directors and writers, resulting in numerous revisions and refinements. *** “Every time we show a film for the first time, it sucks.” – Ed Catmull, founder of Pixar *** In 2002, Disney was considering its option to renew its distribution partnership with Pixar. Disney’s CEO, Michael Eisner, was given an early preview of the movie Finding Nemo. Afterwards, Eisner emailed the Disney board: *** “Yesterday we saw for the second time the new Pixar movie ‘Finding Nemo’ … This will be a reality check for these guys. It’s okay, but nowhere near as good as their previous films. Of course, they think it’s great.” – Michael Eisner, (former) CEO of Disney *** Eisner wanted to wait until the film was released -- and flopped publicly – before completing negotiations with Pixar. What Eisner missed: Pixar’s ability to recognize issues, revise, and improve. These iterative improvements transformed Finding Nemo from not-so-good to a smashing hit and one of the highest-grossing animated films in history. A few years later, after Eisner was replaced by Bob Iger as CEO, Disney acquired Pixar for $7.5 billion. Source: Little Bets, Peter Sims, 2011 ------------------------- Read more... The Strategy Power Pyramid ™ - Resources and Capabilities (https://lnkd.in/gB8KWByb) #strategy #strategydevelopment #strategyexecution #execution

That would mark the biggest opening of the year so far in a boost for animation in general and Pixar in particular. The forecast is also looking bright for Illumination's Fourth of July tentpole Despicable Me 4. On Thursday, Hollywood’s leading tracking service the National Research Group upped its domestic opening forecast for the summer’s first animated tentpole from $85 million to $90 million. Tracking has been notoriously off this year, and especially this summer, so the decision to go out with a higher number is significant. At this pace, Inside Out 2 has a strong shot of scoring the top domestic opening of the year to date, supplanting Dune: Part II ($82.5 million). And if early predictions are correct, Despicable Me 4 will cross $100 million in its five-day debut over the Fourth of July holiday (it opens July 3). The family pic came on tracking Thursday, with one service suggesting a five-day haul of $110 million.

Did you know that Steve Jobs's success wasn't solely due to his work at Apple? According to reports, it was actually Pixar Animation Studios and the success of the movie "Toy Story" that made him his first billion. After being ousted from Apple in 1985, Jobs found himself at a crossroads and this pivotal moment led him to Pixar. Under his leadership as CEO and major shareholder, Pixar revolutionized animation and secured Jobs's financial legacy. The turning point came with Pixar's IPO in 1995, coinciding with the release of "Toy Story." The success at Pixar restored Jobs's reputation and gave him the confidence to reassume leadership at Apple. His experiences at Pixar, navigating the intricacies of the entertainment industry alongside Lawrence Levy, provided lessons that Jobs would later apply to Apple's operations. The synergy between technology and storytelling that defined Pixar's ethos became a fundamental aspect of Apple's product development under Jobs's leadership. Through Pixar, Jobs not only redefined animation but set a new standard for leadership and creativity in business, leaving a permanent mark on Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Lawrence Levy's memoir, "To Pixar and Beyond," chronicles this journey and the strategic decisions that propelled Pixar into a leading animation studio, and eventually its acquisition by Disney in 2006 for over $7 billion. Steve Jobs's venture into animation showcases his multifaceted career, marked by innovation, resilience, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.

Although some may argue that Finance is not a creative field, like animation, I often find that there are many opportunities to think broadly about options while still being compliant, transparent, and accurate. Interestingly enough, this book about creativity is about 90% really about leadership, including this concepts that the author constantly thought about at Pixar - control, trust, change, randomness, and consequences. Here's a list from GoodReads about some of the main points, but if you like anything about Pixar, Disney, or true leadership, I'd recommend the read! "• 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. • If you don’t strive to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill prepared to lead. • It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them. • The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. • Do not assume that general agreement will lead to change—it takes substantial energy to move a group, even when all are on board."