Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Edwin E. Catmull is a book about creativity but also about leadership from Catmull's perspective. He is the president of Disney Studios and the co-founder and president of Pixar Animation Studios. Catmull's leadership philosophy is that everyone has the potential to be creative and to encourage that development is a noble pursuit for any manager. He also outlines the blocks to creativity and how to overcome them.
I first heard about this book while I was reading Rising Strong by Brene Brown. Brown, a shame researcher, had gone to Pixar to give a talk to the staff and Catmull had explained that the middle of the creative process is the hardest part because that is where the character must make a choice about how he or she will proceed. The middle of the story is the messiest but the story cannot move forward without this important middle. Likewise, leaders must take charge of their own emotional narratives so that they can be effective leaders. Reading their exchange got me curious about the creativity process from someone who has created so many inspirational films, and, of course, I wanted a peek into Disney and Pixar. An excellent book on creativity and leadership as well as a look behind the scenes on the movies we love and how they were created.