Either what powers greatness in organizations is the dull, boring stuff we all know or Ed Catmull isn't the most charming writer or, as is often the case, the reality is somewhere in between. 

Ed Catmull is one of the founders of the amazing and incredibly successful film-making enterprise called Pixar. His 2014 book called 'Creativity, Inc' is his attempt to help us understand "the forces that stand in the way of inspiration" in your average corporation. 

Catmull is clearly someone to be respected and admired. He, along with his colleagues (and with a little help from someone called Steve Jobs) helped create in Pixar one of the most admired creative enterprises. However, 'Creativity, Inc' often reads like a long and boring recital of hometown homilies. 

The book is worth reading for some interesting inside stories about the early days of Pixar and tidbits from various pixar movies that have now become a major part of our pop culture. Like the story about how Toy Story's digital copies were lost, restore from backup did not work and only a borderline illegal copy saved the film. Or how Disney had no box office #1 from 1994 through 2010. Or how the new hit 'Inside Out' has been in development in some shape or form for years. 

Apart from these stories, the rest of the book is hard to get through. There are stumbling blocks for cynics. Here are some that I almost didn't survive. 

• “No matter what happened, they would always tell each other the truth. ”
• “the best managers acknowledge and make room for what they do not know”
• “a democratic central tenet: You don’t have to ask permission to take responsibility”
• “Human interaction is far more complex than relativity or string theory”
• “Ideas come from people. Therefore, people are more important than ideas.”
• “Find, develop, and support good people”
• “Quality is the best business plan”
• “Your employees are smart; that’s why you hired them”
• “No one was defensive. Everyone was proud”
• “I favor principles that lead you to think”
• “creativity is more like a marathon than a sprint”
• “But ease isn’t the goal; excellence is.”

I just wish Catmull had written a different kind of book - one that was more about Pixar and less about how we can all make our own Pixar.