Discipline Individuals Directly Instead of Making Blanket Company Rules
Ed Catmull · Building Pixar, Working With Steve Jobs, and Cultivating Creativity | Ed Catmull · Jun 14, 2026 · at 1:32:06
Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull shares his philosophy on corporate governance, warning against rule proliferation that stifles workplace autonomy.
0:00 / 0:18exact quote · 18.4s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“If somebody violates a rule of common sense, People do once in a while. You call them on the carpet, you tell them you can't do it, but you don't make a rule so that nobody else makes the same mistake. Because as soon as you make more rules, then people are worried about what are all these rules? Who do I have to ask for permission?”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Ed Catmull
Jack Welch Gutted GE and His Disciples Later Damaged Boeing
“It's split up into pieces. And it was completely fragile. Not robust because he gutted it of the future research. But the people that were there were hired and considerably valuable because they'd grown up in that system. Two of them which went on to become le…”
Steve Jobs Was Excluded From Pixar's Braintrust Due to His Overwhelming Presence
“Steve had such a powerful voice that it didn't matter when he spoke,
Ed Catmull: He was going to have this extremely strong effect on the dynamics of the room, and he understood that.
Ed Catmull: So, it was the reason he didn't come.
Ed Catmull: I said, you…”
Steve Jobs Never Gave Film Notes That Others Had Not Already Voiced
“There was nothing that Steve ever said that had not been said by some of the, somebody else before in one of those meetings.”
Steve Jobs Transformed His Leadership Style Between 1991 and 1995
“What people didn't understand, and I think they didn't know, was that years of 91 to 95 was when Steve made this major transformation.”
Corporate Leaders Mistake Sycophancy for Insight
“Every company says they do that. Most of them are full of shit, right? They, what they've got are people around them who are telling them what the leader wants to hear. And the leader thinks, because they're hearing what they want to hear, that they've got thi…”
Steve Jobs Fired Two Pixar Board Members for Never Disagreeing
“In that 10 year period, Steve fired two members of the board of directors at Pixar. The reason he fired them was that they never disagreed, and he said, if they don't disagree with me, then they aren't bringing any value to the company.”