Jobs at Pixar
Those of you have been following what I write will be aware that I am interested in Steven Jobs management techniques - or lack thereof - at Apple. After leaving Apple the first time in the mid-eighties, Jobs started a new computer firm, Next. He had money. He had time. He was mad. A good combination for starting a tech company. It didn't really work, unfortunately, and Jobs ended up selling some of the Next operating system to Apple in the late nineties, presaging his return as CEO. We know all that. I wanted to know about Jobs's time at Pixar. Did he act the same way? Was he as pushy? Or - and this is what really happened - did he just sign checks and leave folks alone because he couldn't really influence the art at Pixar, as everyone was better than him at animation. That's basically how it worked. Jobs ended up investing $55 million ($5 million to buy the company from Lucas Film (Price, 7), and $50 million over ten years to keep the doors open). Ultimately, his job was to stay out of the way, let the management in place run things, and, importantly, arrange for distribution agreements of Pixar animations through Disney, and, finally, the sale of the whole company to Disney. Along the way, Jobs was part of the reason that Eisner ended up leaving Disney, to be replaced by the more affable Iger, who Jobs could get along with, and, who, with Jobs nudging, bought Pixar for stock worth at that time $7.4 billion. Not a bad performance for Jobs. Patience paid off.
Price, David A. The Pixar Touch. The Making of a Company. Alfred A.Knopf. 2008.