Delight streamed through my veins when I opened the business section of the Sunday New York Times. It wasn't the raging economic debate over monetary policy, but the fact that Edwin Catmull, who heads up Pixar Animation studios and Walt Disney Animation had taken a stab at meditation.
Writer Dan Fost reported that Catmull had taken a retreat at the Shambhala Mountain Center in northern Colorado.
"When things are intense and there's a lot at stake, I have no trouble focusing. But when they're not intense, my brain starts popping off in all sorts of places," said Catmull in the article.
Fost wrote that Catmull is, "…painted as the left-brain businessman and technologist who runs Pixar's nuts and bolts."
When we speak of the left-brain approach, it's generally thought of as the more logical, sequential, and academic way of being, especially in the workplace. The right brain is associated with a more random intuitive mode of thinking.
Catmull is credited with the commercial success of Pixar, which would indicate he's good at the detailed financial and organizational structure of running an entertainment business in a time of distress and digital take overs. Those are arguably left-brain activities. But if you look at the design of an animation company, there is an enormous amount of creativity involved. It's difficult to say his drive is determined by left-or-right brain tendencies.
Still, it's not surprising that Catmull would venture into the exploration of his other half - as he successfully continues to create in the world of imagination.
