Apple/Pixar Management Insights: McKinsey on "Cultivating Innovation"

If you’re looking for business insights from the house of Jobs and have already gobbled up the excellent offerings from Isaacson and Lashinsky, consider this insightful PDF from McKinsey. in 2008, The McKinsey Quarterly produced an anthology of interviews on the theme of “Cultivating Innovation.” It contains seven features, three of which should prove highly relevant to those who are interested in gathering more Jobs-related insights. Specifically:

Innovation lessons from Pixar: An interview with Oscar-winning director Brad Bird

Pixar’s Brad Bird makes his living fostering creativity. In an interview, this director of two Academy Award–winning animated films (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) describes how he pushes teams of animators beyond their comfort zones, encourages dissent, and builds morale.

Lessons from innovation’s front lines: An interview with IDEO’s CEO

Many companies claim to be innovative, but few can claim innovation as their raison d’être. One such innovation machine is IDEO—a designer of products, services, and experiences ranging from Apple’s first mass-market computer mouse to aspects of Prada’s store in New York City to the patient care delivery model at SSM DePaul Health Center, in St. Louis, Missouri. Tim Brown, CEO of the design firm IDEO, has been on the front lines of innovation for more than two decades. In this interview, he distills lessons from a career spent helping scores of companies, nonprofits, and government agencies to become more innovative.

Coaching innovation: An interview with Intuit’s Bill Campbell

In an interview on innovation, Bill Campbell, the chairman of the software maker Intuit and a high level counselor to Silicon Valley icons including Apple and Google, discusses how companies such as Google strive to invent new products and services, while others, like Apple, focus on perfecting technology to create a seamless end-to-end consumer experience.