Great People Do Great Work

Apr 10, 2017

I’ve been reading Creativity Inc. It’s really just a book about how Pixar was built. Ironically, it has a management twist. I didn’t realize this when I bought it. I’m just a fan of Pixar and have been reading biography type books lately. I’m a sucker for movies based on true stories. So I figured why not read some books of the same type. But back to the point.

In the book, Ed Catmull is talking about some of Pixar’s successes and some of their failures. He says something that has stuck with me for a few days now.

Getting the team right is the precursor to getting the ideas right

The general idea is this: You can give a mediocre team a great idea and they will build that great idea, but a mediocre team will never make a mediocre idea great. Contrary, you can give a great team a mediocre idea and they will make it great.

This backs up my thought process behind recruiting and hiring at Whitelabel. I look for great people, not necessarily great developers. Not because I don’t value great developers. But because a great person can become a great developer. A great developer that is a jerk, can’t always become a great person.

Bet on people, not skills.

We’ve had huge success with this at Whitelabel. We have great people that have become great developers.

I’ll bet on character over skills every time. No question.

Great people do great work.