Goal: Push creative work from mediocre to excellent.
Mental Model: The Brain Trust — A peer-based feedback system that removes hierarchy and ego to diagnose creative problems through institutionalized candor, without prescribing solutions or threatening the creator’s autonomy.
Early on, all of our movies suck. Pixar films are not good at first, and our job is to make them so—to go, as I say, “from suck to not-suck.”
— Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.
That blunt truth powers Pixar’s greatest films. The tool that gets them there? The Braintrust — a peer-based feedback system that strips away hierarchy and ego to deliver brutally honest diagnoses of creative problems, while protecting the creator’s autonomy.
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What the Braintrust Actually Is
It’s a collaborative peer-review meeting where experienced creatives review work-in-progress (a film sequence, product prototype, campaign, or design). The goal: push projects toward excellence and root out mediocrity through institutionalized candor.
Candor is the quality of being open, honest, and straightforward — especially when delivering difficult or uncomfortable truths — without sugarcoating, hedging, or holding back.
What It Is Not
Not hierarchical. Job titles disappear. Even Steve Jobs was kept out because his presence would stifle honesty. Jeff Bezos does something similar: he speaks last so his view doesn’t color the room.
Not prescriptive. The group diagnoses problems like doctors on a tough case — they don’t dictate the cure. Suggestions illustrate points, but the final call stays with the director/creator. Their solution is almost always better, but only after they hear from the braintrust.
No decisions are made. Feedback is a gift, not an order. The creator decides what (or whether) to change. This removes defensiveness and keeps ownership intact.
Not about egos. The project, not the person, goes under the microscope. You are not your idea.
Why It Works: Institutionalized Candor
Creatives inevitably lose perspective — they fuse with the work and can’t see the forest for the trees. This is both normal and okay. The Braintrust provides fresh eyes without threatening autonomy.
A classic example from The Incredibles: The group said a Bob-and-Helen argument scene felt wrong — Bob came off as a bully. While the obvious solution was to change the words or tone used by Bob, the film’s director Brad Bird realized the real issue wasn’t the dialogue but the visuals: massive Bob dwarfed tiny Helen. He fixed it by having Helen stretch and hold her ground physically. No lines changed. The scene worked. The group identified the problem; the director found the elegant fix.
Pixar took this further with Notes Day — a full-company event where 1,200 employees generated thousands of ideas to fight creeping self-censorship. likely a byproduct of the company’s massive success. Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter opened by publicly sharing tough personal feedback on his own leadership, setting the vulnerability bar high.
Ultimately, Pixar’s model proves that "if there is more truth in the hallways than in meetings, you have a problem.”
Read Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull for the full story. It’s one of the best books on building a creative culture.
- Dante
P.s. For the full breakdown, watch the YouTube video.