Culture Club

This past weekend I noticed a documentary on Netflix called Inside Pixar.  Since my son was with me folding laundry I thought this would be something cool to watch together.  It focused on John Lasseter, the head of Pixar and the company's journey over the last 20 years.  Here are some interesting things I learned:

• Lasseter actually worked for Disney in the late 70s/early 80s and was fired for being too creative.  He was immediately hired by Lucas Arts for his ability to solve problems using creative solutions.
• The company's buildings are designed in such a way as to facilitate conversation.  Whether it is during lunch, walking to a meeting or just going for a stroll.
• Hugging is the preferred greeting for Lasseter.  He even has a doll of himself in his office (among the hundreds of other toys) that has "real hugging action."
• In every film Pixar has created, when they set out to make the movie, they had to invent the technology to make their ideas a reality.

http://goo.gl/VpwJNr

This last idea is the one that fascinates me the most.  Imagine at the start of every school year, the school's goal is to create something that has never been done before.  Or, every club sets a goal of conducting a fundraiser that has never been done in the school before.  Or every teacher's goal is to create a project/teach a lesson/try something that they have never done before.

Imagine the culture of creation that the school community would have.

We use phrases like "that's the way we have always done it."  What if innovation was the thing we always do?