What made Notes Day work? To me, it boils down to three factors. First, there was a clear and focused goal. This wasnât a free-for-all but a wide-ranging discussion (organized around topics suggested not by Human Resources or by Pixarâs executives, but by the companyâs employees) aimed at addressing a specific reality: the need to cut our costs by 10 percent. While the discussion topics were allowed - even encouraged - to stray into areas that might seem only vaguely related to this goal, the fact that it was there was key. It provided a framework - and it kept us from falling into confusion.
Second, this was an idea championed by those at the highest levels of the company. Had the enormous task of making Notes Day a reality been shunted off on someone who didnât have the clout to throw muscle behind it - and not entrusted to Tom, who in turn recruited the most organized people in the company to help him - it would have been an entirely different experience. Employees wouldnât have bought into the idea because theyâd sense that management hadnât, either. And that would have rendered Notes Day moot.
Third, and relatedly, Notes Day was led from within. Many companies hire outside consulting firms to organize their all-staff retreats, and I understand why: Doing them well is a monumental, enormously time-consuming undertaking. But that our own people made Notes Day happen was, I believe, key to its success. Not only did they drive the discussion in meaningful ways, but their involvement also paid its own dividends. Seeing themselves engage and cooperate, steering the agenda toward something that could make a real difference, they remembered why they worked at Pixar. Their commitment was contagious. Notes Day wasnât an end point but a beginning - a way of making room for our employees to step forward and think about their role in our companyâs future. I said before that problems are easy to identify, but finding the source of those problems is extraordinarily difficult. Notes brought problems to the surface - but we still had the hard work in front of us. Notes Day didnât solve anything all by itself. But it shifted our culture - repaired it, even - in ways that will make us better as we go forward.