The Leaders Who Protect Ideas

Why Great Leadership Means Building Cultures That Let Ideas Thrive

There’s a simple but provocative question I often pose in my keynotes and classes:

What’s more important for innovation—ideas or people?

I borrowed this exercise from Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar, whom I had the privilege of meeting in the summer of 2024. In his article in Harvard Business Review, Catmull recounts a conversation he had with the head of a major motion picture studio. The executive told him that his biggest challenge wasn’t finding good people—it was finding good ideas.

Catmull strongly disagreed.

He believed the real challenge wasn’t coming up with good ideas—it was building teams that could develop and evolve them. In his experience, even great ideas fall apart in the hands of the wrong team, while great teams can make something remarkable out of modest beginnings.

Last week, I wrote about the tired and overused notion that “execution is everything and ideas are worthless.” It’s a catchy phrase, but like many soundbites, it oversimplifies reality. So what is it then? Are ideas overrated? Or are they the raw material we can’t live without?

The Myth of Worthless Ideas

I found myself in a dilemma. 🤔

Is this a contradiction to what I believe?

On one hand, I push back against the idea that execution is everything. You can’t polish a bad idea into brilliance. But on the other hand, Catmull is clearly saying that ideas aren’t the hard part—people and processes are.

So which is it?

This tension kept circling in my mind—until I realized that the apparent contradiction dissolves when you zoom out and look at the bigger picture.

It’s not that ideas are worthless, nor that people alone are enough. It’s that good ideas rarely show up fully formed. They need a system around them—a creative culture that allows them to emerge messy, be challenged, iterated on, and made better.

Ideas matter—but it’s the culture that allows ideas to evolve that unlocks innovation.

That’s when following Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs became handy. I read their books, listened to their podcasts, and have been following their work for a few years.

And knowing more about Catmull’s philosophy, it’s clear this is not a contradiction.

Here’s why.

It’s not a binary. Innovation thrives in cultures where both people and ideas are given room to flourish.

"Originality is fragile. And, in its first moments, it's often far from pretty. This is why I call early mock-ups of our films 'ugly babies.' They are not beautiful, miniature versions of the adults they will grow up to be. They are truly ugly: awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete. They need nurturing—in the form of time and patience—in order to grow."

He adds: "What this means is that they have a hard time coexisting with the Beast."

The "Beast" is Pixar's term for business pressures—deadlines, efficiency demands, market expectations. Most companies let the Beast devour new ideas before they have a chance to prove themselves. Catmull's genius was in building a fortress where creativity could flourish, protected from premature judgment.

So today, I'm asking a different question:
If ideas are fragile treasures, who protects them?

The answer: truly great leaders do.

The Culture That Makes Ideas Possible

Catmull knows that ideas are important as well. After all, he said: "When it comes to creative inspiration, job titles and hierarchy are meaningless."

Catmull and Steve Jobs led Pixar to success together, and it’s incredible to see how a particular type of thinking appears in both leaders. Despite his reputation for control, Jobs built a culture where the best ideas could emerge from anywhere:

"We better treat people in a much more egalitarian sense in terms of where the ideas come from. Apple was a very bottom-up company when it came to a lot of its great ideas... Great ideas can come from everywhere.”

The idea for the multi-touch screen we all know today on every phone didn’t come from Jobs, or even his longtime creative partner and chief designer, Jony Ive. It came from one of Jony’s team members, who started to develop it and tinker with the idea in his private time.

Jobs understood that innovation required more than execution—it required recognizing and championing promising concepts, even when they first appeared strange or imperfect.

Even in Finance, Ideas Need a Home

You might assume that meritocracy of ideas belongs only in creative industries.

But Ray Dalio—one of the world’s most successful macroeconomic investors—built his entire company on that principle.

When he founded Bridgewater Associates, he set out to create a radically different kind of investment firm:

A place where the best thinking would win, regardless of where it came from.

Picture this: A 25-year-old analyst stands up in a room of investment veterans and challenges the firm’s position on emerging markets. In most financial institutions, this would be career suicide. At Bridgewater, it’s Tuesday.

Dalio created what he calls an “idea meritocracy”:

"I decided to build Bridgewater into an idea meritocracy... where the best ideas win out from wherever they come from, in which the goals are meaningful work and meaningful relationships."

This wasn't just philosophy—it was structure. Meetings are recorded for transparency. Performance is tracked objectively. Even junior employees can (and must) challenge senior partners if they see flaws in their thinking.

The result? Bridgewater became one of the most successful investment firms in history. As of January 2025, Bridgewater had $154 billion in assets under management.

Even in the buttoned-up world of finance—where many might assume it's all about execution—Dalio recognized that great execution begins with great ideas, properly vetted and refined.

Maybe Dalio’s approach to finance as a kind of creative endeavor relates to his upbringing—growing up with a father who was an artist. As he himself said:

“When it comes to investing, I think that there's kind of a lateral creative thinking process that is going on in my mind. My mind works in a certain way. Now, I don't know how much of that's genetic, how much of that is environmental, but my dad was a jazz musician.”

The Heart of Leadership

What unites Catmull, Jobs, and Dalio?

They don't dismiss ideas as worthless. They don't demand perfection from the start. They build cultures where promising concepts can emerge, be challenged, and evolve.

They understand that leadership isn't just about driving action.
It's about protecting possibility.

Perhaps no one captured this better than the fictional food critic Anton Ego in Pixar's Ratatouille. After a lifetime of cynicism, he discovers a revolutionary chef—who happens to be a rat—and reflects:

“But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.”

That is the essence of leadership: to be a friend to the new.
To create spaces where vulnerable beginnings can grow into extraordinary achievements.

Watch Egon’s full speech:

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Final Thoughts

• PODCAST APPEARANCE: Last week, I had the fantastic opportunity to be a guest on the Write to Rise podcast, hosted by Lucia Brawley. I probably should’ve smiled for the photo—but more importantly, the conversation was rich. Watch it below.

• Want to bring fresh thinking to your ideation process? Let’s talk. I help teams foster innovation, collaborate with creatives, and build cultures where curiosity thrives. Reach out, and let’s make it happen.

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• I’d love to hear from you—whether it’s your thoughts, suggestions, critiques, or even cool stories and ideas. Feel free to drop me a note at nir [at] theartian.com, leave a comment, or send me a message.

  Thanks

  Nir

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