Book Journey

Tall, blond Cadance Sinclair Eastman is the apple of her grandfather Harris’ eye as the oldest granddaughter. The Sinclair family come from money and each summer the Aunts (Cadance’s mother and her two sisters) gather with their children off a private Island in Massachusetts owned by Harris.  The children, or really teens (all around 15) fondly refer to themselves as “The Liars” and consist of Cadance, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat, who is a friend of the family. 

During that 15th summer, Cadance finds she has a crush of Gat; and really – he on her as well.  It is a summer of new love until an accident leave Cadance with a concussion and no memory as to what happened.  She misses the next summer at the Island but returns her 17th year still knowing little of what happened.  Her cousins had not responded to her emails over the past year, and even Gat seems to have been avoiding her; no one wanting to tell her the details of what happened those two summers ago as her doctor has said it was best if she remembered on her own. 

As Cadance slowly begins to remember snippets of what happened she starts to piece together a horrible truth.

We Are Liars blew me out of the water.  And shoot…. I didn’t even know I was in water! This is a book of friendships and first love.  I enjoyed the imagery of these four friends hanging out on an island together each summer, reconnecting, swimming, having fun, and largely having the place to themselves except for meals with the adults and the occasional chores. 

Cadance was a likable protagonist; even after her injury as her messed up mind tried to put it all back together I rooted for her… wanting to know just as much as the next person what had happened and why all the secrecy! 

There are few books that truly shock me, but We Are Liars sent me shooting high above the ground and then spiraling down at break neck speed. I read somewhere that this was a book to read in one sitting.  I listened to this on audio from start to finish, not wanting to stop. 

A book full of tiny pebbles of clues that after all was said in done I was all “Whoa…” and “oh that makes sense” and “nicely played” as well. 🙂

I highly recommend this book – fantastic on audio and I imagine the book would play out just as well.

Ed Catmull, Co-Founder of Pixar Animations (along with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) tells about creating winning teams and taking your team to the next level.  Ed takes us behind the scenes of Pixar and shares the inner workings of how they created movies (such as Toy Story 2) by trusting in their teams, striving towards excellence every time but also bringing their teams to a point of trust and support that is unheard of in most companies. 

Pixar has been the name to strive for in animated movies due to this attitude by their lead team of being real with the employees, not separating yourself as a leader as “better” or “above” others and making themselves accessible for ideas lie “braintrust” the team that takes each movie as it begins and breaks it down to what they like and what they do not and repeats this process over and over with the creative team. 

From the wins, to the expensive fails, Et Catmull gives advice from his own experiences and shares ideas to build work teams that become as one, and treats them with the respect that creates long-term relationships.

I read this (listened to it actually) because I love to work on winning teams.  That may sound like a weird thing to say, but it is true.  If you have worked with a group of people for a job or career, you know what I mean.  There are great teams to work with that feel safe to bounce ideas off each other without being shut down and then there are not so great teams that you feel “thumbed over” watched every move – and creativity….

fails.  There is no room for it.

There is a section towards the end where Ed talks about his working relationship for Steve Jobs.  I loved this as Steve Jobs, while clearly having his faults was a brilliant mind.  Ed said Steve would walk into a meeting, listen, and say something like, “I am not a movie maker, but what if….” and whatever he said would be brilliant advice and then he would walk out and let the team work their magic. 

I really enjoyed this listen and this is one I will look for in book format as well.  What Ed describes here with his working relationship with the teams as well as the co-founders of Pixar is the way to find the right people for the job and how to treat them.

I believe the best managers acknowledge and make room for what they do not know—not just because humility is a virtue but because until one adopts that mindset, the most striking breakthroughs cannot occur. I believe that managers must loosen the controls, not tighten them. They must accept risk; they must trust the people they work with and strive to clear the path for them; and always, they must pay attention to and engage with anything that creates fear. Moreover, successful leaders embrace the reality that their models may be wrong or incomplete. Only when we admit what we don’t know can we ever hope to learn it.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.

“If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.

 

“If you aren’t experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it.”  ― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.

Honestly, I strive for this kind of work environment.  I am a creative person and when I am placed with great teams that share ideas and lift each other up instead of pulling them down- I thrive.  In a way I think I feed off their energy and excitement; it is like fuel to my soul.  I find that when I looking for creative outlets I am drawn to the ones that allow me the most freedom to be who I am and create in ways that will inspire others to join in.  I want the teams I work with to do an amazing job and have fun along the way by doing it. 

Creative minds, people in management or Leadership positions that want to build winning teams, this is a great read for you.