In 1985, a film company under financial strain appointed a new president. To reduce expenses, he instructed Ed and Alvy, the heads of one division, to prepare a list of employees to be laid off. Ed and Alvy refused, believing that cutting staff would diminish the company’s core value. The president responded with an ultimatum: a list of names was to be on his desk by 9 a.m. the next day.
The following morning, the list he received included only two names—Ed and Alvy.
As a result, no layoffs took place. A few months later, Steve Jobs acquired the division from Lucasfilm, founding Pixar alongside Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith.
Reflecting on the incident, Stanford professor Robert Sutton remarked that employees deeply appreciated the gesture, recognizing that “managers would risk their own jobs for the sake of their teams.” He noted that even decades later, this act continues to motivate and inspire Pixar’s culture.