TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith risked their own jobs to save their employees’ jobs:

Lucas had brought in a guy named Doug Norby as President to bring some discipline to Lucasfilm, and as part of his efforts, Norby was pressing Catmull and Smith to do some fairly deep layoffs. The two couldn’t bring themselves to do it. Instead, Catmull tried to make a financial case for keeping his group intact, arguing that layoffs would only reduce the value of a unit that Lucasfilm could profitably sell. (I am relating this story with Craig’s permission, and he double-checked its accuracy with Catmull.) But Norby was unmoved. As Craig tells it: “He was pestering Ed and Alvy for a list of names from the Computer Division to lay off, and Ed and Alvy kept blowing him off. Finally came the order: You will be in my office tomorrow morning at 9:00 with a list of names.”

So what did these two bosses do? “They showed up in his office at 9:00 and plunked down a list,” Craig told me. “It had two names on it: Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith.”

(Via Behind Companies.)

This isn’t an amazing story just because it shows how dedicated Catmull and Smith were to their employees. Even more amazing is they believed in their vision so strongly, and in their employees so much, they were willing to risk their careers to make it a reality.