Author Walter Isaacson ’70 Speaks to Newman Upper School

Instead of its normal weekly assembly, Newman Upper School students were treated to a special guest speaker, Distinguished Alumnus and author Walter Isaacson '70. Mr. Isaacson is currently promoting his new biography, Elon Musk, in which he tells the story of the trailblazing yet controversial billionaire.

 

During his talk, Mr. Isaacson addressed how to approach writing a book about Elon Musk, who is such a polarizing character. “A large proportion of people, when they just hear the name Elon Musk, think he's an absolute saint that he walks on water, and that he can do anything,” he said. “And just as large of a proportion react and flinch, and they hate him, and they think he's evil.”

 

Musk’s achievements, Tesla, Starlink, SpaceX are offset by his missteps, including how he handled Twitter, how he treats his employees, or his personal relationships. But to Mr. Isaacson, deciding how to judge his character is the job of the reader, not the author. “In this book I teach through storytelling instead of through preaching,” he said. He continued that though he did have some judgements woven into the book, the onus is on the reader and that he would “let you be the judge… I'm just going to be the one to tell you the story.”

 

As he had with other biographical subjects (except Franklin, he noted), Mr. Isaacson outlined many of his subject’s contributions to the world but also his faults. Flawed as he is, perhaps Musk would not have achieved the remarkable things he has if he possessed ‘an impulse control button.’ And further, “Would a Musk restrained be as effective as a Musk unbound; would he be the ones shooting the rockets off into orbit?” he said.

 

At the end of the talk, Mr. Isaacson encouraged students to interpret the book as if it was a story of a character that can be flawed, yet at times inspiring. “They're tales like we've always told, like storytellers always tell, in which you will have some inspiration… and also some cautionary lessons. I hope you won't come out saying I want to be exactly like Elon Musk. But you’ll (I hope) come out saying I want to embark on some epic missions.”

Watch the recording here.