Walter Isaacson '70: Spring Capstone Speaker

[FULL STORY]

 

On the evening of March 13, 2012, the School welcomed Walter Isaacson ’70 back to Newman to speak to members of the senior class and the Newman community as part of the Capstone Speaker Series. Isaacson is the author of the biography, Steve Jobs, which has been on the New York Times Bestseller List for 19 weeks (currently #5) and has been named an Amazon Book of the Year. After a book signing in Krohn Foyer, Issacson took to the stage for his talk.

 

At the beginning of his talk, Isaacson outlined his theme: connecting the humanities and science, something that he believes is done every day at Newman. While in New Orleans, Isaacson attended a conference on entrepreneurship. He stressed that in order for entrepreneurship to be successful it must connect creativity with technology. He pointed out that Steve Jobs did this when he successfully marketed the MacIntosh – the “invention that started the home computer industry.” When he returned to Apple, a new string of products turned a corporation nearing bankruptcy into the “most valuable company on earth.”

 

Turning to the biography of Steve Jobs, Isaacson said there were succinct lessons that he learned in the process of writing the book. The first was, “If you make a great product, the profits will follow.” He cited Jobs’ “passion for perfection;” while it could be a thorn in his employees’ sides, it was the thing that differentiated Apple products from the rest of the technology in the market. Making products that were simple yet beautiful made them irresistible.

 

The second lesson was that curiosity is essential to greatness. All of the historical figures he wrote about – Franklin, Einstein, Kissinger, and Jobs – shared this trait. But he was careful to distinguish between being easily distracted and having a deep curiosity. Franklin was curious about the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, so he studied it in detail on every transatlantic voyage he made. Einstein did not idly wonder how a compass worked, but dug deep into the mysteries of how matter exerts force over other matter over great distances.

 

The third lesson was embodied in Apple’s mantra of “Think Different.” He advised the students to “always think you’re crazy enough to change the world.” There is great value in thinking outside the box, though he did warn that “it is useful to know what’s in the box” as well. It is important to take great risks, to go against the flow and to try to do the impossible. He tied this to post-Katrina New Orleans: Many believed it was impossible to come back from the storm, but the city did, and now it is a booming center for entrepreneurship. 

 

Just as Jobs fused art and technology in his wildly successful Apple products, Isaacson said that the ability to tie the humanities to the sciences will be increasingly important in the 21^st Century. Technology is of vital importance, but it is the ability to tie science into everyday life – as Franklin, Einstein, and Jobs did – that is the key to success.

 

After the talk, Isaacson opened the floor to questions from the audience. He covered the basic differences between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, how to stay creative, how he chose the subjects he profiled, and how to deal with failure. Failure, he said, is a necessary step in the march toward success.  But you have to recognize a failure and move on. “You’re going to fail,” he said; “you have to be able to sweep it aside when it doesn’t work.”

 

Isaacson is a graduate of Isidore Newman School, Harvard College, and of Pembroke College of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He began his career at the Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item. He joined Time Magazine in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazine's 14th editor-in-chief in 1996. He became Chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003. He is the author of American Sketches (November 2009), Einstein: His Life and Universe (April 2007), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), and Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986). He is the Chairman of the Board of Teach for America and also Chairman of the Board for the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, which was set up by the U.S. State Department to promote economic and educational opportunities for the Palestinian people. He is on the Board of United Airlines, Tulane University, and the Bipartisan Policy Center. He was appointed after Hurricane Katrina to be the Vice-Chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.