Urban Innovation

Aspen Institute CEO on the Difficulties, Benefits of Writing Biographies in Digital Age

September 4, 2013

Much like the Aspen Institute itself, President and CEO Walter Isaacson values the impact innovation can have on society. Each of the subjects of his three biographies — Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs — is considered a thinker at the forefront of his time. On September 4th, in an interview with NPR’s “All Tech Considered,” Isaacson was asked about his own process in the rapidly changing digital age:

…You know, when you interview people, you get their recollections. When you have the letters or the phone transcripts or the emails that they did at the time, you find that it’s pretty different.

This summer, Isaacson shared more about his biographies and routine for writing about these historic figures during the Mercedes T. Bass Lecture “Reflections on Leadership: Einstein, Franklin and Jobs.” Watch the full video, below: