WSB Exclusive Speaker
Bestselling Author; Acclaimed Historian and Journalist; Professor of History, Tulane University
"Smart people are a dime a dozen. What matters is the ability to think different… to think out of the box." – Walter Isaacson
Walter Isaacson's speaking fee: Over $70,000
Walter Isaacson is a Professor of History at Tulane and an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg, a financial services firm based in New York City. He has been the CEO of the Aspen Institute, the CEO of CNN, and the editor of Time Magazine.
Isaacson’s most recent biography, Elon Musk (2023), is an intimate chronicle based on spending two years by Musk’s side. He is also the author of The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race (2021), Leonardo da Vinci (2017), The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014), Steve Jobs (2011), Einstein: His Life and Universe (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 a host of the show “Amanpour and Company” on PBS and CNN, a contributor to CNBC, host of the podcast “Trailblazers, from Dell Technologies.”
Isaacson was born on May 20, 1952, in New Orleans. He is a graduate of 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. He joined TIME in 1978 and became the magazine’s 14th editor in 1996. He became CEO of CNN in 2001 and the CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003.
He is chair emeritus of Teach for America. From 2005-2007 he was the vice-chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, which oversaw the rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other international broadcasts of the United States. He has also been a member of the U.S. Defense Innovation Board.
In 2023, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Joe Biden. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of the Arts, and the American Philosophical Society. He serves on the board of United Airlines and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Why Innovation Requires Supporting Risk-Takers and Accepting Failure
Why Steve Jobs Said Great Teams Were the Best Product He Ever Built
Walter Isaacson on Living with a Genius: The Inside Story of Elon Musk
Walter Isaacson on The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna and Gene Editing
Why Walter Isaacson Writes About Innovators Who Make History
Is Curiosity a Mark of True Genius?
Meet Walter Isaacson
Meet Walter Isaacson
This speech explores the basic values of America, including democracy and freedom and entrepreneurship, drawing on the lessons from Benjamin Franklin and other great innovators. It’s not a political speech: no current politicians are mentioned. Instead, it’s an uplifting speech about what we stand for as a nation.
From Leonardo da Vinci and Ben Franklin to Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Jennifer Doudna, what are the secrets to being creative and innovative? How do you foster teamwork and new thinking?
For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meeting, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?
What secrets do history’s luminaries share? Esteemed author Walter Isaacson—who was given exclusive and unprecedented access to the subject of his most recent book, Elon Musk, is widely considered to be one of today’s most insightful biographers. Isaacson’s ability to brilliantly capture the unique cultural currents surrounding America’s greatest leaders and creative thinkers is showcased in his best-selling books on Jennifer Doudna, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Ben Franklin and Henry Kissinger. Bringing audiences closer to these remarkable figures, Isaacson discusses the vital information that can be learned from them—including the common traits they share and how those traits can be used to empower today’s business leaders. Sharing fascinating details of how success came to each of these men through the questioning of conventional wisdom and a willingness to explore new ideas, he provides an astute analysis of timeless leadership principles and the lessons they can teach us on fostering the creativity necessary to compete in a new century of globalization.
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