Walter Isaacson

I don't have quite those, either the drives or the addiction to risk.

I mean, Elon's addicted to risk.

He's addicted to adventure.

Me, if I see something that's risky, I spend some time calculating, okay, upside, downside here.

But that's another reason that people like Elon Musk get stuff done, and people like me write about the Elon Musks.

I think all of us have demons, even those of us who grew up in a magical part of New Orleans with sweet parents.

Yes.

And we all have demons.

Rule one in life is harness your demons.

Know that you're ambitious or not ambitious or you're lazy or whatever.

Leonardo da Vinci knew he was a procrastinator.

I think it's useful to know what's eating at you.

Know how to harness it.

Also know what you're good at.

I'll take Musk as another example.

I'm a little bit more like Kimball Musk than Elon.

I maybe got over-endowed with the empathy gene.

And what does that mean?

Well, it means that I was okay when I ran Time Magazine.

It was a group of about 150 people on the editorial floors, and I knew them all, and we had a jolly time.