Author Walter Isaacson has written the biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and recently, Steve Jobs. As a keynote speaker at ExactTarget’s Connections 2013, Isaacson shared that just being smart was not what made these men great leaders and innovators. “You probably know a lot of smart people,” he said. “You realize that smart people are a dime a dozen.”

According to Isaacson, the X-factor with Franklin, Einstein, and Jobs, was their ability to be imaginative and creative, while harnessing those qualities with discipline and passion. Here are four ways this is done.

1. Recognize the importance of beauty.

Isaacson shared that it was wonderful to write his book on Steve Jobs because it gave him an opportunity to celebrate someone who had a passion for beauty related to business products. The writer says that Jobs first learned this lesson as a child when his father, Paul Jobs, had him help with building a fence in their yard. Paul stressed to the young Steve that the back of the fence, which no one could see, needed to look as good as the front of the fence. Jobs carried this philosophy to Apple, where he challenged engineers to care as much about the look and design of parts unseen within products, as the exteriors.

2. Have a real, focused passion.

In his talk, Isaacson told a story of a young Albert Einstein who was given a compass by his father. Einstein was so enamored with how the compass twitched and always pointed north, that he spent hours, days and weeks consumed by it, and remained focused on figuring out what a force field was until his death. At age 17, Einstein was then presented with Maxwell’s Equations on how magnetic waves work. Einstein’s obsession with those ultimately lead to his own theory of relativity.

3. Get others to focus in a simple way.

Isaacson says that Steve Jobs was an expert at simplifying projects and getting others to do the same. When Jobs returned to lead a struggling Apple in 1996, Isaacson says he looked at the dozens of products the company was producing, and cut that list down to just four. If Jobs was at a brainstorming retreat with staff and ten ideas were shared, he would cross out seven of them. Jobs also emphasized simplicity when it came to actual product design, exemplified by the track wheel on the iPod, where a single song among thousands can be located with just a few clicks.

4. Develop a sense of tolerance towards others.

According to Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin recognized that anyone can have a good idea. He even started a social club for shopkeepers and artisans, referring to the group as, “we the middling people.” Although Franklin mastered many virtues, humility wasn’t one of them. He did, however, learn to fake it very well. Isaacson says that the pretense of humility is just as useful as the real thing, because it makes you listen to the person next to you and try to understand their point of view. He adds that while compromisers don’t make great heroes, they do make great democracies, which is a key to leadership as well.

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