We know innovation when we see it. But where does it come from?According to acclaimed author Walter Isaacson, who has studied someof the world's foremost thinkers, innovation emerges at theintersection of knowledge and creativity.

Isaacson, author of the only authorized biography of AppleComputer's Steve Jobs and himself a world-renowned business mind asformer head of Time Magazine and CNN, is currentlychairman and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit educationaland policy studies organization.

During his IASA Conference keynote address at Monday morning'sopening general session, Isaacson shared stories and insightsabout Jobs, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger andothers he has written about who “have made that mental leap fromhaving a foundation of knowledge to truly being imaginative.“

Along the way, he hopes to inspire attendees by showing them howthey can become a valuable thinker, not just someone with a lot offacts, and add real value to their enterprises. Healso provided some serious tips on how to apply imaginationand think out of the box.

The Nolan Company is sponsoring Isaacson's keynote address,along with a drawing for copies of his book, Steve Jobs.Books are available for sale at the IASA booth in the Exhibit Hallimmediately following the general session, where Isaacson will beavailable to sign books.

“When you look at Steve Jobs — other people created computers,but he was able to make sure they were beautiful. He even caredabout the parts you can't see,” Isaacson observed in apreconference interview. For example, when Apple was about todeliver the first Macintosh computer, he delayed shipment until thecircuit board inside matched the aesthetics of the outside. Jobs'“Zen Buddhist training, his trips to gardens in Japan and his loveof calligraphy all caused him to realize that beauty matters, bothinnate beauty and environmental beauty.”

Jobs, according to Isaacson, applied his imagination to createdeceptively simple, elegant, beautifully packaged products like theiPod that totally changed the way we listen to and buy music.“Whether a Pixar movie or a Mac book, I was always awed by hisability to apply beauty and imagination to technology,” he says.

Isaacson himself espouses balance in life, along with the valueof learning good lessons about creativity from extraordinarypeople, but not emulating them in every way.

In what he describes as a “warts and all portrait” of Jobs thatshows where the innovator's well-known management style often gotin the way of things, Isaacson points out that Jobs still “startedhis company in his parents' garage and turned it into the mostvaluable company in the history of the world.

“Steve was a rough individual and was mean to people at times,but he drove them to do things that they didn't think they coulddo,” Isaacson observes.

Could a kinder, gentler Steve Jobs have transformed the personalcomputer industry, the publishing industry and retailing as he did?“You have to judge someone by the outcome,” Isaacson says. “Heformed the greatest team of executives in Silicon Valley and theywere fiercely loyal to him. He had a truly loving family with whomhe spent a lot of time at the end and they deeply cared about him.When you judge someone's personality, you have to step back a bit.He wasn't a saint, but he was successful,” says Isaacson.

In writing Jobs' biography, Isaacson says he “wanted to get outof the way of a fascinating story. Others would come along laterand analyze his life and style and management techniques, but I hadaccess to him and wanted to let him tell the story.” Still, heinterviewed more than 100 people whose lives intersected with Jobs'to bring a broader, fuller perspective to readers.

Isaacson himself seems to relish his life as a biographer andhead of a major think tank. “After 25 years of being in thehigh-pressure news business,” he says, “it's time to step back andreflect.” The former head of CNN says he is uncomfortable with the24-hour news cycle where “everyone is reporting every hourspeculation and unverified theories. I think it's important for allof us to know how to step back a bit, form calmer judgments and notfeel the need to keep up with an hourly news cycle.”

He also is a firm believer in the power of the biography toenlighten.Isaacson related that he came across a memo written byHenry Kissinger while trying to arrange a peace treaty betweenIsrael's Golda Meir and Egypt's Anwar el-Sadat in mid-1970s thatread: “When I was a professor at Harvard, I used to think historywas determined by great forces, but now that I see it up close, Isee what a difference individuals make.”

That's a lesson to learn, if not to emulate.