Bill Gates: What This Legendary Artist Can Teach Us About Innovation

When I think about the connection between art and optimism, the first person who comes to mind is Leonardo da Vinci.

I’ve been reading about Leonardo for decades—including Walter Isaacson’s outstanding 2017 biography—and in 1994 I bought one of the notebooks, known as the Codex Leicester, in which Leonardo recorded his thoughts and sketched out ideas.

What does a Renaissance artist have to do with optimism? For me, the connection is innovation.

When I think about the connection between art and optimism, the first person who comes to mind is Leonardo da Vinci. I’ve been reading about Leonardo for decades—including Walter Isaacson’s outstanding 2017 biography—and in 1994 I bought one of the notebooks, known as the Codex Leicester, in which Leonardo recorded his thoughts and sketched out ideas. What does a Renaissance artist have to do with optimism? For me, the connection is innovation.