Exploring Boston’s Freedom Trail continues to provide context for today’s innovation through a study of Benjamin Franklin’s early life.
For creativity is the great leveler…It does not recognize the social categories that we impose on ourselves. – Richard Florida [1]
As one of America’s most celebrated minds, Benjamin Franklin embodied a dedication to scientific discovery and the artistic creativity necessary to produce dramatic innovation. Standing as a tribute to a lifetime dedicated to learning, a Ben Franklin statue was erected at the original spot of America’s oldest public school, the Boston Latin School, and sits as a landmark on Boston’s Freedom Trail (see ‘A Historic Start’). Ben Franklin never completed his studies at the Boston Latin School and at a young age moved from Boston, his home town, to Philadelphia for greater professional opportunity and personal independence. [2] Ben Franklin is an example of how social standing is a poor predictor of a person’s potential, but a young Franklin’s move from Boston also demonstrates how mobile these innovative minds can be.
Jason Freeman is the founder of Work of Start.
1. Richard Florida. Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent (New York: HarperBusiness, 2005), 35.
2. Acquired from The Independence Hall Association (IHA) – USHistory.org
