What is my superpower?

Chip Kidd (born September 12, 1964) is an American author, editor, and graphic designer, best known for his book covers. Editor-at-large for Pantheon and associate art director for Alfred A. Knopf, Chip Kidd has been called “the closest thing to a rock star” in graphic design by USA Today and “the world’s greatest book jacket designer” by James Ellroy.

Having designed covers for John Updike, Cormac McCarthy, Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, Gish Jen, Michael Crichton, and Haruki Marukami among others, Kidd has helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. His work has been featured in Vanity Fair, Eye, Print, Entertainment Weekly, The New Republic, Time,Graphis, New York, and ID magazines, and he is a regular contributor of visual commentary to the Op-Ed page of The New York Times.

Chip Kidd is the author of two bestselling novels, The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners, both of which were namedNew York Times Notable Books. He is the co-author and designer of the two-time Eisner-award-winningBatman Animated, and his book Batman Collected, was awarded the Design Distinction award from ID magazine. 

Watch Chip Kidd gives a lecture titled Number of People at The University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design. .

Neil Gaiman (born 10 November 1960, in Hampshire, UK) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. Neil Gaimen lives in the United States near Minneapolis.  As a child he discovered his love of books, reading, and stories, devouring the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, and G.K. Chesterton.  A self-described “feral child who was raised in libraries,” Gaiman credits librarians with fostering a life-long love of reading: “I wouldn’t be who I am without libraries. I was the sort of kid who devoured books, and my happiest times as a boy were when I persuaded my parents to drop me off in the local library on their way to work, and I spent the day there. I discovered that librarians actually want to help you: they taught me about interlibrary loans.”

His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. Gaiman’s writing has won numerous awards, including Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker, as well as the 2009 Newbery Medal and 2010 Carnegie Medal in Literature. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work.

Watch Neil Gaiman addressess The University of The Art Class of 2012.

Milton Glaser (born June 26, 1929, in New York City) is an American graphic designer, best known for the I ♥ NY logo, Bob Dylan poster, the DC bullet logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the Brooklyn Brewery logo. Milton Glaser also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.

In 2004 he was selected for the lifetime achievement award of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. As a Fulbright scholar, Glaser studied with the painter, Giorgio Morandi in Bologna, and is an articulate spokesman for the ethical practice of design. He opened Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, and continues to produce an astounding amount of work in many fields of design to this day.

Watch legendary Milton Glaser  dives deep into a new painting inspired by Piero della Francesca. From there, he muses on what makes a convincing poster, by breaking down an idea and making it new.

George Lucas (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Lucas is one of the American film industry’s most financially successful directors/producers, with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion as of 2011.

Watch Bill Moyers interviews George Lucas about the ancient myths and personal values that have synthesized into Star Wars.

Bill Gates (born October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington) is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Bill Gates (born October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, author and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world’s wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect. He has also authored or co-authored several books.

In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Watch Biography Channel: Bill Gates - Sultan of Software.

Carl Sagan (born November 9, 1934) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in the space and natural sciences. During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific method. Carl Sagan pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

Watch The Sagan Series is a project by Reid Gower to pay tribute to the late, great Carl Sagan.

Leo Laporte (born November 29, 1956 in Manhattan, New York City) is the founder of TWIT Network. He is an American broadcaster, journalist, author, entrepreneur and radio, television and podcast host. Leo Laporte is specializing in technology coverage on radio, television and the internet. He hosts and co-hosts many radio and podcast programs, ‘This Week in Tech’, ‘Weekly Daily Giz Wiz’, ‘Triangulation’, ‘MacBreak Weekly’, ‘This Week in Google’, ‘Security Now’, ‘Windows Weekly’, ‘iPad Today’, ‘TWiT Photo’ and ‘The Tech Guy’.

Watch Leo Laporte talks about the future of media, technology and journalism at the 2009 ONA, Online News Association.

Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) American Way Magazine calls him, ‘America’s Greatest Marketer.’ His blog, is perhaps the most popular in the world written by a single individual. Seth Godin is an American bestseller writer. He has written thirteen books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Seth Godin writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything.

Watch Seth Godin talks about Sliced bread and other marketing delights.

Richard Branson (born 18 July, 1950) is a British entrepreneur founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer in 1970. In 1972, he built a recording studio and signed he first artist, Mike Oldfield. In 1977, Virgin signed many household names, from Sex Pistols to the Rolling Stones, these signing helped to make Virgin Music one of the top six record companies in the world. With around 200 companies in over 30 countries, the Virgin Group expanded into music festivals, travel, television, finance, health and Virgin Green Fund.

Watch Richard Branson about the ups and the downs of his career, from his multibillionaire success to his multiple near-death and reveals some of his motivations experiences.

• I believe in goals. It’s never a bad thing to have a dream, but I’m practical about it. I don’t sit daydreaming about things that are impossible. I set goals and then work out how to achieve them. Anything I want to do in life I want to do well and not half-heartedly.
• If something is what you really want to do, just do it. Whatever your goal is you will never succeed unless you let go of your fears and fly.
• A journey of a thousand miles starts with that first step. If you look ahead to the end, and all the weary miles between, with all the dangers you might face, you might never take that first step. And whatever it is you want to achieve in life, if you don’t make the effort. You won’t reach your goal. So take the first step. There will be many challenges. You might get knocked back - but in the end, you will make it.
• If you challenge yourself, you will grow. Your life will change. Your outlook will be positive. It’s not always easy to reach your goal but that’s no reason to stop. Never say die. Say yourself ‘I can do it. I’ll keep on trying until I win.’
• One of the things I am very good at is catnapping, catching an hour or two of sleep at a time. Of all the skills I have learned, that one is vital for me. On a bus between Hong Kong and china, for example, when nothing much is going on, I will sleep. I wake refreshed and ready to go for long hours. It’s also a very good way of switching off. Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher were masters of the catnap and I use their example in my own life.
• For me, there are two types of challenge. One is to do the bests I can at work. The other is to seek adventure. I try to do the both. I try to stretch myself to the limit. I am driven.
• I have always written everything down in school notebooks. It started when I found reading and writing hard at school and, to make up for that, built up a very good long-term memory. Now I jot down key words in my notebooks and later, if I need to, I find a note and I can recall entire conversations. This has stood me in very good stead more than once when I have needed to prove something. But it’s not just conversations – I also jot down my own thoughts. Anything I see and hear can spark an idea in me. I note it down at once and often look back through old notebooks to gain fresh ideas or to see what I might have missed. I would advise young people starting out in life to keep a notebook with them. It’s a good habit to get into.

John Francis (born 1946) is an American environmentalist nicknamed the planetwalker.After witnessing the devastation caused by a 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay, he stopped riding in motorized vehicles, a vow which lasted 22 years from 1972 until 1994. From 1973 until 1990, he also spent 17 years voluntarily silent. During this time he earned a Ph.D. in land management and traveled extensively, walking across the entire width of the lower 48 states of the USA as well as walking to South America.

Watch John Francis talks about his journey across America and South America on foot.