Lidsky graduated from Harvard at 19 with an honors degree in mathematics and computer science. He then founded [x+1], which was later acquired for $230 million. Fascinated by the burgeoning field of “cyberlaw,” Lidsky left [x+1] and returned to Harvard to attend law school, graduating magna cum laude in 2004 as Editor of the Harvard Law Review and the only student named a Fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. As a U.S. Justice Department lawyer, Lidsky argued more than a dozen appeals in federal court on behalf of the United States and never lost a case. Along the way, he founded Hope For Vision, a nonprofit organization to fund the development of treatments for blinding diseases and within 5 years grew it to a dozen cities nationwide and more than $5 million.
In 2011 Lidsky returned to his entrepreneurial roots. With the U.S. housing market stagnating at a historic low, he correctly predicted that its inevitable recovery would demand a far more efficient construction model to succeed. He purchased a small, struggling residential construction subcontractor and led the development of a proprietary suite of logistics and ERM software to transform it. Today this reinvented construction services company today boasts annual revenues in excess of $200 million.
In 2016 Lidsky set out to share with others his empowering approach to living and leading, and he was promptly recognized as a visionary thought leader. Penguin Random House acquired for publication his first book, Eyes Wide Open, and it hit the shelves as a New York Times best seller in March 2017. TED invited Lidsky to present a mainstage TED Talk at TEDSUMMIT 2016 in Banff, Canada, and it was viewed more than a million times in its first 20 days. Lidsky now consults and speaks to organizations around the world on issues including leadership, accountability and self-empowerment.
In 2018 Lidsky returned to his software development roots, founding Senary Blockchain Ventures, a multidisciplinary innovation firm devoted to decentralized technology. With his SBV partners Erich Wasserman and Jonah Weinstein, Lidsky aims to support web-based public utilities that democratize opportunity, more justly accrue and distribute value, and promote our greater humanity.
Lidsky has been recognized for his achievements dozens of times and his leadership is routinely sought after. He is an advisor to a $1+ billion tech “unicorn.” He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), the world’s premier peer network of chief executives and business leaders, and was tapped to lead the Orlando Chapter and to serve on the Regional Executive Committee for the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean. He has been appointed to State leadership positions by the Governor of Florida and to a federal position by a U.S. Senator. He sits on the Board of the Florida Hospital For Children. He was named 1 of 4 Temple Bar Scholars by the United Kingdom’s Inns of Court and brought to London for a month-long idea exchange with UK Supreme Court Justices and leading barristers.
Perhaps most striking, Lidsky is only 40, and he is blind. Born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare degenerative disease of the retina, from age 12 to 25 he slowly lost his sight. As his bio makes clear, however, neither his youth nor his blindness have limited him. This is true in his professional life and personal life alike. Isaac married Dorothy, the love of his life, in June 2004. In September 2010 she gave birth to their triplets, Lily Louise, Phineas and Thaddeus-collectively, “The Tripskys”-and in December 2015 baby Clementine completed the family. The six Lidskys-the “Kidskys” and their parents-live in Windermere, Florida.
Unsurprisingly, Lidsky has contributed pieces to and/or been featured in numerous national media, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Forbes, CNN, MSNBC, U.S. News & World Report, 60 Minutes, Voice of America, Business Insider, Men’s Health, and People Magazine.
