Why Digital Draws Executive Mark Penn Away From Microsoft

Mark Penn, Chief Insights Officer at Microsoft (MFST), discussed a new survey about the American Dream and his new private equity firm during an interview at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Penn was part of a team that presented a study that looked at how optimistic Americans are. ‘What struck me was the big disconnect between how people view their politics and the country, said Penn. ’They say, whoa, the country is in the wrong direction, my politics are all confused, they are quite negative about that. And yet, when we asked them about their own lives, 72% said they are either living the American dream or they thought they could achieve it. We saw enormous personal optimism.’ The 2015 The Atlantic/Aspen Institute survey was conducted by Burson-Marsteller and Penn Schoen Berland. Penn formally served as CEO of both firms. He explained the positive results by saying ‘people are moving ahead in their personal lives. They’re getting jobs again, you see the job numbers. They’re beginning to go out and spend and I think you see that optimism and comfort beginning to reflect itself in the survey.’ Penn, who served as White House Pollster to President Clinton, said one of the poll’s surprises was that African-Americans and Latinos showed an increase in optimism compared to prior years.