27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance

1. You read about an entrepreneur:

What surprised me the most about Elon Musk was that he was born in South Africa and remained there until he was 17, when he left for Canada with the intention to either get closer to America or to avoid South African military service. Musk had his eyes set on the United States for a long time because he viewed the country as the land of opportunity. What I most admire about Musk is his determination and creativity, from taking risks as an entrepreneur and working very hard, changing online banking through X.com and PayPal, to revolutionizing both the automotive industry with Tesla’s electric car and taking on the space industry by outperforming competitors at quicker and cheaper rates through SpaceX. What I least admire about the entrepreneur is his expectation of employees, setting wild or extreme deadlines and accelerated schedules, expecting his workers to be as competent and single-minded as he is. Elon Musk encountered adversity and failure through his rough childhood, growing up as a reserved outsider with a geeky and uncanny intellect. He was interested in reading and video games, while male culture at the time embraced toughness.

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

The competencies I noticed that Elon Musk exhibited include being hardworking and his determination. He was able to adapt to any challenges that he faced, pushing boundaries and forging new ones, despite his background. While working at an internship with the Bank of Nova Scotia, he discovered opportunities within the industry, investing into his new company X.com with the intention of revolutionizing banking. eBay then bought PayPal in 2002, resulting in Musk diverting his interests to SpaceX and Tesla. He founded SpaceX in June 2002 with the goal of building better rockets at a cheaper price than other companies in the industry and revolutionizing the space transportation business. Musk invested in Tesla Motors in July 2003, building and developing models in the living room until the company finally opened a shop for research and development. SpaceX and Tesla almost crashed in 2008, but through Musk’s determination, both companies succeeded. As a child, Musk had aspirations of gaining more knowledge and utilized reading as a way to escape reality. He held onto those dreams growing up, persevering and building the life he always wanted. He is curious, inquisitive, and ambitious, always pushing the limit or boundary of what can be done, achieving more than others due to his high expectations.

3. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of the reading that was confusing for me was how Musk is very hesitant to be interviewed and cooperate for a biography, as mentioned by Ashlee Vance, the author. As someone that was ranked on the Forbes list of The World’s Most Powerful People in 2016, I was wondering why Musk was reluctant to allow Vance to write a biography on him, along with why he was tentative as an extremely successful businessman and entrepreneur. Musk eventually agreed to collaborate with Vance to write the book, although somewhat grudgingly. According to the author, Musk has been shown to be reluctant to trust outsiders to fill certain roles, such as writing a biography about him. Interviewers claim that due to Musk’s intelligence, his brain is taking in information so quickly that he has little or no time to plan out his responses to what he is hearing. As the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has been trained through thousands of hours of meetings to accept what is important and to digest information quickly. Summarizing multiple ideas into one big picture is difficult and challenging, and even more so when it is during an interview.

4. If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

·      What skills, according to you, are necessary in order to be a successful businessman and entrepreneur?

·      What do you think about work ethic, and what kind of ethics do you believe in following while working in the automotive and space industry?

I chose to ask these two questions to Elon Musk because it would be interesting to hear what skills, from Musk’s perspective, he values in a successful businessman or as an entrepreneur. For example, some of Musk’s characteristics, or elements of his secret sauce, are imagination, persistence, systems disruption, and commitment. Musk is extremely hardworking and asking him about what he thinks of work ethic may reveal what motivated him to take risks and what differentiated him from others. He inspires many people around the world with his innovation and strong work ethic, along with ingenious thoughts and perspectives on success, motivation, and never giving up on one’s ideas and ambitions. He is considered as the hardest working employee of SpaceX and Tesla, despite being the CEO of both companies, setting standards for his colleagues to follow and implement. Due to the fact that the field of work lies within his radius of interests, Musk enjoys it to every moment and bit when it comes to learning and executing new principles. He is always seeking out new answers and solutions to challenges he has faced and possess a profound belief in his own capabilities as well as the potential of both of his companies.

5. For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I think Elon Musk’s opinion of hard work is that he greatly values and respects it, because through his own hard work and determination, he was able to become successful and an influential figure in technology with innovative ideas. Musk is notorious for his work ethic, working up to 100 hours a week between his companies. As a hard-working innovator, Musk advises young and upcoming entrepreneurs to be extremely tenacious and “work like hell,” putting in around double the work of their peers. Even if both parties are doing the same tasks, by working hard, they will achieve results in four months what it takes their peers a year to achieve. By working hard, experience is earned, which enables one to critically think in order when faced with solving a problem. If success was free or easily attained, everyone would have it but there are few individuals who are successful, and each of them have put in hard work to be where they are today. When working hard, you begin to understand its true value and strive to move forward every day, creating and opening up new opportunities consistently. This explains Musk’s success and efficiency as the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, along with his passion and motivation for what he does for many others.