1) I was very surprised that Elon Musk was willing to take such a large risk with Spacex and Tesla after already acheiving success with paypal. The fact that he almost went broke after making so much money proves that any real goal requires betting on yourself and taking risks. I most admire Elon's work ethic and ability to think through problems. On the flip side, I believe living a balanced life is crucial and this type of insane drive could lead to personal and family issues, so I would also say this aspect of his drive is a quality which I least admire. He clearly went through failures such as when tesla almost went bankrupt during the recession, but through perseverance and remaining tenacious, he made it through.
2) I noticed Elon recognized a lot of competencies. As previously mentioned, his work ethic is something that can't go unnoticed. Being able to be the CEO of multiple companies, while still working as an engineer shows a lot about not only his work ethic, but his humility. While he is the leader of the company, he's still willing to work on product issues and guide engineers to find the correct design choices.
3) I would say I was confused as to the exact reasoning behind Musk starting spacex. I understand it's something he's passionate about, but it definitely is outrageously ambitious. Its a field nobody had achieved success in, both in terms of establishing a company, and making it profitable. Clearly Musk is smarter than me though, since the plan obviously has worked out.
4) The first question I would ask him is what is the biggest piece of advice he would give to himself 20-30 years ago. I would ask this because I feel it could be useful to many starting entrepeneurs since he would have special insight on how to be successful. Another piece of advice I would ask is how he finds motivation on his off days to pick it back up and still have a productive day. I find that I rely on momentum, and if I have a bad start to my day it could lead to a lack of productivity, and I'm interested to see if it's the same for someone like Musk.
5)I think Musk's view on hard work is that it's a neccessity to be succesful, but it is impossible to work hard without motivation and drive. For this reason, he thinks its key to work for a cause your passionate about, or else that hard work isn't totally worth it for your individual well being.
Hi Nick, I wanted to read the Elon Musk book, but decided on others, so I’m glad to be able to read a little about it through your post. His ability to work through so many things at once (a CEO and still an engineer) really does show how passionate he is about his project. People normally don’t have that will to take on so many titles and projects because it is so demanding, but he does it because he finds it interesting and worth all his time. I agree with the SpaceX part as well, Tesla is still huge but it’s not sending things out of this world lol, he is highly ambitious.
ReplyDeleteHi Nick, I can agree with you on the part of your reflection where you express your confusion for the reasoning behind them starting the idea they started. It is confusing to understand the thought process behind someone who founded something so big. I really like your organization through out this reflection. Thank you for sharing your response, good work!
ReplyDeleteRebekah
Hey Nick!
ReplyDeleteI also chose to read the biography about Elon Musk and found myself equally surprised by his drive to continue achieving, innovating, and learning even after his large amount of success with some of his earlier ambitions, like your mention of PayPal. His work ethic is at points incomprehensible and I’m thoroughly impressed with his ability to balance and manage all of his time.
Hey Nick,
ReplyDeleteI also read the book on Elon Musk, so it was interesting to read about what your thoughts on it were. It was great to get a sense for what another persons main takeaways were from the book. It seems like you read the book very carefully and conducted a great analysis, highlighted by how you broke down your thoughts into three main sections.