13A - Reading Reflection

I recently finished the biography on Elon Musk called "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future" by Ashlee Vance.

1)
What surprised you most ?

Most of my teenage life I have been inspired and in awe of what Elon Musk has accomplished. Having built an Aerospace titan and electric car company, he is working diligently to make the impossible, possible. All of this of course, is common knowledge nowadays. What truly shocked me was how outright ambitious Elon was. In his undergraduate summers, he would take road trips with his brother, Kimbal, in their beat up 1970s BMW 320i, driving from UPenn to San Francisco and would go to random start ups seeing if they needed interns. I personally would not think of trying something that radical for summer plans. When Elon wanted something he got off his rear end and got it, no questions asked. Whether it was whilst a 3rd grader reading encyclopedias, or pursuing the 2nd Generation Tesla Roadster, Elon would succeed no matter who told him otherwise. It's cliche, but Elon's bulletproof drive is unmatched.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

Similar to the last question, what I admire most about Elon Musk is his drive. If he wanted to learn about x, y, and z tomorrow he'd have textbooks on the subject today and be an expert by tomorrow. If he wanted to learn he would dissect every viewpoint of it and seek its flaws and strengths. Breaking everything possible down to fundamental physics, Elon is a physicist at heart and an engineer with his hands. That said, Elon's drive is, as expected, immense. Elon Musk will succeed and will execute no matter how many times he must try.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I can't honestly say that I dislike Elon Musk's management style which pursues efficiency, conscientiousness, and biology as a means of having his companies succeed. The curse words, insults, and curt firings are required when your goals are as ambitious as Musk's. Requesting the minds greatest and brightest engineers, coders, analysts, and many others, means that working less than 16 hours a day and not succeeding doesn't cut it. This technique obviously has meant Musk has a lot of bad blood and has burned some bridges here and there. This cut-throat style may be my least admirable trait of Musk, but I see it as being as necessary as anything about him.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Man did he, all of Elon's life has been a serious struggle and he's managed to handle it. From a rough childhood, to constant bullying, to failing companies, to lawsuit after lawsuit. Again and again, Elon got back up stronger than before, learning from his mistakes and ensuring that failure is never an option. On multiple accounts Tesla was nearing bankruptcy (they were also nearly claimed by Google but were saved by a matter of days), as well as SpaceX not launching a rocket successfully for nearly a decade. Zip2 and Paypal weren't necessarily fairy tale stories either, but he ended up with payouts in those businesses.

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

Ever since he was a child Elon Musk was gifted at recalling information. He also adored reading. Moving onto encyclopedias after finishing his local library at the age of 9, his braniac, fact-ridden self was not the best recipe for deep friendships in youth. Also, Elon's passion as well as his immense intelligence means he can pick up anything instantly. His academic history and competency in his companies are proof of this. He is also never afraid to point out criticisms when needed. Elon is never concerned with personal feelings when his company is at hand.

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

It was reading about Zip2 and Paypal because when these companies were garage start-ups they went through employees like nothing. A new name and description of their next coding whiz was on every page so it can be hard to keep track of names. However, Elon also has many loyal employees who are mentioned throughout the book.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? why?

I am not sure if I could actually come down to just two questions for Elon Musk. Being the ambitious Tony-Stark like business mogul he is, I could talk to him for hours. He inspires me as someone interested in business, and as a human in general who has loved space since I can remember. First I'd ask him, will you ever feel truly fulfilled and happy in life? Elon being optimistic in gaols, but slow to appreciate his own success, would have an interesting answer. Another would be, since he's such an avid video game fan, would he ever consider getting into the field of creating video games?

5) What do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

In an interview with Elon Musk, I once heard him say, "You have to work twice as hard as your competitors." Which in literal terms sounds silly or hopeful. But it's true. This biography is littered in moments of Elon never shutting down. Since the beginning he slept at his desk and would work past his employees. Nowadays, he works half of the week at SpaceX, and the other at Tesla, flying between Los Angeles and San Francisco hundreds of times. All in all, I assume Musk would say that hard work is getting out of bed with a sense of purpose, and working your all to help grow your company towards new horizons. I myself, comfortably agree with this position on the meaning of hard work.