Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance
What surprised you the most?
I wasn’t really surprised about anything, because as an entrepreneur I know the life of successful entrepreneurs are usually much different than most people. However, I think Elon Musk more than any other human is deeply concern about humanity’s future. The reason why I said more than any other human, is because I know there are hundreds of millions of people out there that are worried about our planet, but no one has done as much as he has for our future. Elon Musk seemed to be always extremely smart and ahead of his time. Something really interesting about musk is that he has photographic memory, and a love for reading, which made him awkward for other kids to socialize with and made him smart than most of his teachers.
What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
The ability to make others believe that the impossible is possible. One of Musk main characteristic in my opinion is that Musk is a genuinely good person. I think the fact that Musk is a billionaire and is a man of good soul is what I admired the most at first. But another thing I admired a lot in Musk is that he is persistent and passionate about the things he gets his mind into. I think those are the two main skills for any person to be successful at anything they do in life. Elon Musk was born an entrepreneur, at the age of 11 Elon Musk made a game, got a lease on a place and tried opening an arcade to make money. Elon Musk left South Africa to Canada to get away from the African government, he went to college there and with very little money tried to create his first company.
What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
Honestly, it might be because I have a level of admiration for Elon Musk, I did not focus on things I didn’t like about him, but if I were to point something out, I’d say Musk is not so great with people. It seems to be to a certain level an awkward person, I particularly don’t have a problem with that, but if I were to point out one aspect that I did not admire in Musk that would be it. Not everyone understands Musk, and I think that is because he is a genius and has difficulties communicating with everyone else.
Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure?
I don’t think that there is anyone in the world who did not face adversity and I am sure that there is one successful entrepreneur that didn’t face failure. Elon, faced many failures with Tesla in particularly, the company went close to bankruptcy many times and had many problems figuring it out how to make the battery of the cars last longer. However, I think the most adverse time in Musk’s life was when Elon Musk had to take over the control of Tesla because of its financial crises, he had to recharge Tesla finances with millions of dollars from his own money. He then got suited by his partner and co-founder of Tesla which was settled with Musk paying him millions of dollars. Right after that, Musk hired one of the most famous car designers in the market, who was actually working for a competitor in secret, and stilling and taking insights from Tesla to the competitor, which ended up in another court battler that Musk lost, while going through a divorce with his wife after 8 years of relationship and 5 kids.
What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
Elon Musk pushes his goals to the limit, he is a true entrepreneur who is willing to take risks to protect what he is passionate about. He is a genius at making people follow his dreams, and also an expert of bouncing back after falling in tough situations.
Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you
I didn’t find any confusing parts of the reading. There was one thing that made me a little perplex which is when Musk lost his court battle against the designer that was stilling info from Tesla and selling to a rival company. I was shocked that Elon Musk lost in the court.
If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
I think I would ask Elon Musk what he do differently than all the other entrepreneurs, and how does he manage his time. The reason why I would ask the first question is because I don’t think anybody other than Elon Musk and J. Clark has created more than 2 companies worth more than 1 billion dollars. The second question is because Elon Musk has so much going on and is just hard to believe that he only has 24hr like everyone else.
For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work?
I think Musk’s idea of hard work is to make your goals happen despite of what it takes and not stop until you get there. Musk is not scared of the objections and adversities along the way. Elon Musk believes on his goals so much that makes other people believe as well. He works 24/7 if it takes and that is why he is an extremely successful entrepreneur.
I wasn’t really surprised about anything, because as an entrepreneur I know the life of successful entrepreneurs are usually much different than most people. However, I think Elon Musk more than any other human is deeply concern about humanity’s future. The reason why I said more than any other human, is because I know there are hundreds of millions of people out there that are worried about our planet, but no one has done as much as he has for our future. Elon Musk seemed to be always extremely smart and ahead of his time. Something really interesting about musk is that he has photographic memory, and a love for reading, which made him awkward for other kids to socialize with and made him smart than most of his teachers.
What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
The ability to make others believe that the impossible is possible. One of Musk main characteristic in my opinion is that Musk is a genuinely good person. I think the fact that Musk is a billionaire and is a man of good soul is what I admired the most at first. But another thing I admired a lot in Musk is that he is persistent and passionate about the things he gets his mind into. I think those are the two main skills for any person to be successful at anything they do in life. Elon Musk was born an entrepreneur, at the age of 11 Elon Musk made a game, got a lease on a place and tried opening an arcade to make money. Elon Musk left South Africa to Canada to get away from the African government, he went to college there and with very little money tried to create his first company.
What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
Honestly, it might be because I have a level of admiration for Elon Musk, I did not focus on things I didn’t like about him, but if I were to point something out, I’d say Musk is not so great with people. It seems to be to a certain level an awkward person, I particularly don’t have a problem with that, but if I were to point out one aspect that I did not admire in Musk that would be it. Not everyone understands Musk, and I think that is because he is a genius and has difficulties communicating with everyone else.
Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure?
I don’t think that there is anyone in the world who did not face adversity and I am sure that there is one successful entrepreneur that didn’t face failure. Elon, faced many failures with Tesla in particularly, the company went close to bankruptcy many times and had many problems figuring it out how to make the battery of the cars last longer. However, I think the most adverse time in Musk’s life was when Elon Musk had to take over the control of Tesla because of its financial crises, he had to recharge Tesla finances with millions of dollars from his own money. He then got suited by his partner and co-founder of Tesla which was settled with Musk paying him millions of dollars. Right after that, Musk hired one of the most famous car designers in the market, who was actually working for a competitor in secret, and stilling and taking insights from Tesla to the competitor, which ended up in another court battler that Musk lost, while going through a divorce with his wife after 8 years of relationship and 5 kids.
What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
Elon Musk pushes his goals to the limit, he is a true entrepreneur who is willing to take risks to protect what he is passionate about. He is a genius at making people follow his dreams, and also an expert of bouncing back after falling in tough situations.
Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you
I didn’t find any confusing parts of the reading. There was one thing that made me a little perplex which is when Musk lost his court battle against the designer that was stilling info from Tesla and selling to a rival company. I was shocked that Elon Musk lost in the court.
If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
I think I would ask Elon Musk what he do differently than all the other entrepreneurs, and how does he manage his time. The reason why I would ask the first question is because I don’t think anybody other than Elon Musk and J. Clark has created more than 2 companies worth more than 1 billion dollars. The second question is because Elon Musk has so much going on and is just hard to believe that he only has 24hr like everyone else.
For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work?
I think Musk’s idea of hard work is to make your goals happen despite of what it takes and not stop until you get there. Musk is not scared of the objections and adversities along the way. Elon Musk believes on his goals so much that makes other people believe as well. He works 24/7 if it takes and that is why he is an extremely successful entrepreneur.
Hi Valtenius,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned two things is your reading reflection that make me wonder if they are common to successful entrepreneurs because it was the same for mine (Ray Rroc, the founder of McDonald’s).
Specifically, you mentioned that Musk was able to make others believe the impossible is possible. Being able to influence others to your way of thinking seems to be an important trait to have.
Kroc (like Musk) also fell victim to having others take advantage of him, often through illegal or corrupt business practices.
Cameron
Valtenius,
ReplyDeleteI think what you said about the hours of the day was really interesting. I often wonder how some people work with the same 24 hours in the day. I think in terms of that, however, it is important to not compare yourself to others. I know whenever I compare myself and my work ethic with others, it only hurts my self confidence.
Brandon