A visionary who aspires global change that reflects the sense of adventure of the great explorers of the past. An originator whose ideas have opened new possibilities for mankind despite their near crazy nature. A creator whose goal is to make the world a better place to live in with technological advancements encompassing the possibility of supporting life on Mars, and a tycoon who can boast of having inspired a popular comic’s movie character! Obviously, the highly revered innovator, businessman and tech celebrity being referred to must be Elon Musk. His journey has been an inspiring one that spills the beans on traits and factors that contribute to a success story as great as that of Elon Musk.
Musk has demonstrated vision and impact that has allowed him to influence all internal and external stakeholders who were required to work together in order to enable the smooth execution of a business vision and strategy. Over the years, Musk has been able to build a team of highly motivated experts and has convinced them to work towards achieving specific goals. What helped him here? A simple strategy: ‘Tell Everyone and Tell Often.” Musk uses micro-blogging sites and other communication media to keep his audience in the loop with his plans. This is important because refining something in secrecy is almost always futile. Such efforts to include the public in his revisions indicate the authenticity of a leader who is passionate about his goals and is focused on achieving them without a fear of being criticized.
Musk has also been a serial founder — someone who launches and grows multiple new ventures. With almost all of his major firms, including Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity and a new hobby ’The Boring Company,’ now tasting success, it is easy to imagine a cheerful journey. However, Musk has actually grown by feeding on his experiences with Zip2, PayPal and Tesla — SpaceX’s initial devastating failures. These experiences have probably made him comfortable with managing uncertainty and risk. This has helped build an image of assurance around his work that indicates the confidence and the adeptness to be able to ‘de-risk’ his multiple ventures and plan towards managing uncertainty from the very beginning. This, in turn, helps crucial networking, financial management and helps devise creative ways to meet market demands.
An excellent problem identification skill developed through his curious outlook for everyday proceedings, in addition, a thought process that helped solve these problems using some technical expertise was also key. While an average human would assume the painful Los Angeles traffic to be a part and parcel of life in L.A., Musk thought about eliminating the problem by building a huge network of tunnels through which cars and trains would travel at super high speeds evading the traffic woes. Thus was formulated the solution – ‘The Boring Company!” Musk sums up his ideology about innovation; “I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.”
Defining a specific set of factors that have contributed to Musk’s success so far is unrealistic because he is an artisan who is constantly evolving at his entrepreneurial art. As he grows bigger with his endeavors, he will continue being a point of discussion in the near future, for his work holds promise and his ideas spur hope. How significant would the impact of his efforts be on a global scale and how much bigger could he get from here as a role model, an inspirer and a leader is something the world waits to witness. However, for now, the idea of ‘Hyperlooping’ from LA to San Francisco in a ridiculous 35 minutes or the idea of reading this text while sipping some hot coffee in a human pod on Mars continues to entice the general public.
