I have researched Elon Musk in the context of business growth cycles. Musk has a startup mindset. He has infinite energy and is hugely passionate about emerging technologies. He takes bit bets on businesses that he believes in. He invested his funds in SpaceX and came close to bankruptcy. He has tremendous belief in his capabilities and does not give up.
Is he a rash individual? No, he considers decisions and weighs the pros and cons before plunging into a venture. Before the launch of SpaceX, he went on a tour to Russia looking to buy a rocket. He refused all deals offered to him there. He found the offers exorbitant, and he did not invest. Musk is a man of vision. He invested early on into probably the first GPS tracking venture and again into the precursor of PayPal. He invested energy, passion, sweat, and money in each deal. In each deal, he comes to be a winner who, at each exit, made a considerable amount of money.
Despite his frequent outbursts on social media, his track record tells me he thinks two steps ahead of most successful entrepreneurs. For these qualities, he is recognized as one of the greatest inventor entrepreneurs of our times.
You will succeed if you can emulate his passion, attention to detail, drive, and never say die spirit, coupled with deep thinking and caution.
He is another creator entrepreneur who started from zero to become the second wealthiest individual on earth. He had many failures during his career but still came out on top. He came close to bankruptcy, pursuing his ambition to build a price-competitive space launch capability or create the first fully electric car. He is an individual who continues to pursue his goals with grit and determination, unfazed by setbacks.
Elon Musk is a highly charismatic individual. The media and the public love his interviews. He inspires his teams and gets the best out of them. Some people regard him as one of the most innovative entrepreneurs of our time.
Elon Musk revels in challenges. Both his SpaceX and Tesla ventures stand testament to Musk picking up technologically difficult projects. One dream that he has repeated often is to build a colony on Mars. He comes out to be a highly determined individual. His first wife, Justine, calls him hugely possessive. He does not take no for an answer and continues pursuing his desire until he achieves it.
Musk’s determination and will to succeed are seen in his putting in 120 per week hours of work to achieve a target. He has been known to sleep in the workplace from his early Silicon Valley days when he first started as an entrepreneur.
This determination led him to build a successful reusable space rocket after multiple failures. This trait is visible again in his electric car venture. He sees opportunity in projects which other people would dare not tread. All his ventures are marvels in technological achievements. His latest venture of building a Solar City can become the largest electricity producer in America. Very early in his career, he is credited with Zip2, a precursor of Google Maps. He supported the idea of the Hyperloop transportation system under implementation in California.
He leads an unbalanced life in which work takes priority over all other things. He sets standards for his colleagues to achieve. He is an individual who leads from the front and does not hesitate to join the team working alongside them.
IBM supercomputer Watson analyzed Elon Musk to understand what makes him so successful. This analysis has identified the following five top traits of Musk. These are:
- Intellect
- Immoderation
- Cautiousness
- Emotionality
- Altruism
PS: I am an author and writer creating original content for my clients on business growth cycles, digital strategies, and cryptocurrency.