Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.
The American novelist and writer Ashlee Vance penned the biographical book on Elon Musk, and the following are the key points that can be gleaned from it.
What is your purpose?
When I was in college, I took a class called “Leadership,” in which we ultimately covered a variety of various styles of leadership, including authoritarian, pacesetting, commanding, coaching, democratic, and visionary styles.
At the end of the semester, I came to the conclusion that the visionary leadership style best describes me. Elon Musk has always had a vision that is far larger than anybody could ever fathom. One thing that sets them apart from other people is, much like Steve Jobs, they both have the capacity to glimpse into the future.
Musk is of the opinion that in order for an entrepreneur to be successful, they need to have a vision.
It is important to keep in mind that he created PayPal in the late 1990s, space travel in the early 2000s, green technology in the middle of the 2000s, a brain interface in the early 2010s, and artificial intelligence in the middle of the 2010s.
To add insult to injury, this is just the beginning.
If you are a visionary, others may at times accuse you of being insane, but that is perfectly OK. If someone were to offend you with that statement, they would be paying you the highest praise possible.
Create a vision that is larger than just yourself.
Now we see the reasoning for Steve Jobs’s ruthlessness. We have discovered over the course of many years that the majority of today’s leaders in the field of contemporary technology are odd, unorthodox, and cruel.
First came Steve Jobs, then came Bill Gates, then came Jack Dorsey, and now we have Elon Musk.
Do you remember what Elon Musk stated when one of Tesla’s workers made the decision to take a day off work so he could be there for the birth of his first child?
“How the hell are you going to put something higher than that? We are working toward making the world a better place. Absolutely severe in nature. Was there a need for it? Probably.
Learning is a lifelong endeavor.
The majority of Elon Musk’s knowledge was acquired as a result of his capacity to continue learning despite the fact that he did not get a Ph.D. in Rocket Science and Mechanical Engineering. This has given Musk the reputation of being a supporter of the concepts of self-education and self-learning.
If there’s one thing I’ve picked up from all of this, it’s that education is something that continues throughout your life, even after you graduate from college.
I also recall witnessing old folks in Italy who continued to read books to further their education and develop their skills in the kitchen as well as in language acquisition. It’s likely that we’re talking about people who are above 70 years old here.
This continues to be a source of motivation for me.
Despite the fact that he has a very full schedule, it is stated that he still manages to find time to educate himself on a variety of topics, including science fiction, engineering, and space exploration. He also said that regardless of his age, he must continue learning new things and relearning old ones and that learning is something that can never be completed.
Because of this, he is able to keep pushing ahead, which is beneficial to the success of his businesses such as Tesla and SpaceX as well as many of his other businesses.
Someone will constantly try to exploit your vulnerabilities
No one is without flaws. You cannot, however, stop your competitors or the media from displaying the negative aspect of your character. People are shown in the media as being on the extreme end of the spectrum most of the time.
Recently, Elon Musk has been subjected to a great deal of negative feedback from the social media world, with the focus naturally falling mostly on his Twitter activity.
While doing so, he is also working to save our globe by conducting space flights and manufacturing electric automobiles. He has achieved a great deal of success while simultaneously transforming a number of different businesses. His work has been amazing.
Elon is much like the rest of us; we all have some characteristics that may be described as “personality faults.” The only difference is that Elon is incredibly famous and garners enough attention from the media to be discussed.
Ignoring the naysayers, the voices from the outside, and simply ‘them’ in general is the obvious takeaway from this situation. Realize that they will always be there no matter what, and that cannot be changed by whatever takes place.
Learn how to articulate your thought process and sell it to the rest of the world
Thomas Edison was the more business-savvy of the two, notwithstanding Nikola Tesla’s brilliance in the scientific and engineering fields. Both are familiar to Elon Musk.
If you can’t sell a concept to people and the globe, it doesn’t matter how fantastic the product is the idea is based on. Elon’s capacity for theatrics and his well-deserved reputation as a marketing wiz,, when combined with his other strengths, form a formidable force.
This is a feature that we were fortunate to see in Steve Jobs, and one may draw comparisons to him in this regard. In the past, Naval Ravikant was also quoted as saying that.
If you are able to create and sell. You’ll be unstoppable.
The idea that you need to have knowledge of both worlds is perhaps one of the most important lessons from Musk’s book. If you wish to affect change in the world, you must first persuade others that the world needs altering in the first place.
Employ exceptional people and challenge them to go beyond their capabilities.
Steve Jobs was quoted as saying that you can’t recruit excellent individuals and then direct their work for them. Instead, you seek out talented individuals to work for you so that they may direct your actions.
Elon Musk is always on the lookout for exceptional talent in the world, and he is willing to invest both his time and resources into developing those around him into more capable versions of themselves.
However, your objective is to recruit the greatest talent for your team, period. Most business owners make the mistake of employing someone because they have a history with the individual, either as a friend or as a co-worker.
It does not matter who you are related to, or what color, gender, or culture you come from; the important thing is to recruit talented people and invest in them. Prove to them that they are capable of even more by pushing them to the edge of their abilities.
Be thankful that you have experienced failures since they are the finest lessons.
It was 2008, and both of his firms, SpaceX and Tesla, were just weeks away from filing for bankruptcy. This is also about the same time that Elon attempted to sell Tesla to Apple, but Tim Cook declined to meet with Elon for an initial meeting.
Not to mention the fact that Elon has just been through a contentious divorce and has been forced to borrow money in order to pay for his day-to-day living costs after experiencing a complete and total loss of all of his hard-earned wealth.
Oh wow, those were the days; look at him now after all this time has passed. Both SpaceX and Tesla are household names. Famous or well-known names. the most cutting-edge and rapidly expanding businesses in the year 2020. If Elon had given up, we would be looking at a very different scenario for both the market for electric vehicles and the industry of space flight.
So, what is the most important thing that we should take away from this?
Learn to embrace your mistakes and grow from the experience. If you have a significant fear of failing, it is very improbable that you would be successful as an entrepreneur.
My own perspective on failures has changed over the years, and I now see them more as an indication of taking chances. By learning from my mistakes, I am able to improve upon previous versions of myself.
Therefore, you should celebrate your setbacks since they are the most valuable learning experiences you will ever have.
Conclusions
The following are some key points that may be drawn from Elon Musk’s biographical book:
- Set a broader vision
- To be successful, you need to be cold and calculating.
- Learning is a lifelong endeavor.
- Everybody has shortcomings
- Master not just the art of construction but also the art of pitching your concept to the rest of the world. Seek out the best talent available and challenge them to go beyond their comfort zones.
- There is no better educator than one’s own mistakes.
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