How has Elon Musk achieved so much in so little time? From Tesla, to SpaceX, the solar industry, and even his impact on the banking industry which I learned about recently.
In the biography “Elon Musk: Tesla, Space, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” by Ashlee Vance the author gives a balanced view of the man widely believed to be the closest thing we have to a real Tony Stark (Iron Man).
This book isn’t about leadership but I did find some traits that offer clues into Musk’s mindset which I believe helps explain how he’s achieved so much especially in industries where he had no prior experience and by doing things that were considered impossible by experts.
I can’t write book reviews because being a critic is not my thing. Most of the time, I end up focusing on what I learned and how much I enjoyed the book. So, this isn’t a book review. However, I appreciated how the author didn’t ignore Musk’s negative traits and showed him as a real and complex human being who can be loving towards friends and family and void of emotions when dealing with employees and business partners.
This is important because we can and should learn from both positive and negative examples. I’m a big believer in learning from others, but not imitating them.
So, while Musk was definitely born with some innate and atypical abilities like a near-photographic memory and the ability to learn complex mathematics there were some leadership skills that non-Iron Men like me and maybe you can learn.
So, I wrote a bunch of notes on the leadership traits I observed that have helped Musk achieve some remarkable things, but narrowed it down to the seven most powerful and consistent.
Prior to reading this book, I had no idea just how stacked the odds were against Musk’s ventures — Tesla to SpaceX. I also didn’t know about his troubled childhood in South Africa (where I’m currently living by the way).
So, here we go…
1. Bias Towards Action
Musk does not suffer from analysis paralysis in any way. Throughout the book, he’s depicted as extremely decisive. He acts quickly, maybe too quickly for some people but it’s possible that he’s this way because he can process a lot of information simultaneously. In some cases, it hurts him, but in others, his decisiveness gives him a competitive advantage. He uses science, physics and rational thinking to come up with solutions quickly without adding politics or ego into the equation (not always but most of the time).
If an employee was right and held his ground, Musk would concede, implement, and move on. The best way to describe this is as a bias towards action at all times. The advantage I saw in Musk’s bias towards action is that he would go through the experience quickly and in so doing he would receive immediate feedback on whether that decision was optimal or not. He analyzes an issue and then makes a decision instantly. The goal to make the best decision possible which is something that is controllable and not necessarily a specific outcome which is less controllable.
Then, once he makes a decision, he goes ALL in. And in that decisive process, he receives immediate feedback. Success or failure. That’s it.
Action leads to clarity. Inaction leads to doubt. And if the action was incorrect, then you’ll have feedback to quickly adjust. But if you just think and don’t take action you’ll never know what’s the right move. This reminds me of a quote I once heard, “Make a decision and then make it right.”
2. Aggressive Optimism
I really don’t know any other way to describe it other than being an aggressive optimist. In the initial stages of starting Tesla, Musk couldn’t find auto parts suppliers because the companies he approached didn’t believe Tesla would ever get far enough to actually building a car. The experts doubted him (this is a theme in his life be the way).
Musk consistently heard from suppliers, investors, and even his own employees “it can’t be done.” Those employees were quickly replaced by Musk himself who would literally do the work or project they said couldn’t be done. And if he succeeded, the employee would be fired.
Musk is a computer programmer by training, yet he wants to send 80,000 people to Mars by 2050. Without aggressive optimism, this isn’t possible. He built an electric car company without any prior knowledge or experience in the auto industry. To build a space company, he read everything he could find about rocket science and hosted roundtable discussions with experts on aeronautics, physics, space, and NASA.
I’m an optimist which means I live in a constant state of believing and expecting that things will work out for the best. But there’s a downside to this type of mindset if you’re effort doesn’t match the goals.
No work; no results.
In Musk’s version of optimism, he does everything possible to ensure that things work out for the best instead of relying on hope. Hope is not a part of his aggressive optimism.
3. Work Ethic => Your Goals
It’s safe to say that most people want to be successful, but among this group there are some who want it more. And there’s an even smaller group who will do “whatever it takes” to succeed.
I heard someone once say that if you “kind of want something then you’ll kinda get it.” No matter how much you want something, if your work ethic doesn’t match the goal, you cannot achieve it. Musk has a reputation for outworking the work. When he speaks of working 16 hours days for years he does it with so much of a “matter of fact” attitude that it seems normal.
I’m not proposing 80 to 100-hour workweeks. But we do need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves “Does my work ethic match my goals?”
Be honest with yourself.
In college, I attempted to start an internet company and the #1 reason it wasn’t successful wasn’t that the technology I needed wasn’t around or because of a lack of startup capital. It was primarily due to my insufficient effort and persistence.
Despite some investors not being 100% convinced that his ideas would work, they still invested in Musk’s ideas. But to be more exact, they didn’t invest in his companies as much as they were investing in Musk himself and his insane work ethic and commitment. If Musk didn’t succeed it would not have been for a lack of work ethic.
These early investors were convinced that Musk had the “What-Ever-It-Takes mindset to succeed. That’s a different mindset.
4. Know And Live Your Priorities
There’s a story in the book where Musk verbally assaulted one of his employees who missed a meeting because he took a few hours off to attend his child’s birth.
Musk didn’t care about his baby. This is the ugly side of Musk.
Don’t expect your boss or employer to care more about your priorities or your goals than you do.
Advocate for yourself. Fight for your priorities especially when you work with a bully-like boss like Musk.
If you don’t set and live by your own priorities others will try to dictate them for you. If you let your boss treat you like trash, they will do it. People will get away with whatever you let them get away with. One of the most important things I’m learning this year is that in life you don’t et what you deserve you get what you tolerate. And if you tolerate others setting your priorities you’ll accept.
Musk knows his priorities. Your boss knows his/her priorities. Do you know and live your priorities? Without knowing and living your priorities you’re just wondering around like a lost child.
5. Know Your Mission
Within minutes of meeting the woman who would become his second wife, Musk was talking about space travel and showing her videos of rocket launches.
Did she find it weird? Probably.
But when people are passionate or excited about something it doesn’t really matter what it is. Passion is contagious.
There’s a shortage of people in this world with a passion, excitement, or inner fire for something that’s important to them. Musk assigned himself a mission. He made it his personal responsibility to give humanity a plan B—life on Mars.
Is it crazy? Absolutely! But it doesn’t matter because it’s important to him.
Most big ideas are crazy until someone actually accomplishes them. The takeaway here is to consider assigning or creating your own mission and going after that. Or find someone working on something you truly care about and help them.
This reminds me of the quote from the theologian Howard Thurman who said,
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. “
From a career perspective, do you really want to spend your prime years working on stuff you don’t care about? My guess is no.
So, what do YOU care about and why? How can you invest more time in doing things you truly care about? There’s a chapter in my book dedicated to finding one’s mission.
6. Solve Big Problems
Musk believes that it’s a waste of time for smart engineers and programmers to work on dumb apps or ways to get people to follow clickbait on the internet. I feel the same way.
Former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang talks a lot about this problem too.
One of the things I admire about Musk is his obsession with focusing on big problems.
He believes that one of the most important things we can do for our future is to end our addiction to fossil fuels and exploit the Sun’s free energy. Musk also believes that colonizing mars will give humans a plan B in case things don’t work out here on lovely planet Earth.
For Musk, the purpose of technology is to improve the quality of life and not just our convenience.
As leaders, it’s critical that we divert more time, resources, and energy to SOLVING big problems and not just pointing them out.
And each one of us is uniquely positioned with certain knowledge, abilities, and experiences to solve problems. This reminds me of the boy from Nairobi who found a clever way to stop Lions from entering his property to eat his family’s cattle.
But you don’t have to colonize Mars. Maybe there’s a problem in your community, company, or home that you can solve. Problem-solving is a skill; therefore it’s something that can be improved.
7. Focus On Causes Of Problems, Not the Symptoms
It’s safe to say that Musk is a genius for things like physics and maybe programming (he found better programmers than him so maybe not so much). But one of the areas where his genius came to life was in how methodical and scientific he was portrayed when it comes to solving complex problems.
With the approach of a scientist, Musk is infamous for asking for the detailed physics on why something didn’t work. By focusing on the “physics” what he’s doing is getting to the root cause why a rocket launch didn’t succeed or why a battery overheated in a Tesla.
Musk has no time for distractions or noise.
Like a laser, he goes straight to the cause of the problem and then does everything possible to attack that ONE issue. Once that issue is resolved, he moves on to the next thing causing problems and so on.
Have you ever been in meetings where people spend the majority of the more time debating the symptoms of a problem while avoiding the actual cause?
Problem-solving is an art, but also a skill that can be developed by asking good questions, listening, and being obsessed with solutions instead of politics or egos.
There were a lot of gems I took from Musk’s life in this book. Even in the areas where he has had some major character shortcomings, there’s a lot I can learn. Do I agree with everything Musk has said and done? Absolutely, not. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from each other.
So, do any of these 7 leadership traits resonate with you?
BEFORE YOU GO…
Learning about Elon Musk is great, but we could be reading about YOU? What do you want to achieve with this one crazy life you have?
If you liked this post and are curious about building your own leadership skills then check out my book “Leader by Choice“. I have an audio version too.
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