Assignment

Cognitive Analysis and Social Skills for Professional Development

(Gaurav Malik, MBA-IB, Section-A, A1802020009)

Elon Musk
Elon Musk is a business magnate, industrial designer, and engineer. He is the founder, CEO,
CTO, and chief designer of SpaceX; early stage investor, CEO, and product architect of
Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and
initial co-chairman of OpenAI. A centibillionaire, Musk is one of the richest people in the
world.

Musk was born to a Canadian mother and South African father and raised in Pretoria, South
Africa. He briefly attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada aged 17 to
attend Queen's University. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years later,
where he received dual bachelor's degrees in economics and physics. He moved to California
in 1995 to attend Stanford University but decided instead to pursue a business career, co-
founding the web software company Zip2 with his brother Kimbal. The startup was acquired
by Compaq for $307 million in 1999. Musk co-founded online bank X.com that same year,
which merged with Confinity in 2000 to form the company PayPal and was subsequently
bought by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services
company, of which he is CEO, CTO, and lead designer. In 2004, he joined electric vehicle
manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (now Tesla, Inc.) as chairman and product architect,
becoming its CEO in 2008. In 2006, he helped create SolarCity, a solar energy services
company and current Tesla subsidiary. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit research
company that promotes friendly artificial intelligence. In 2016, he co-founded Neuralink, a
neurotechnology company focused on developing brain–computer interfaces, and founded
The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company. Musk has also proposed the
Hyperloop, a high-speed vactrain transportation system.

Musk has been the subject of criticism due to unorthodox or unscientific stances and highly
publicized controversies. In 2018, he was sued for defamation by a diver who advised in the
Tham Luang cave rescue; a California jury ruled in favor of Musk. In the same year, he was
sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for falsely tweeting that he had
secured funding for a private takeover of Tesla. He settled with the SEC, temporarily
stepping down from his chairmanship and accepting limitations on his Twitter usage. Musk
has spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and has received criticism from
experts for his other views on such matters as artificial intelligence and public transport.

The inspirational qualities possessed by Elon Musk are as follows:-

Entrepreneurial Spirit

- Embodies commitment, vision, calculated risk-taking and capacity for personal

growth.

- Demonstrates perseverance in the face of adversity and to overcoming obstacles.

 - Has learned from disappointing experiences.

- Relies on trusted individuals while showing ability to be an independent thinker and

take risks in the face of uncertainty.

Positive Energy:

- Employees, colleagues, customers, and investors should feel energized being around a
leader. Musk is highly charismatic with a positive outlook and optimism for a better
future. This is inspirational and indubitably it has allowed him to persist through
highly challenging circumstances in his businesses.

Passion for Innovation:

- Pioneers a new approach or technology.

- Recognizes business imperative of anticipating and embracing changes occurring in

the competitive environment through continuous improvement in all aspects of the
business.

- Creates a culture of innovation. Inspires others to keep up with the pace of change
instead of staying with a day-late idea.

Strategic Direction:

- Creates and turns vision into business realities.

- Builds and rebuilds the team’s commitment to the common goals.

- Musk takes a scientific approach to building teams, one that is based upon an
understanding of their behavior and talent, and he leads them through action.

Personal Integrity/Influence:

- Leads by example.

- Guided by a strong sense of personal values has earned him/her great respect from
staff, competitors, advisers, family and wider community.

- Has potential to influence by contributing something to the world that improves it in a

new and different way and creates a social impact.

He’s on a mission to save humanity. What more noble cause is there?