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Elon Musk Personal Assessment

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Elon Musk Personal Assessment

The book Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance is a biography of one of the most successful

people in the world and creator of Tesla, Space X, and SolarCity, Elon Musk. Elon Musk's

biography is from interviews and conversations between herself and the entrepreneur over a long

period. He highlights his childhood, livelihood, business dealings, and ways that he makes

decisions. From the biography, it is pretty evident that Elon Musk is a fascinating character with

a passion for helping humankind from global warming, thus ensuring that all his companies use

clean energy. His passion led him to develop all his three successful companies that deal in

electric cars, solar power, and space exploration. This reflection paper analyzes Elon Musk's

biography to realize his driving force and deduce the characteristics that I could emulate in my

personal and professional life.

Elon Musk's Driving Force

Elon Musk is different from most business people due to his motivation and driving force

because he puts first his passion and desire of helping humankind with deep empathy. His

passion drives all his businesses. His concern about fossil fuel enhanced the development of

Tesla, while the threats of asteroids hitting the earth led to the founding of Space X, which could

relocate humans to Mars in case of catastrophes. Musk, therefore, does not allow his worries to

cloud his judgment or consume him but instead uses them as a motivation for his success.

Elon Musk is passionate, and most critics view him as being too ambitious for his goals

to the point of being unrealistic. His ambitions often lead him to assign incredible workloads

over his employees due to his determination to get things done. Elon Musk often prioritizes his

ambitions and passions so much that he fails to see or consider other proprieties other than
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changing the history of the world. For instance, he once scolded an employee who chose to

attend the birth of his child rather than attend an important company event.

My Basic Driving Force

My primary driving force is usually my ability to learn fast. My urge for results is

exceptional such that I am often willing to sacrifice everything to attain some particular results.

Whenever I find that I don't know something, I often endeavor to learn how to work around it to

become competent. Such urge has been exceptionally advantageous in my studies because each

time my tutors touch on a subject I am unaware of, I often ensure that I research it in the library

and the internet for better understanding. Such enlightenment has played a big part in my overall

studies. I can concentrate more, ask questions and even relate better with my tutors and fellow

students.

The fact that I can learn across multiple fields gives me an information advantage over

most of my peers because they often focus on just a single field of their studies. From reading

Elon Musk's biography, I must admit that I could relate to his traits, such as his obsession with

his dreams and aspirations. I am currently obsessing over completing my studies so that I can

start on my dream career. My decisions are also often driven by my passions and emotions. I

tend to focus more on things that draw my emotions, such as disparity and segregation in society.

By casting over my emotions and empathy, I can drive people into projects that align with my

passion and emotions.

Characteristics Exhibited By Elon I Wish To Emulate

Along with having a common goal of saving humanity, Elon Musk has created a network

whereby all his business ventures complement each other. This way, the businesses earn and

make profits from each other. For instance, the battery packs made by Tesla can be sold by Solar
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City while Solar City at the same time provides Tesla with solar-powered charging stations. This

means that Elon Must does not need to look for businesses elsewhere as his companies provide

sufficient supplies for his other companies. I wish to emulate this characteristic as I believe that

it could help me become self-sufficient. Such self-sufficiency can also be used in other areas,

such as during class projects, reducing dependency.

Elon Musk has an admirable work ethic and does not take no for an answer, another

driving force that has caused most of his successful professional and personal endeavors. The

entrepreneur has a grueling weekly schedule that allows him to attend to and give attention to all

his companies. For example, on every Monday morning and Tuesday night, he goes to Space X

and then flies to Silicon Valley to attend to the needs of Tesla. On Wednesday and Thursdays,

and then goes back to L.A., Elon Musk's determination can also be seen in his personal life,

especially with his first wife, Justine Wilson. Upon their initial meeting, Justine did not interest

him, but he endeavored to get her attention. Although she stood him up on their first date, Elon

figured that she still liked ice cream since she couldn't meet him and instead took it to her. His

determination was successful, and they currently have six children together.

Elon Musk's determination can also be seen through "tzero," Tesla's first product with a

body of Lotus Elise and its propulsion technology licensed from the A.C. Propulsion. This new

invention has greater acceleration power than a Ferrari but is fully electrical. Although none of

the investors bought Elon Musk's idea, he was determined to make this dream come true that he

invested about 6.5 million dollars. Elon's dream was to revolutionize the idea of electric cars

aligned with his passion for saving humankind which eliminated polluting emissions. By 2012,

Elon Musk had experienced his dream of developing electric cars. Tesla's Model S was named
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the "car of the year" by the Motor Trend. The consumer reports further gave this car the highest

rating since 1925's Chrysler -99/100.

Characteristics exhibited by Elon Musk I wish not to emulate

Among the characteristic exhibited by Musk that I would not wish to emulate is his

unrealistic assumptions and goals. After graduating, Musk ventured into the internet bandwagon

and quickly rose to success when he founded Global Link Information Network in 1995 (later

renamed Zip2). With such success, a venture firm recognized his efforts and invested in his

startup. They, however, replaced Musk as the CEO and revamped the entire tech process, and

hired better engineers. This was because Elon musk constantly provided unrealistic estimates

such that when he told the investors that a particular task required one hour, they knew that it

would take a day to complete. If his estimate was a day, they knew that it was a week-long

project. Although Musk was frustrated by the investors' new developments and influences, they

provided a degree of realism that allowed the company to flourish, an act that complemented his

unrealistic goals.

Elon is also a complex person with a large ego and is often described as being "tough and

capricious," especially towards his employees. For instance, he once dismissed his most loyal

employee named Mary Beth, for asking for additional compensation, despite the fact she often

went out of her way to cater to his needs. His three marriages do not make the issue any better.

Despite being successful, it is essential to be considerate of other people despite their situation.

Elon Musk's egoistic behaviors and lack of compassion have proved quite costly in his business

dealings. I am way too emotional and empathetic towards others that I would not wish to fire

employees out of minor offenses. I would rather listen and involve them in discussions that could

lead to mutual agreement.

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Can one be a successful entrepreneur and still hold to their personal values?

I believe that a person can be a successful entrepreneur and still hold to their personal

values. Although Elon Musk has his shortcomings, he is a perfect example of a perfect

entrepreneur that has successfully held his values of preserving the world/ reducing pollution

while earning from the endeavors. Musk quickly earned large amounts of money from the sale of

his first internet company Zip2, which allowed him to follow his clean energy/saving humanity

aspirations. Although he was almost at the brink of vaporizing his wealth in his quest for

achieving his values, he was quite an adamant end even refused to listen to everyone about the

decisions. By holding to his values, Musk was able to build electric cars, develop renewable

solar energy, and even go beyond everyone's wildest dreams by putting satellites in space which

laid the groundwork for the development of technologies used in the colonization of Mars. His

concern about fossils fuelled the development of Tesla, while the threats of asteroids hitting the

earth led to the founding of Space X, which could relocate humans to Mars in case of

catastrophes. Musk, therefore, does not allow his worries to cloud his judgment or consume him

but instead uses them as a motivation for his success.