Elon Musk - "How The Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping Our Future"

About:

Ashlee Vance, in this book, traces Elon Musk' journey from his childhood in South Africa, to the University days in Canada and start of his career in Silicon Valley.

The speed bumps Musk faced in setting up Paypal and his other two companies are very well documented.

The author took permission from Elon Musk before starting this book, but this does not mean that this is a skewed account of Elon Musk's exploits. The book interviews current and ex-employees, rivals, supporters and downright detractors. This is a very balanced book which paints a picture of Musk as a man who flawed as a human being but is a ray of hope as an idea for humankind.

This is a very well-written biography. I always wanted to know about the man trying to change the world and this book gave me an unbiased view on Elon and his companies that have the potential to disrupt industries. It beautifully reveals the struggle, the dedication, the drive, and the ruthlessness that exists within Elon and how he uses them to his advantage, even when the whole world is against him.

One other thing I had always wondered was, how it would be like working with him and in this book, I found a pattern amongst his employees, what he expects from them and what they think of him. The author has interviewed many of them, right from top to the grassroots and you can see their consistency, drive and motivation to change the world(tho it doesn't apply to all, however).

The best part about this book is that isn't glorified him, but to give an account of what he has done and how he has done and how he did it.

Who Would I recommend This Book?

I would like to recommend this book to anyone interested in entrepreneurship, technology or clean energy.

How The Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping Our Future:

Excellent and inspiring. This book brought up one key question: do you have to be a bit reckless to be good? Musk was reckless in two areas: in the risks he took, and the way that he manages his companies.

As for first, the number of near-death experiences that Tesla, SpaceX and earlier companies went through is almost a running joke throughout this story. The Falcon 1 failed three times, exhausting the company's funds, before achieving a successful fourth flight. Tesla avoided bankruptcy by taking on a NASA - approved loan from SpaceX plus a last-minute acquisition of a company Musk invested in pulled through, and avoided being derailed by the predatory investor by a bluff on the order of $40 million. Combine these with the many situations where it didn't look like Tesla was going to build anything substantial, plus the negative media attention-the fact that Musk continued to persevere and pull through at times where most normal people would have given up is crazy.

The risk undoubtedly took a toll on his life and relationships, through three divorces and the insane sleep deprivation he and the others on the team go through. It brings up the question- when you're doing things as big as this, how reckless do you have to be? Should you have a breaking point? Does the sustainable, get-eight-hours-of-sleep-and-exercise approach really work? Or is the right thing to do actually to push through, get four hours of sleep, get shit done? Are those that prefer the 'sustainable' option the ones that don't succeed as much, and the reckless ones that actually make progress?

As for the second, the way that he manages his companies, he was reckless in what he demanded from people. The most notable story is of SpaceX, where employees worked on a crappy atoll in the Marshall Island for months to deliver Falcon 1 rocket launches. In a Job-like fashion, his outward personality is cold, demanding, and fearful: employees are on edge all the time and have to have answers. If someone is the bottleneck on a project, there's immense pressure on them to deliver. And you never want to be the deliverer of bad news- and if you are, you better have a solution to back it up.

And while that is actually a good way to work - to have everything lined up - is Musk's approach the right way to manage a company? Is it the only way to be successful in incredibly difficult things? or are Tesla and SpaceX successful in spite of this way of working - that actually holds people back?

Other than those questions, this is a very good overview of Musk's life and personality, and the trials and tribulations he went through to be successful -  a path beset by an immense number of setbacks and late deliveries.

What comes through clearly is how much of a genius this guy was. To get a sense of what this guy is like, consider that in his childhood, he ran out of books to read at the local library and the school library, and sometimes would read for 10hours a day. Dude also has a memory that's not only photographic, but he can wrangle images and numbers and relationships between then on his head. Insane. His ability to ingest and retain information, and his approach to knowledge, is nuts:

People who have spent significant time with musk will attest to his ability to absorb incredible quantities of information with near-flawless recall. It's one of the most impressive and intimidating skills and seems to be work just as well in the present day as it did when he was a child vacuuming books into his brain. aerospace expert on a level that few technology CEOs ever approach in their fields.

 What also comes across was how much Musk believes in the technological future and how much he has done to restore that promise to humanity. It's clear that he is one of the top people pushing technology and humanity forward, and that's incredibly inspiring.

Now let's see what Musk has achieved so far:

1. Musk was a co-founder at Paypal.
2. Musk is the CEO of Tesla Motors.
3. Musk is the CEO of SpaceX.

Can you see, the field, in which he has created something of worth are so varied. Financial for Paypal, Auto for Tesla and Space exploration and launch for SpaceX.

The impact of these companies on the future of Technology and human growth is unprecedented.

With Paypal Musk brought forward the real power of the internet as safe and secure payment and financial medium. This opened up the e-commerce sector and we can all see what Amazon and Alibaba have grown to be.

Tesla Motors was a laughing stock of incumbent auto giants, but it has shaken up the industry with the latest Tesla modal 3 gaining over 2,00,000 pre-orders in 24 hours. Tesla Motor has constantly broken traditions and has behaved just like its software counterparts. Embodying the principle of "move fast and break things".

SpaceX is another story in itself. Musk has stated on many occasions that his dream is to make humans a space-faring civilisation. His goal is to make a manned flight to Mars possible by 2020. Maybe settling up a Mars colony for future settlement.

What makes Tesla Motors and SpaceX different from the incumbents like GM, Boeing etc is that Musk runs these companies like startups.

We have to analyze those facts to see if Elon is actually the person we think he is.

Will Musk live up to expectations of being the visionary he is being hailed to be, only time will tell.