MGT420

ASSIGNMENT 2

A FAMOUS CONTEMPORARY LEADER

Name : Fatin Nur Fateha Binti S Abdul Jalil

Student ID : 2019883868

Group : RAS2012A

Lecturer’s Name : Dr Nursyamilah Annuar

 ‘A Famous Contemporary Leader’

Elon Musk

Elon Musk was born in South Africa and is a businessman, inventor, and investor.
Musk is most widely known for his founding of PayPal and SpaceX and his heavy
involvement in Tesla Motors. His vision and passion for pushing the boundaries of
technology and consumer integration have led to increased exposure to solar power, high-
speed transportation, and artificial intelligence.

Elon Musk leadership traits, self-confident and leadership behaviour

Firstly, improvised. You can see this when an interviewer asks him a question that
seems impossible to answer. For example, in the one of the TED interviews, Khan doesn’t
expect Musk will give a serious answer to “when do you think the first human will set foot on
Mars?” But Musk thinks for a few seconds, then gives a specific answer (2025). In that same
interview, Khan asks him when electric cars will make up half of all vehicles (also 2025). Or
in this TED interview, where Chris Anderson asks how many giga-factories will be needed to
replace fossil fuels completely (“100”). Having these answers ready doesn’t mean Musk is
always right. But it shows he has taken the time to reason through these insanely complicated
questions and worked out his plans all the way to the end. In other words, don’t wing it.

Secondly, the fearless goals with business plan. During the Khan Academy interview,
an audience member asks why Musk doesn’t care much about profits but he’s always talking
about these lofty missions, never about money.

Thirdly, the hard work. “Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the
abyss of death” is a quote that’s often wrongly attributed to Musk. In his interview with Khan
Academy, Musk talks about what it takes to run a company. This is where these words
originate from, and he attributes them to a friend of his.
And then the eating glass part is that you got to work on the problems that the company needs
you to work on, not the problems you want to work on. And so you end up working on
problems that you really wish you weren’t working on. And so that’s the eating glass part.
And that goes on for a long time”. Just like the hardship we encountered in the article on
Nike’s co-founder Phil Knight, keep this passage in mind when considering to launch your
own company or take on the CEO position. Leadership is hard work.

Fourth, the desire in learning. In his blog series on Musk, Tim Urban of Wait But
Why points out one of the most important contributions to Musk’s success, his constant focus
on improving his thinking. Musk is a ferocious reader and always has been. According to his
brother Kimbal, young Elon would often read for ten hours a day. And when asked how he
built the knowledge on rocket science required to start SpaceX, Musk said he did so by
reading all the relevant books on the topic.

Lastly, he wanted to inspiring the future. If we want to understand why Musk does
what he does, despite the hardship mentioned earlier, this answer in his 2017 TED interview
is a good starting point. “It’s important to have a future that’s inspiring and appealing. There
have to be reasons that you get up in the morning and want to live. What do you love about
the future? I find it incredibly depressing if being a multi-planetary species is not the future
we’re going to have. Life has to be more than about solving problems. There have to be
things that inspire you- that make you proud to be a member of humanity.

Elon Musk Motivation

“The thing that drives me is that I want to be able to think about the future and feel
good about that,” Musk said in 2017 to the National Governors Association. “That we’re
doing what we can to have the future be as good as possible, to be inspired by what is likely
to happen and to look forward to the next day. That’s what really drives me, is trying to
figure out how to make sure things are great.”
Elon Musk honesty and integrity

Behavioural integrity is closely linked to the concept of trust. If someone typically

fails to keep their promises, those around them will see that person as less trustworthy. As a
result, such a person might have to offer more explanations in order to maintain trust. On the
other hand, people who usually keep their word and follow through on actions would
generally not need to explain themselves as much. The presence or absence of these
explanations could offer a clue to whether a CEO’s actions and words were congruent,
Steffen explains.

Leadership power and personal power

Elon Musk has been fairly successful so far however fame and success do not come
easy and it requires enormous efforts to maintain it. While managing his companies, Musk
also encountered few hiccups which invited criticisms and apprehensions. It is often said that
Musk’s big ambitions for Tesla put factory workers under considerable stress. Tesla delivered
80,000 cars in 2016 and would like to deliver 500,000 cars in 2018 which is bombastically
ambitious and will demand huge efforts from everyone. Musk stated that reducing excess
overtime and improving safety are extremely important and that is why they hired thousands
of additional team members to create a third shift, which has reduced the burden on everyone
and that the injury rates have declined in the first quarter of 2017. Apart from the issues
related to working conditions, recently there were allegations of discrimination and
harassment owing to which Tesla’s HR head Arnnon Geshuri had to move out. It is a good
sign that Musk is now addressing such issues more openly and taking appropriate actions,
however, such efforts should happen in a sustained manner where employees and their well-
being are kept at the core of every decision.

He is a visionary who is holding on to his belief tight and putting his maximum to get
there. His passion, his persistence, and ability to not give up in the face of failures make him
incredibly fascinating and inspiring.

Leadership concept ally among another leader

A leader with a purpose. What sets Musk apart from others is his vision to change the
world and making it a better place for humanity. Some of his goals include reducing global
warming through sustainable energy production and consumption, SolarCity and Tesla.
Reducing the "risk of human extinction" by "making life multiplanetary" by setting up a
human colony on Mars (SpaceX). Besides his extraordinary intellect it’s his will and ability
to lead others in a way that they also believe in his vision and strive to transform his vision
into a reality. His dedication to pursue his vision has inspired a generation of young engineers
to work at his companies and believe in a shared vision.

Hard worker paid off. Musk typically works tirelessly over one hundred hours a week,
which leads to expression at SpaceX, “No matter how hard you work, someone else is
working harder,” and that someone is Musk. As a result, employees of SpaceX and Tesla
Motors are known to take initiatives, work extremely hard, innovate and deliver results
within in tight schedule.

Task-focused. Musk is extremely task-focused and wants everyone to be 100% on

board with his vision. He is known to set short deadlines with tight budgets and doesn't
accept failure. He demands the best from every member of his teams and himself.

Problem solver and innovator. Most of Musk’s inventions are guided by his will to
solve some of the big problems facing people. Most of his current companies are cutting edge
engineering firms, which solve difficult problems that no one else is taking on. When he sees
a problem in his daily life, he doesn't just see it as a problem, he thinks about the
opportunities he can do to solve that problem, and not only does he think about the solutions,
he ensures that those solutions are implemented.

Courageous leader. He has shown immense courage by launching an entirely new

range of products in the market with minimal back-up. There were times when both Tesla and
SpaceX were on the verge of failing and going bankrupt. But his courage and belief turned
things in his favour.

Another compelling aspect about Musk is his underlying passion for contributing to
society because of which he never hesitates to share his knowledge even with his
competitors; he allowed other automobile manufacturers to freely make use of Tesla’s
valuable battery technology to facilitate the use of clean energy.
References

Montag, A. (2018, March 16). Elon Musk explains his motivation to succeed: ‘There need to
be things that inspire you’. Retrieved 29 May 2020, from
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/16/elon-musk-on-inspiration-and-success.html

Marsh, E. (n.d.). 4 things Elon Musk can teach us about effective leadership. Retrieved from
https://www.t-three.com/soak/insights/4-things-elon-musk-can-teach-us-about-
effective-leadership

Elon Musk. (n.d.). Retrieved 29 May 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-

musk/#60913d3e7999

5 Leadership Lessons from Elon Musk: Don’t Wing It. (n.d.). Retrieved 29 May 2020, from
https://pagely.com/blog/leadership-lessons-from-elon-musk/

Shrivastava, A. (2019, March 7). Elon Musk: Intellect, passion, leadership and failures.
Retrieved 31 May 2020, from https://www.peoplematters.in/blog/entrepreneurship-
start-ups/elon-musk-intellect-passion-leadership-and-failures-15856