“Business Personality-ELON MUSK”

(An assignment for ‘HRPD’)

(In partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree of MASTERS OF
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA))

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Dr. Azizinder Sekhon Amanpreet Kaur

(School of Management Studies) MBA II-H1 (Sec B)

19421065
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are
not in your favor.”- Elon Musk
Journey from “The Boring co. to thinking about Colonize the Mars”.

Character and Leadership

Elon Musk is a visionary, and truly believes in every business
venture he puts his mind too. Because he has such a strong vision, he
isn’t afraid to face obstacles others might find impossible to
overcome.

This is one of the things Musk is known for – tackling obstacles

head on. The projects he’s been involved in tackle almost every
major industry and global problem, from automotive, to
telecommunications, to energy.

And if there is a problem within the organisation, you can be sure

Musk will be right there, taking a hands-on approach to helping find
a solution:

“I always move my desk to wherever - well, I don’t really have a

desk, actually. I move myself to wherever the biggest problem is in
Tesla.”

However, Musk has been heavily criticised for having an unhealthy

work ethic. As revealed in this article from The Guardian, he's been
known to work 120 hour weeks, often sleeping at the Tesla factory.
He has also admitted to constantly being on email, even when
interacting with his children.

And although he clearly likes to put himself at the heart of problem-

solving, in true adaptive leadership style, it's important not to
underestimate the benefits of sharing risks, ideas, and decision
making with your whole team. By empowering everyone in the
organisation to tackle obstacles themselves, you will not only
accelerate the success of the business, but build a more engaged and
fulfilled workforce at the same time.
A good leader will always pick themselves up – and their teams –
when things go wrong. They approach the problem from a different
angle until finding something that works.

Musk’s ethos is: “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing
you are not innovating.”

And Musk has often demonstrated how he continually reviews and

adapts his strategies. Take trying to land a rocket on a drone-ship in
outer space, for example. SpaceX have spent years trying, failing,
and learning from their failures in their mission to “send people to
Mars by 2024.”

But, can there sometimes be a risk that you adapt too quickly? Most
people would have argued that Musk dropping out of Stanford after
just two days because he decided he could make a bigger impact by
focusing on the booming internet was a bit rash. It may have worked
out for him, yet, changing tactic so quickly and boldly doesn’t
always pay off.

Changing course abruptly as a leader in an organisation can be

disorienting for the rest of the team, especially if they are
comfortable with the way things are currently going. But like any
change initiative, this is why it’s so important that leaders
communicate to their teams in a timely manner any change in
strategy or direction.

One thing Musk does seem to get right is his dedication to

continuous improvement. For instance, Musk recognises feedback as
one way to become a better leader. As well as inviting people to give
him constructive feedback, he encourages his teams to do the same.
He is a big advocate of the power of truthful feedback for improving
individual, team, and organisational performance:

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re

constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be
doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice:
constantly think about how you could be doing things better and
questioning yourself.”
At t-three, we know how powerful feedback can be in helping
people to become the best version of themselves. As a leader, being
aware of how your behaviour is perceived by others means you can
adapt your approach to get the best out of your team in any situation.
A healthy dose of emotional intelligence is also valuable, and
Musk’s ability to identify others’ emotions and change the way he
works with people to better lead is something every leader should
strive to emulate.

Even from an early age, Musk was reading two books a day, and his
success can in many ways be attributed to his enthusiasm and
appetite for learning. Musk has even been known to quiz engineers
for hours on end just to soak up their knowledge. Jim Cantrell,
aerospace consultant who worked with Musk for SpaceX, told
Business Insider: “In the same way that Musk absorbed books, he
tried doing that with other people’s expertise. It was as if he could
suck the experience out of them. He truly listens to people.”

An adaptive leader will create a culture of continuous learning and

growth. They empower people to always look for ways to improve.

Elon Musk's leadership style is about constantly learning, breaking

through barriers, and developing new ways to solve problems. He
also has the emotional intelligence to bring the best out of his team,
and we can attribute all this to his vast success. However, he has also
faced criticism for being a workaholic and an extreme
micromanager, both of which are unhealthy leadership traits.
Ultimately, the best leaders put their energy into empowering their
people to be better so that they can each play their part in driving the
success of the business. And perhaps this is what's missing from
Musk's approach.

College and Career

Musk started college at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, but
transferred to the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) on a partial
scholarship two years later and graduated with an economics degree
from the Wharton School and a physics degree from the College for
Arts and Sciences. The entrepreneurial streak that revealed itself in
his school days would only strengthen through college. While at
Queen’s, he sold custom-made computers and parts to fellow
students to make money. At UPenn, Musk and a friend would turn
their house into a party club of sorts, charging an entry fee at the
door to cover expenses. In 1995, he began his PhD in applied
physics and material sciences at Stanford University, only to drop
out after two days to start an internet startup with his brother. The
Musk brothers co-founded Zip2, a city guide software for
newspapers. The company was acquired by Compaq in 1999 for
around $300 million, where Elon made around $20 million. He then
founded an online bank called X.com with that money which would
later go on to become PayPal. In 2002, when eBay bought PayPal,
Elon received $180 million.

Elon Musk's greatest inventions changing the world

He Read the Entire Encyclopaedia Britannica at Nine Years Old

Musk was an avid reader from a very young age. He would spend, on
average, 10 hours a day reading science fiction novels and anything else
he could get his hands on. In fact, at the age of nine, he ran out of books
to read at the library, so he ended up reading the entire Encyclopaedia
Britannica before he finished fourth grade.

2. He Taught Himself to Programme in Three Days

Musk’s interest in technology started evolving when he was 10 years old.

Determined to teach himself more about programming, he learned the
BASIC language after finishing a six-month course within just three days.
His efforts were not in vain, either: at 12 years old, he managed to create
his own video game and sell its code for the respectable amount of $500.

3. He Landed His First Internship with a Cold-Call

While in college, Musk made a habit of calling executives he read about

in magazines and asking them to meet for lunch. Indeed, this bold stunt
landed him his very first internship at the Bank of Nova Scotia. His
experience there was particularly useful, as years later he would go on to
launch his own online finance business.

4. He Ran a Speakeasy to Pay Rent

As a self-funded college student, Musk had to come up with inventive

ways to earn some income, a problem to which he found an ingenious
solution to: rent a 10-bedroom frat house and turn it into a club.
According to Musk, he and his roommate would make an entire month’s
rent in just one night!

5. He Completed a Double Major

After spending two years at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada,

Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania on a full scholarship
ride. There, he pursued a double major in business and physics and
graduated from the prestigious Wharton School.

6. He Sold His First Company for $307 Million

On his first bid to make a break in the internet industry, Musk

collaborated with his brother Kimbal to start their own company, Zip2. It
wasn’t long before their startup was sold to a bigger company for a
whopping $307 million. This transaction landed Musk with $22 million –
not too bad for a 27-year-old!

7. He Cofounded PayPal

PayPal was the result of a merger between Musk’s startup X.com and
Confinity, a competitor internet finance company. Musk served as the
CEO of PayPal after the merger, but his executive years were shortlived
as he was fired while on his honeymoon. Despite the fallback, he
remained on the board and continued investing in PayPal. In fact, his
contributions played an instrumental role when the company was sold to
eBay two years later for a whopping $1.5 billion, earning Musk $180
million.

8. He Founded SpaceX

Before the PayPal sale was even finalised, Musk diverted his interests to
space exploration. The business mogul was determined to make space
travel more accessible, and in a bid to develop and manufacture his own
space launch vehicles, SpaceX was established in 2002. By 2006, the
space rocket company landed a contract with NASA to handle scheduled
cargo transport to the International Space Station in 2008.

9. He Created the Musk Foundation

In 2002, Musk and his brother set up a private foundation in support of

four distinct areas: renewable energy research and advocacy, human
space exploration research and advocacy, paediatric research, and science
and engineering education. With almost $300 million donated to date, his
foundation has focused on disaster relief, AI and sustainable innovations.

10. He Became the CEO of Tesla

Musk initially joined Tesla’s board of directors as its chairman in 2004.

Being one of its lead investors, he assumed his role as CEO in 2007. His
vision to build electric cars and make way for a more sustainable future
also made him the lead product architect of the company.

11. He Revolutionised the Electric Car Industry

As a huge advocate for sustainable energy, Musk was determined to

create a product that would redefine the car industry. After Tesla’s first
electric car, the Roadster, hit the market in 2008, the company
successfully shifted the world’s perception on electric cars and has
assumed its place as one of the top automotive sellers in the world.
Currently, Tesla is working towards taking another innovative step: an
electric car battery with a million-mile lifespan.

12. He Landed a Billion-Dollar Contract with NASA

After three failed launches, SpaceX managed to successfully launch a

fourth rocket into space in 2008. This was a breakthrough moment for
Musk’s company as it earned them a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.
This was also a significant personal achievement for Musk, who’d used
the last of his savings to fund the making of the fourth rocket.

13. He Debuted Tesla’s Model S

In 2009, Musk introduced Tesla’s Model S vehicle. Since its initial

launch, the luxurious vehicle made history after receiving the highest ever
Consumer Reports rating of 99/100 in 2013, and the highest safety rating
in history from the National Highway Safety Administration. Tesla
managed to top its own record rating in 2015 after scoring 103/100 for its
newest model.

14. He Launched the Falcon 9 Rocket

In 2012, the Falcon 9 rocket made its journey to the International Space
Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the astronauts stationed there.
The mission made SpaceX the first ever private company to send a
spacecraft to the ISS, and Falcon 9 completed a fleet of other flights for
NASA from thereon.
15. He Joined the Giving Pledge

In 2012, Musk joined other billionaires of the likes of Bill Gates and
Mark Zuckerberg by signing the Giving Pledge. This committed the
business tycoon to donate the majority of its fortune in a bid to support
philanthropic causes.

16. He Sent a Reusable Rocket to Space

In 2015, SpaceX made a big leap towards affordable space travel by

successfully landing a rocket on Earth after it was launched into space.
By 2017, SpaceX became the first company to launch a NASA resupply
mission on a previously used rocket, making it the first reusable rocket to
reach orbit.

17. He Set the Hyperloop in Motion

In another bid to revolutionise transportation technology, Musk

introduced the Hyperloop in 2013. Its main objective was to slash travel
time between major cities via ultra-fast pods that would run on renewable
energy. With several prototypes ran and tested, India and Missouri are the
first locations to have launched preliminary investigations for
Hyperloop’s installation.

18. He Created OpenAI

In late 2015, Musk announced the creation of OpenAI, a San Francisco-

based organisation aiming to advance artificial intelligence to benefit
humanity and to develop AI technologies that can surpass the human
brain. However, as Tesla became increasingly involved in AI, Musk had
to step down as the OpenAI’s chairman in 2018 to avoid any conflict of
interest.

19. He Acquired SolarCity

Initially, Musk invested $10 million into SolarCity back in 2006. Soon
enough, SolarCity became the largest installer of solar panels in the US.
After closely collaborating with Tesla, the company bought off SolarCity
and made it a subsidiary in 2016.

20. He Founded the Boring Company

One of Musk’s most recent ventures is the Boring Company, a

transportation startup dedicated to boring and constructing tunnels. Its
main objective is to combine affordable technology with electric public
transportation to enable rapid transit across cities. Unsurprisingly, the
entrepreneur’s side venture is doing exceptionally well, having recently
landed a $48.7 million contract to build an underground tunnel in Las
Vegas.

21. He Debuted the Powerwall

In his pursuit of sustainable technology, Musk took Tesla one step further
with the introduction of the Powerwall. The innovative solar-charged
battery pack hit the market in 2015 and offers a more affordable and
sustainable way to power homes.

22. He Cofounded Neuralink

As if space exploration, transportation tunnels and electric cars weren’t

enough, Musk started a new passion project back in 2016. The business
tycoon founded Neuralink, a neural tech company, with the aim of
developing neurotechnology that could integrate artificial intelligence
into the human brain.

23. He Instituted the Big Falcon Rocket

In September 2017, Musk revealed an updated design for the Big Falcon
Rocket (recently renamed Starship). With the capacity to carry over 100
passengers, the spacecraft was another leap towards the entrepreneur’s
overarching goal to colonise Mars. With launch tests still underway,
Musk believes that the first unmanned mission could take place as early
as 2022.

24. He Was Named One of the World’s Most Powerful People

The business tycoon was ranked 25th on Forbes’ 2018 list of the world’s
most powerful people. According to Forbes’ editors, the rankings are
based on the individuals’ capital control, the number of people they
impact and their influence on the industry they work within. With Musk’s
fleet of achievements, winning a spot on this prestigious list comes as no
surprise!

25. He Launched Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai

One of Elon’s latest achievements is Tesla’s Gigafactory 3, based in

Shanghai, China, which he was able to set up in record time: it took just
168 days to have it up and running! As Tesla’s second largest market,
China was a strategic move on Musk’s part, making Gigafactory 3 the
first large-scale plant outside the US.