I read the book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Futureby Ashlee Vance.
What surprised you the most?
I think what surprised me the most was that Elon Musk isn’t from America originally. He is actually Canadian. His parents moved to South Africa and that is where he grew up. When he got older, he moved back to Canada and then eventually came to America.
What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
What I admired the most about Elon Musk was that he was passionate in what he is doing. From when he was a little kid, he was into computer coding, Space, and solar power. His first start-up was with making an application on the computer to show where businesses were in certain cities. As he got older, he created SpaceX and Tesla Motors because of his fascinations with space and saving energy.
What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
What I admired the least about Elon Musk is that he is really bullheaded. He wanted to be CEO of his companies even when it wasn’t the best thing for the company. He wanted to be in charge of his companies, but most of the time it wasn’t the best route for the company. For example, he was CEO of PayPal and they kicked him from the position when he was on vacation. Musk was so furious. One of the people from PayPal said that if they didn’t take away Musk’s position as CEO, then Musk what have brought PayPal to the ground.
Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? Yes, Elon did in fact encounter adversity and failure. He was always the weird kid growing up. When he was very young, his parents thought he was deaf. His parents would try to talk to him, but he just zoned out and stared off in space. His parents took him to the doctor and the doctor told them that he had perfect hearing. Musk was just so deep in his thoughts as a kid that he blocked out the world around him. His then girlfriend said that Musk was so fascinated at Space. He’d always talk about it. He was very different from other people, but that is what made him unique and apart from everyone else. This uniqueness allowed him to be who he is today.
What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
I think the biggest competency that Elon Musk had was that he never gave up. He worked days on end without any sleep. He did everything he could to keep his businesses going.
He had employees join together and kick him out of his CEO position in one of his companies, but that did not stop him from doing what was best for the company. He was mad/upset, but he didn’t try to bring down the company because of it. I think that takes a lot of heart in a company.
Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
So, the most confusing thing for me was how they were able to kick him out of the CEO position when he was practically the one who created the company. I am taking “Principles of Management” right now and started studying positions of management. That is when I realized that there is a Board of Directors that makes decisions for the company. Some of these directors are from the company and some are not. This allows the company to be able to do what is best for it and also lower the possibility of corruption.
If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
The two questions that I would ask to Elon Musk would be:
1) Did you ever feel like just giving up?
2) Did you know you were going to be this successful of an entrepreneur?
I would ask these questions to see if he ever thought maybe being an entrepreneur wasn’t right for him. I want to see if he had second thoughts about starting up his businesses.
FOR FUN: What do you think the entrepreneur’s opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
I think Elon Musk’s opinion of hard work would be stay up late and make work part of your family. I also share that opinion. I believe that no new company can just be started up overnight. I believe it takes time and a lot of work.
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