Elon Musk's
40 Insights on Achieving True Greatness
Some people
imagine the future and a few actually make it happen. Here is why Elon Musk is
the latter.
Many people imagine what it would be like to be great
someday. They hope to add significance and change the future for the better. There are few of
these groundbreaking visionaries in today's world but surely Elon Musk is among
them.
Already this
South African native has impacted the world in game-changing ways. As founder
of PayPal, he created a new way of sharing currency. Next was Tesla, finally
bringing electric vehicles into mainstream production. And now, off Musk goes into the final frontier with SpaceX, in
hopes of settling Mars someday.
He has often been referred to as a
"thrillionaire," a new class of high-tech entrepreneurs looking to
use their wealth to make science-fiction dreams into a modern reality. If
anyone can do it, Musk can.
If you want to achieve the
greatness of Musk, you best start with learning his outlook on achieving. Here
are 40 insights to help you blast off.
1. "When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds
are not in your favor."
2. "If you're trying to create a
company, it's like baking a cake. You have to
have all the ingredients in the right proportion."
3. "I think that's the single
best piece of advice: constantly think about how you
could be doing things better and questioning yourself. "
4. "The path to the CEO's office
should not be through the CFO's office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through
engineering and design."
5. "A company is a group
organized to create a product or service, and it is only as good as its people
and how excited they are about creating. I do want to recognize a ton of
super-talented people. I just happen to be the face of the companies."
6. "It's OK to have your eggs in
one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket."
7. "People work better when they
know what the goal is and why. It is important that
people look forward to coming to work in the morning and enjoy working."
8. "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."
9. "Some people don't like
change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is
disaster."
10. "Brand is just a perception, and perception
will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will
be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a
product."
11. "The problem is that at a lot
of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You're encouraged
to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to
keep people who aren't that smart, who aren't that creative."
12. "I do think there is a lot of potential if you have a compelling product
and people are willing to pay a premium for that. I think that is what Apple
has shown. You can buy a much cheaper cell phone or laptop, but Apple's product
is so much better than the alternative, and people are willing to pay that
premium."
13. "Really, the only thing that
makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment."
14. "Great companies are built on great
products."
15. "I don't create companies for
the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.
16. "If something's important
enough, you should try. Even if you -- the probable outcome is failure."
17. "People should pursue what
they're passionate about. That will make them happier
than pretty much anything else."
18. "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing,
you are not innovating enough."
19. "I would just question things... It would infuriate my
parents... that I wouldn't just believe them when they said something, 'cause
I'd ask them why. And then I'd consider whether that response made sense given
everything else I knew."
20. "It's very important to like
the people you work with. Otherwise, life [and] your
job is gonna be quite miserable."
21. "Don't delude yourself into
thinking something's working when it's not, or you're gonna get fixated on a
bad solution."
22. "I'm interested in things that change the world or
that affect the future, and wondrous, new technology
where you see it, and you're like, 'Wow, how did that even happen? How is that
possible?'"
23. "What makes innovative thinking happen? I think it's
really a mindset. You have to decide."
24. "Talent is extremely important. It's like a
sports team, the team that has the best individual player will often win, but
then there's a multiplier from how those players work together and the strategy
they employ."
25. "Really pay attention to
negative feedback and solicit it, particularly from
friends. Hardly anyone does that, and it's incredibly helpful."
26. "Work like hell. I mean you just have to
put in 80-to 100-hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If
other people are putting in 40-hour workweeks and you're putting in 100-hour
workweeks, then even if you're doing the same thing, you know that you will
achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.
28. "Starting and growing a
business is as much about the innovation, drive, and determination of the people
behind it as the product they sell."
29. "My biggest mistake is probably weighing too much on
someone's talent and not someone's personality. I think it matters whether
someone has a good heart."
30. "Persistence is very important. You should not
give up unless you are forced to give up."
31. "When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars, people
said, 'Nah, what's wrong with a horse?' That was a huge bet he made, and it
worked."
32. "When somebody has a
breakthrough innovation, it is rarely one little thing.
Very rarely, is it one little thing. It's usually a whole bunch of things that
collectively amount to a huge innovation."
33. "You shouldn't do things
differently just because they're different. They need to be... better."
34. "It is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to
get a complicated job done. Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting
the right answer (two people who don't know something are no better than one).
[They] will tend to slow down progress and make the task incredibly
expensive."
35. "When I was in college, I
wanted to be involved in things that would change the world. Now I am."
36. "I wouldn't say I have a lack
of fear. In fact, I'd like my fear emotion
to be less, because it's very distracting and fries my nervous system."
37. "Life is too short for long-term grudges."
38. "Don't be afraid of new arenas."
39. "I think it is possible for
ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary."
40. "Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring
into the abyss of death."
BY KEVIN
DAUM
http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/elon-musk-s-40-insights-on-achieving-true-greatness.html?cid=em01020week29a
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