90 percent of my clients are established entrepreneurs who are looking to take themselves and their businesses to the next level, for such people this book is a MUST read.
Whilst I might humorously describe Elon Musk as ‘Richard Branson on steroids’, there is a wealth of wisdom about ‘being an entrepreneur’ contained within this book.
Musk is without doubt one of history’s most ‘extreme entrepreneurs’ he is best known for being the founder of 3 game changing, revolutionary global businesses: Pay Pal, Tesla Electric Cars and Space X.
I have recently had a number of my client’s read this book to identify the traits that they perceive makes Elon Musk ‘one of the greatest entrepreneurs in history’, then using the ‘Demartini Method’ I am helping my clients to own these powerful traits to the same degree that they perceive them in Elon Musk, the early results are already spectacular.
What I most love about this book is it’s ‘warts and all’ approach, unlike some biographical books it really delves into Musk’s darker sides as well as his lighter sides, indeed this is crucial to understanding his entrepreneurial genius and the fact that ‘it never has been about the money’. Musk simply sees money as a necessary tool to build his businesses. Musk is a beacon of disruptive entrepreneurship, driven by a desire to be significant by transforming the world we live in.
First there was PayPal which revolutionised how we can make on-line payments. PayPal gave Musk his ‘seed capital’ for his next 2 huge business ventures, starting with Tesla the Electric Car company. Most of the car industry laughed at Musk and what he was trying to achieve with Tesla for several years, However, they are not laughing now as with a Tesla car you can now drive up to 200 miles on a single charge, in a car with performance that is better than the average saloon car. Using Tesla’s Solar farm charging stations you can now drive the length of California at zero fuel cost to you and virtually no cost to the environment!
The rest of the car industry is now playing technology catch up, Mercedes plans to provide electric cars across it’s entire range of models in the next 3 years.
Tesla is now a serious player among the traditional big car manufacturers, it’s share prices have soared since their early years of struggles. It is in these years of struggles described in this book that the greatest lessons for entrepreneurs lies. Musk’s greatest creation though could be ‘Space X’ his rocket manufacturing and space exploration company! Incredibly Musk started Space X whilst still in the throws of establishing Tesla. Musk has a relentless work ethic and ‘loves what he does’. I am not aware of any person in the history of business being a hands on, fully involved CEO of 2 multi-billion dollar organisations (in different sectors) – AT THE SAME TIME!
Those reading this article who are familiar with my work, will know that having a vivid, inspiring and purposeful vision is a central to all the work I do with entrepreneurs. Musk’s vision for Space X has to be one of the best examples of a vivid, inspiring & purposeful vision. In the book it explains that on one side of his office wall he has a giant picture of the red planet Mars as we see it today then a future version of Mars as a warmer green and blue habitable planet.
Musk’s inspiring and purposeful vision is ‘the future survival of the human species, by enabling us to travel to and inhabit Mars and ultimately other planets in other solar systems’. A goal that sits within that vision is ‘a manned mission to Mars within 10 years’.
In Musk’s vision, he is taking us to new places and more than this, in his vision the future of the entire human species is on the line! No wonder he attracts the best scientific minds from the best universities around the world. No wonder his loyal investors stood by him through thick and thin! No wonder his staff are inspired to undertake absurd workloads that could make your eyes water. However, Musk leads by example and very clearly does not ask anyone to do something he would not do himself and in many cases something he previously has done.
Musk concedes that throughout his career he has often delivered his goals later than promised, however, I can easily choose to overlook this because his goals are so wild and fantastic. Musk’s visions and goals have been consistently written off by many as far fetched and fanciful, yet he has consistently delivered. Space X is now the only profitable major Space Exploration business, it can now put a rocket into space cheaper than anyone else and is the first organisation to develop a re-useable rocket! Musk has proved that the future of space exploration lies much more in the hands of entrepreneurs than it does in the hands of government organisations, who as in all most other service sectors are highly inefficient