27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

1) You read about an entrepreneur 

What surprised me the most about Elon Musk before reading this biography was that he started an online bank which would later merge into what is now PayPal. What I admire the most about Elon Musk is that despite the setbacks he went through such as when he was close to bankruptcy with Tesla, he never gave up. The thing I admire least about Elon Musk is his overly optimistic promises. For example, by the time a deadline has arrived, his product isn't ready yet or the numbers aren't what he promised. I believe this causes him to push his employees to work even harder and might cause them to resent him. I would definitely say that Elon does encounter adversity. It wasn’t easy for him when making the decision to move from South Africa to Canada especially when he grew up during the period of apartheid and at the defiance of his father.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

            The competency that I noticed that Elon possessed was persistence. No matter how difficult things became, he never gave up and kept on going until he achieved his goal. During the early developments of PayPal, Elon had to work tirelessly every day and week. Even to the point, he would sleep at where he worked.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

            One thing that confused me about Elon is the fact he is overly optimistic about his plans. Usually, most people learn their mistakes after the first time they make it, but this isn't the case for Elon, but I guess that’s just a part of his persistent behavior.

4) If I had to ask Musk two questions, they would be:

1.  Was the creation of SpaceX due to some dream or aspiration you had as a kid or was it because of  wanting to compete with other aerospace companies?

2.  You cut yourself off from your father because he wasn't a good person, will you ever regret this decision?

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

            What I believe Elon's idea of hard work would probably be non-stop grinding and putting in the work, no matter how hard or how much, in order to achieve results.