Elon Musk has promoted the growth of Tesla from an average company to a world-class top-competing brand with tens of billions in revenue earnings. Because "no" meant nothing. When you lead like Musk, youre always pushing for something greater: We believe everyone could stand to be a little fearless and a little more curious when leading their teams to greatness. All rights reserved. He has had many failures in the course of his career, ranging from mechanical failures in his Tesla brand to rockets crashing. 1. But the reality has been rather different. Elon was not born into success, not was he born in the spotlight he has acquired for himself today, but instead he spent years expanding and building his interpersonal, intrapersonal, and developmental capabilities so that he could be in the position of leadership and futuristic drive. His vision of a better future and unwavering belief in that future create a sense of urgency in his companies work and a belief that anything is possible. Whether it was Paypal where he championed the idea of an online banking institution, or SpaceX which has become the first private company to successfully launch a rocket and dock at the International Space Station, or SolarCity which promotes the use of solar energy as a sustainable energy source, Musk is disrupting large industries by setting a new standard. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/authentic-leadership, Copyright 2023 The Pennsylvania State University, https://www.biography.com/business-figure/elon-musk, https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2137573/modules/items/32271438, https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/authentic-leadership, A Leaders Self-Defeating Behaviors Effect on the Organization, Leaders Need to Be in Harmony With Their Followers, Nurse Leaders: The Importance of Nurses Motivating Nurses. This merged with Confinity to become Paypal. For some time now, I've been assessing Musk and have outlined five different reasons that explain why he's so successful. Superheroes emulate him. Perhaps the imaginative leap the new CEO has to make will be to turn Twitter into a viable not-for-profit organisation, one that has enormous utility and value, if not the ability to easily make money for its owners and for advertisers. The ability to face facts. Nations hire him to get to outer space. Even though Musk no longer performs menial labor, his work ethic remains second to none. Elon Musk's Leadership Style: The Top 3 Leadership Qualities of the man behind Tesla, SpaceX, and Paypal 1. You see, the 2% that separated Muskfrom his current score and perfection sounded to him like a giant "no." 3. Musk is obviously intense. Working 120-hour weeks doesn't leverage your unique qualities, it wastes them. Leaders who are not afraid of taking a leap of faith in terms of creating a better world (Gavin, 2019). In their book Connected, Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler conclude from years of research that our actions, attitudes, and behaviors not only influence those we act with directly, but also extend to people within three degrees. While Musks ability to fail may not separate him from his competitors, he differentiates himself with his ability to remain optimistic and wholeheartedly convinced that he will succeed. Leaders Eat Last (New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2014). There are occasions when Musk's employees or those working with him find him hard to work with. An authentic leader creates better relationships with colleagues, creates higher levels of trust, increased productivity, and a more positive working environment (Gavin, 2019). Bhd. Here's how to incorporate them into your own entrepreneurial journey. By Many of Musk's grand ideas come from small questions. He dreams about stuff that no one else would He is a force of knowledge that is easily recognizable not only from his long history of business endeavors, but also by his connection to his followers. In Simon Sineks book Leaders Eat Last, he details a less commonly acknowledged, yet equally important, aspect of leading from the front. His leadership qualities are helping shape a new way of thinking about sustainable energy and renewable resources. Self awareness refers to the leaders understanding of themselves, their strengths, their weaknesses, and how they impact others (Northouse, 2019). Its been a tumultuous year for Twitter and Musk. But he could now face interest payments to lenders of up to US$1 billion a year unless Twitters financial health can be turned around. How often does something small in scale pull your attention away, making you less productive and less effective? The novel led Musk to deduce that the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.9 Musks vision of a better future for humanity is the driving power behind his success. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation US, Inc. 57.5% of more than 17.5 million Twitter users. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. His interpersonal qualities hold a lot of weight in Musks life as he is very active with new startup companies such as cryptocurrencies, Twitter, his appearance on SNL, and overall presence in news and tabloids connecting him to his followers. This focus has allowed Musk to perfect the art of getting into a "flow state," "the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity." 17 Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles That Fuel Success and Performance at Work (London: Virgin, 2011). It's not hard to think of well-known, visionary leaders of the past few decades. How often are you distracted? His speeches are marked with . Fortunately, his mothers Canadian citizenship enabled him to obtain a Canadian passport and a one-way flight to Montreal. Your email address will not be published. Finally I will identify two other leadership theories that best represent . His other ventures include Hyperloop (his design for a high-speed transportation system that would drastically reduce travel times) and OpenAI (a non-for-profit research company dedicated to artificial intelligence). And Tesla Motors has remained unprofitable for more than a decade.But thanks to his unwavering belief in the long-term importance of these projects, investors and the general public have remained supportive. He possesses illustrious leadership qualities, skills, and styles, some of which are being discussed here. Since his parents were divorced when he was only nine years old, Elon and his younger brother Kimbal were left much of the time to explore the world on their own. Many people would consider Musk to be the most innovative entrepreneur of our time. "Being immersed can be defined as a state of focus in which a person is completely absorbed and engrossed in their work." This leadership style's strengths are innovative thinking, analysis, problem-solving, planning, and strategy execution. Confidence and independence. Dolly Singh, former HR head at SpaceX, says about Elon Musk, "The thing that makes Elon Elon is his ability to make people believe in his vision.". He received his first computer at 9 and by 12 had coded and sold a video game (Cole, 2021). In this segment were looking atElon Musk, the creator of brands such as PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla. So the new CEO will need to be confident, perhaps even arrogant, and ready to stand their ground. In 1989, Musk moved to Canada and began undergraduate studies at Queens University in Ontario. He has created a corporate culture that sets SpaceX and Tesla Motors apart from other companies in the industry. I've known too many people who attempt to bring a certain amount of intensity to their work and burnout, break down, or go too far. Let your vision guide you He has borrowed huge sums and sold large tranches of Tesla stock to help fund the acquisition. Elon Musk, one of the most creative leaders of our time, is widely seen as a visionary. To learn more about the leadership workshops and keynotes I conduct at events and corporations around the globe, click here: https://jamieturner.live/To down. An electric railroad. After Ashley Vances book, this is the best piece of writing out there on the man behind Space X and Tesla. How can you and your organization make a positive difference in the world? Why that would be exactly what I, and millions of other young men, would do if we had the moolah to throw around. In consideration of the leadership skills of Jobs and Musk, I see four overlapping things. Musk paid US$44 billion to buy it, perhaps twice what it was worth. After 2 years, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania. Skip to document. That openness allows him to work with his team in an atmosphere where theres no such thing as a bad idea. Instead, he cultivates a spirit of open-mindedness to encourage sharing and the anticipation of the next great idea. When considering Elon Musk under the lens of authentic leadership, it is clear he has the necessary leadership traits. We live in a highly distracting world. While Musk's business ventures have been driven by his unique vision, Musk takes very little input and often makes impulse decisions that haven't been vetted by team members. We can rattle off Elon Musk's accomplishments in our sleep: co-founder of monetary giant PayPal; founder of Tesla Motors, the electric car company that is changing the world; and founder of Space X, which is focused on space exploration and space travel, and has even sent NASA to the International Space Station on his spacecraft. Musk is the. Someone who has reached goals youre still working on can give you real-life, actionable tips to becoming a better leader. Musk is undoubtedly a visionary. Had he been afraid of failure, two of the most recognizable companies in the United States may no longer exist. Over the years, he has been compared to the likes of Steve Jobs and Henry Ford, and even Iron Man, with actor Robert Downey Jr allegedly modelling his portrayal of Tony Stark off of the SpaceX and Tesla CEO. 2. Otherwise, its not.16 For Musk, the only viable option was to hold on firmly to hope. Musk has remained true to his vision for the future throughout his career. Musk once said, If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it. While he has garnered enormous respect due to his transformational leadership, he still exhibits autocratic leadership traits. Even though he had complete control of his company, he gave his employees the motivation to accomplish their targets and tasks through his characteristics. Promoting life-long learning among a companys employees is essential to maintaining its competitive edge. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elon-Musk. It certainly wouldn't be that way without Mr. Musk's unblinking focus at the forefront. It is influential and powerful. He is the co-founder of PayPal, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, and CEO and product architect at Tesla Motors (Cole, 2021). entrepreneur.com/article/279971. Musk has described his estranged father Errol as "evil.". Eighty-hour work weeks don't feel like work weeks, because our passion is fueling us. Confidence and independence A new Twitter CEO will want. Explore the amazing adventurehe wishes to take us all upon. Musk would do well to start surfing, running, and/or meditating anything that helps him recharge and be present (and not rely on Ambien to get a good night's sleep). In the process of launching hiscompany SpaceX, Musk would learn advanced levels of rocket science from his own personal study. That 100% meant enough to him that he put himself in a possibly awkward situation, speaking with his professor, and had the hard conversation that many people shy away from. As a teenager, the self-denoted low point of Musks manual labor career involved donning a hazmat suit to clean boilers at a lumber mill by shoveling steaming goop from the inside of a tunnel. 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