Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and SolarCity, with an estimated net worth of 219.6 billion USD.
Musk is also one of the most phenomenal and influential people in the world. He is known for being an idea machine, coming up with creative solutions to some major problems facing our planet and existence.
In this article, we look at some critical insights from his interviews, videos, as well as from his Twitter account. Let’s get into it!
Seth Godin taught him how to think of “the unthinkable.”
When asked about his most influential mentor, Musk said he had two; one was Peter Thiel, who taught him finance, and the other was Seth Godin. For example, when asked how to think of “the unthinkable,” Musk revealed that he learned from reading back-to-front posts on Seth Godin’s blog (he didn’t remember which specific posts).
He believes that “going to Mars” is essential for the survival of the human race.
When asked about why he founded SpaceX, Elon said that it was mostly because he wanted humans to become a multi-planetary species. Ergo, he founded SpaceX to make humanity “multi-planetary.” He also mentioned on several occasions that he believed that “going to Mars” was a necessity for the survival of our species.
He came up with the idea for Tesla when he realized how much potential electric cars had.
Musk revealed several times that he first became interested in electric cars when he learned about their potential from Jeremy Rifkin’s book, The Hydrogen Economy.
He has a “ten-year rule” for his businesses.
When asked about how often he came up with new business ideas, he said that it was far less than people would think – but it was only every ten years when he came up with an idea.
He doesn’t like to take advice from others unless they can beat him in a debate or challenge his idea.
One of the best advice for business success is to seek out and listen to people who would be willing to give you valuable criticism, but Musk doesn’t like this approach. He believes that if someone cannot give him better insight into his own (or another person’s) ideas, then they shouldn’t waste their time.
He believes that you should focus on long-term results rather than short-term ones.
One of Elon’s most influential teachings is that people shouldn’t be chasing short-term success, but instead, they should “focus on things that will make things better in the future.” This means devoting your life to something that will help you achieve your long-term goals.
He doesn’t believe in micromanaging people.
Instead of micromanaging, he believes in creating a company culture where employees know what is best for their team and they have the responsibility to do it – believing that if someone isn’t able to do something themselves, then they probably aren’t qualified to do it.
He used to have a secret Twitter account, but he decided that “there are way too many tweets.”
No one knows when Elon Musk created his @elonmusk Twitter account, but there is an archive of all of his previous public tweets under the username @notjesus. Once he realized that there were “way too many tweets,” he decided that it was time to close his original Twitter account; but then, out of nowhere, @elonmusk reappeared with the username changed to @elonmusk_.
He believes that one should never stop learning.
Once you think you’ve learned everything, people would be shocked to find out that Musk probably knows far more than you think – and he can easily prove it.
He believes in forcing people to work incredibly hard (even if they don’t want to).
The best way to get the most out of people is, according to Elon, is to “force them to do great things” because only then would they accomplish something truly significant.
He values time more than money.
This may seem like an odd thing to say about Elon Musk, but once you understand his reasoning, it makes perfect sense – he values time because if people “spend their time doing things they don’t enjoy,” then they will never accomplish anything meaningful.
His number one priority is to have a positive effect on the world.
For Elon, his number one priority in life isn’t to become rich or powerful – it’s to ensure that he makes a positive impact on the world, whether through his businesses or other means. He believes that if he doesn’t make a difference in this world, his life has been wasted.
He does not take criticism well.
Although he once came up with this powerful piece of advice for business success, “never listen to anyone that doesn’t have your best interest in mind.” Elon can become very defensive when listening to people giving him their opinion on something – especially if they are criticizing his ideas.
He believes that people should not be scared of failure.
Instead, he wants everyone to realize that there would never be success without failure – because you cannot achieve anything great by doing something that has already been done before.
The best way for him to learn is by exchanging ideas with other intelligent people knowledgeable about the same things.
Elon Musk has openly admitted that he learns the most when discussing his ideas with others who are knowledgeable in the same field, so if you want to learn more about Elon Musk – or anything else for that matter – then you should take this advice to heart.
So, what value can we learn from these insights into the life of Elon Musk?
The value here is that if you want to become successful in your own right, you shouldn’t be worried about short-term success – instead, you should focus on what will help you achieve long-term goals. You also shouldn’t be micromanaging people or trying to force them into doing things they don’t want to do – you should, instead, you should focus your efforts on making sure that everyone in your team is working their hardest and having fun while doing it.
And if you want to learn more about this powerful man, there are dozens of great books to supplement this article!