13A Reading Reflection No. 1

Elon Musk

What surprised you the most?

I found the way Elon Musk started as an entrepreneur to be the most surprising. I always thought he was successful through Tesla and never knew exactly how he made all of his money before. I found it surprising that he made a lot of his money through paypal.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I admire Musk's will and determination. People are always telling him that he is crazy and nuts because of what he is doing now. He is attempting to put a man on Mars and also selling flamethrowers. The man is worth billions of dollars so obviously he is doing something right. People keep putting him down but he is continuing to fight for his ideas. He was even forced to step down as chairman for Tesla. 

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I would have to say that I least admire the way Elon Musk treats his employees at times. He is very extreme and demands perfection out of people, which is a reason he is successful, but also not how you should treat people. I think that he needs to treat his employees with a little but more compassion and remember that they are human beings and not robots.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Elon Musk has faced adversity his entire life. Even as a child he faced adversity in his parents separating and being bullied in school, which resulted in him focusing more on books. He has been driven out of numerous companies and faced failure his entire life. But through all of these failures he has been able to learn. The best opportunity to learn is learning how not to do something. He is still continuing to face adversity now with Tesla. He was just forced to step down as chairman and is still figuring out what his best option is to go forward. 

What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

I think Elon Musk has something that all great entrepreneurs have and that is resilience. All entrepreneurs must be willing to be beaten down and then get back up even stronger. Very rarely does someone make a product that is a major success their first time. Elon Musk was beaten down and is still continuing to be beaten down but continues to get back up and learn from his failures. Elon is a perfect example of how all successful entrepreneurs must be.

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

I didn't really find any part confusing but I did find some parts boring. It seems like with all biographies there is unnecessary information that makes the book so much longer than it needs to be. I like to learn about successful people but all biographies are so long. I wish they were short to the point and contained only useful information. 

If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

1. How do you continue to push forward through all of the negativity that people throw at you?

2. What is the best mindset to have to be able to continue to come up with innovative ideas after so  many have been shot down?

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

I think Elon Musk's opinion of hard work is determination and perseverance. He is able to shut out all that negativity and continue to work to achieve his ideas and aspirations. Musk eat, sleeps, and breathes his work. I share his same attitude in hard work.