13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

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

 

I decided to read Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future a biography of Elon Musk written by Ashlee Vance. This book really made me thin about a lot of things both in my personal life and about the society we live in general. It also boosted my motivation when I read it and I believe it promoted the idea that you can achieve anything as long as you have the right vision and will power to get there. I think what surprised me the most about Elon Musk is his personality. When Ashlee Vance decided to interview Musk, she didn’t know what to expect and she mentions that when she sat down with him, she was startled by his behavior. I believe that Musk’s erratic and rather awkward personality is what surprises me the most in the book. He is very cruel to a lot of his employees throughout his business plans and demands an unimaginable amount of work and dedication from them. Musk has a lot of competencies including being able to work for hours on end towards his goals and an unmet determination and will. He is also incredibly intelligent and capable. One part of the reading I found confusing was the merger that came to be Paypal. I think what I admired most about him, is his absolute determination and vision. The fact that he was able to surpass a bad childhood and become one of the most influential people throughout history, is very impressive to me. His designs and ideas are unlike anything anyone has seen in the time we live in and exceed any expectations. I admire his will to achieve his goals and, at times, his incessant drive to live up to his own expectations. On the other hand, what I least admire about him, would probably be his constant habit of expecting his employees to live up to his own, sometimes unreachable, expectations. The entrepreneur constantly was faced with adversity and, often, failure. He was faced with such adversity as a child but grew up to be one of the most admired entrepreneurs in the time we live in. He also faced such adversity when he decided to buy rocket parts from the Russians and was ridiculed when asking for half the price demanded by the Russians. Instead of accepting the price asked, Musk decided to create his own factory creating such rocket parts and became the first to create private rocket parts for cheap. If I were to ask two questions to Musk, they would be “What is your end goal, if you have one” and “If you could reach any planet or galaxy which one would it be?” I believe that Musk’s idea of hard work consists of 72 hours of sleepless physical and mentally challenging work. I do not share this opinion.

 


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