Assignment 13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

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

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

·         What surprised you the most?

The thing that surprised me the most about Elon Musk was he decided to form his own rocket company with there already being established corporations and institutions. He felt like the space program stopped improving about a century ago, so he wanted to make a change in the way people thought. Eventually, he infused SpaceX with $100

Million from the sale of PayPal.

·         What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I most admire his poise and his willingness to keep fighting to the end to be able to save his companies. For example, when the press seized a negative memo leaked anonymously, he almost considered letting the companies fail. Instead, he bluffed investors trying to hardball him and got the money to keep his companies alive. That willingness to not back down in the face of adversity and take a risk is what I admire the most about this him.

·         What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

The thing that I least admired about Elon Musk was when he had to live with his difficult and strict father. Musk said that living with him made life miserable and has vowed to never let his kids meet him. I don’t like that; your parents are who make you are and no matter if they were strict or not you should still let your kids meet their grandfather. Also, I did not like the fact after he got divorced from his first wife he remarried within a few weeks.

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

Yes, the entrepreneur encountered adversity like when his newborn son died suddenly or when his rockets failed to take off a lot of times. Also, another time he faced adversity was when he went on a honeymoon with the first wife and a group of employees at PayPal went to the board to replace Elon. So, what he did about all the adversity and failure is taking risks and continue to fight and never quit. He stayed levelheaded and didn’t let his emotions take over, instead he continued to invest.

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

A few competencies that I noticed that Elon exhibited was always seeing a new opportunity he liked and then taking the initiative to pursue them and then to invest in them. Another competency was he stayed committed to the companies he got invested with and always persevered to make sure that he succeeded in the end. He made sure that the companies succeeded by taking calculated risks as seen when he bluff hard balling investors to keep his company alive. Another instance of this was when he entered the rocket industry and still competed with experienced companies. Finally, the next competency was he always demanded efficiency and quality. This can be displayed to Elon putting potential employees through a 500-line of coding tests, a personal letter, and during the interview asking incisive questions and riddles. His standards were very demanding, but this is what made his companies so successful, and how they are different from other companies in the same field.

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

One part that I found confusing was that he decided not to return to his roots of gaming and realized that it would not be the future of humanity. However, he did his second internship at the Rocket Science Games, a start-up that focused on creating state-of-the-art video games. This situation is confusing to me because why would he want to do an internship in something he already turned down the fact of pursuing video games. Another part that was confusing to me was that Elon berated employees at parties. I thought parties would be a fun environment to relax and have fun, so I don’t know why he would berate them.

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

1. Why do you think it is necessary to put your interviewees through such a demanding process before hiring them?

2. With all the work-family conflicts you have experienced, do you think it is

important for someone to have a life balance in the aspects of work and family?

Explanation: I would ask these questions to Elon Musk because first I would like to know his thought process behind asking people interviewing for his company. Second, I know from the reading that he had a work-family conflict and this affected his life, so I was wanting to know his opinion on the matter.

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

I think that his opinion of hard work was that it was the only thing he could do to accomplish his goals. He put his work over his family a lot, so he could make the world a better place. He believes highly in working hard to make a change in things instead of being motivated by other things, like money. Yes, I share this opinion of hard work that motivates me to accomplish my goals and to get things done. I have always been a hard worker and don’t plan on stopping now. I want to accomplish a lot and live a happy life helping make a difference in the world like Elon Musk.