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Elon Musk
- Thread starter graham
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For a while, many of his interviews consisted of him recounting his life story.
At first I was like "does everyone really want to hear that over and over?"
Then I realized it was probably a confidence building exercise.
Talk about something only you know truley authoritaively, and practice telling it.
It is also a topic that people can't challenge and question too much since the speaker is the ultimate authority on the subject.
Despite any weaknesses he may have while speaking publicly, he can bring me back to my youth during interviews, when he gets that sort of "anything's possible" look in his eye. Think about it from a kid's perspective. Elon builds rockets, the most advanced pollution-free cars on the planet, and puts more residential solar panels up than anyone else. He's an incredible role model for any engineering student. I hope this upcoming launch goes off without a hitch.
Arnold Panz
Model Sig 304, VIN 542
I'm much happier with Elon being a phenomenal engineer and a so-so public speaker than the reverse. Steve Jobs was an amazing presenter, but he didn't do anything on the technical side like Elon does. I can live with the semi-awkward public speaking skills as long as his technical skills stay intact.
Tommy
Member
+1
I've seen to many CEO's wow us on the public stage yet manage to make a mess of a company.
NigelM
Recovering Member
I almost think it is refreshing. He's not slick like a seasoned politician. You get the sense he loves what he does and he makes these speeches and appearances because he has to as part of the job. He may want to as well of course.
Agree.
I think he feels genuine and likable, comes about as this genius/madman trying to convey his vision that he sees before his eyes. Sometimes he replies to what everyone is thinking: “that’s not a euphemism for something else.”, but the best thing about him is still that he gets things done.
I've been amazed at this for some time now. The old crew here remembers Elon as the devil himself when he ousted our beloved Martin Eberhard from Tesla. Martin was the nerd and Elon the evil popularity-driven media-trained personal-PR-coached back-stabbing maniac that brought our hero down.
And today we all love Elon!
We can't have been right *both* times! So either we were fools then or we're fooled right now. I know that it's the winner that writes history, but does anyone who remembers Martin from the good old days care to shed some light on this from their perspective?
Mycroft
Life happens
Maybe we can have been right both times.
I don't know either Martin or Elon well. I have met with Martin a few times outside of Tesla, which I have never done so with Elon. On the other hand I've talked to a number of people who have worked for Elon and I have listened to him and watched him in person at a variety of Tesla events.
I don't think Tesla would have started without Martin.
I don't think Tesla would have survived without Elon.
I don't think it would be possible to have both Martin and Elon in the same company (any company) for very long. They are both very smart and very self-assured and decisive. Their decisions are bound to disagree at times and I don't think either of them can tolerate this. And in business the money wins to Elon stayed and Martin left.
From what I have seen (certainly a very limited amount in presentations that Elon has given) and heard (much more from people who worked for Elon--yes, all past-tense) I believe that Elon is less effective than Martin is at engaging and taking advantage of the best ideas of others. Tesla under Elon will go as far as Elon's knowledge, ideas, and decisions can take it. Tesla under Martin would have gone farther because he would have harnessed the capabilities of a team--more brains on the average arrives at better answers)--except for the minor fatal flaw that Tesla under Martin would have been Tesla without Elon and his money and it would have failed before it succeeded.
Just my opinion on this....
Here’s a brief sketch of TM history: BEN OLIVER: Tesla Roadster: the battery-powered supercar that's electrifying the world | Mail Online .
Martin found investors for his other two successful startups, and several for TM, so it’s not difficult to imagine him finding enough to succeed without Mr. Musk.
Musk is a financial services guy, not a technical guy. He hires technical guys.
Even the longtime EV advocates who think of him as a narcissistic pathological liar who shamelessly takes credit for the accomplishments of others, recognize the importance of his financial contributions to TM. They want TM to succeed in eventually producing mass market EVs, so they usually bite their tongues.
Martin found investors for his other two successful startups, and several for TM, so it’s not difficult to imagine him finding enough to succeed without Mr. Musk.
Musk is a financial services guy, not a technical guy. He hires technical guys.
Even the longtime EV advocates who think of him as a narcissistic pathological liar who shamelessly takes credit for the accomplishments of others, recognize the importance of his financial contributions to TM. They want TM to succeed in eventually producing mass market EVs, so they usually bite their tongues.
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Yea, physics and business so a bit of both, but he seems to be heavy into actual engineering at SpaceX and Bud's article seems to imply Musk was a car buff likely to try and make an EV on his own anyway, so he must be technical. I remember Musk even talking in some interview that he can see bugs he wrote still existing in Paypal today, which is perhaps not entirely true, but it sounds like he wrote code.
Plus, Bud and sauhlir's statements are at odds. Bud says Musk is a financial guy, and hires technical people. sauhlir says Musk isn't a particularly good at putting together a team and using their best ideas (and Martin was).
So, if you take a bizarre combination of Bud and sauhlir you get Musk is a financial, non-technical guy that isn't good at forming a team and using other's ideas....in which case how the hell did he form and sell technical companies?
Right... I'm thinking there's some coloring of opinions here. Not being around for the early days of team Martin, my perception is that money-aside, Tesla is in a much better position with Elon at the helm than Martin. Ego aside, there had to be some valid company-affecting reason to boot Martin from the get-go no? IIRC Elon didn't even immediately step in as CEO.
Engineering is a regulated profession. Strictly speaking Elon is not an engineer, since he does not have an engineering degree and does not have professional credentials. That's regardless of whether he is doing work that could be considered engineering.
He does have undergraduate degrees in business and in physics. So he does have a hard science background.
As ckessel commented, it certainly sounds like he is very hands-on with the engineering work at SpaceX in particular. So he's not just a money guy.
He does have undergraduate degrees in business and in physics. So he does have a hard science background.
As ckessel commented, it certainly sounds like he is very hands-on with the engineering work at SpaceX in particular. So he's not just a money guy.
Norbert
TSLA will win
Maybe can't compare him to Steve Jobs but Jobs wasn't exactly the tech guy either compared to Steve Wozniak. Elon Musk seems to have a lot of technical knowledge and business sense and how to get others to apply it towards a goal.
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