“Elon Musk” is a biography of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson, a respected biographer of historical figures, had full access to Musk including following him as he worked during a two year period. Isaacson also had access to employees and friends and family members which gave unsparing details into Musk’s life and personality. The book follows Musk through his development of PayPal, Electric Cars, Space Rockets, and Solar Panels, among other companies/products and then on to his acquisition of and the trials/tribulations at Twitter. The book follows his life in more or less chronological order and each chapter focuses on the continuing development of one of his companies or his personal life which was an effective way to tell the story.
Musk is clearly a genius but has Asperger’s syndrome which makes him hard to work/deal with but he is also hard to stop once he has a goal in mind and vision to work toward. Early on he wanted to work on things that were most important to humanity and identified three – the internet, sustainable energy, and space travel. He eventually developed PayPal to utilize the internet for a more efficient payments system; Tesla for electric cars; and SpaceX for rockets to begin to address these challenges. Musk was a demanding manager with no concept of work-life balance. He enjoyed setting impossible deadlines and had a hair-trigger temper at times. He was also eager to take risks, for example only succeeding with SpaceX rockets on the fourth launch, after the first three had failed and after which he would have run out of money. This led to lucrative NASA contracts to launch satellites and supply the Space Station and eventually take man back to the moon. In another example, Musk narrowly avoided bankruptcy with Tesla but ended up developing electric cars that have made Tesla the most valuable car company in the world.
This book was a terrific read about a man that much can be learned from. There was a little too much psychoanalysis of Musk by Isaacson but this is a minor complaint. The most pertinent parts of the book are on how Musk developed these magnificent companies which have added so much technology to the world and his accompanying management philosophy. Mr. Isaacson sums up the philosophy this way: “Take risks. Learn by blowing things up. Revise. Repeat.” Some practical applications of his philosophy include always trying to keep processes as simple and efficient as possible but only after first identifying steps to be entirely eliminated, which many can be. An emphasis on small teams with the right individuals who have a sense of urgency and are not afraid of fast failures rather than on large, bureaucratic teams with endless meetings and analysis that produce little failure or success. All technical managers should have regular hands-on experience which makes for better leaders. There are many more principles in the book to learn from.
Musk’s ultimate goal has long been to colonize Mars. Who can say he will not accomplish it?
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