13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

I read "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future," by Ashlee Vance. What surprised me most about Musk is the fact that Vance had mentioned this was the first time he let a reporter gain the perspective to understand the inner workings of his life. As someone who is virtually a celebrity and who is public about his opinions, I find it surprising that she felt the need to mention that this was a big deal because it was the first time a reporter was studying him from himself. I most admire his ability to be involved in so many different things at the same time and try his best to be successful in all of them. Being involved in a business with solar panels, Space X, and Tesla for just a few, and is even busier with appearances and and meetings outside of that. What I least admire about Elon Musk is probably his sense of self-awareness and almost slight cockiness. He seems to think that his thoughts are most valid, and my personal beliefs are that people should never stop growing. If a person starts thinking that they are better, then they are leaving less room to grow. Elon Musk definitely encountered adversity such as when many people doubted his ideas for Tesla and his vision was at risk of not coming true. He faced this by continuing to work hard and develop his vision in order to complete his mission or goals that he had in mind when developing Tesla Motors. This leads me to the answer for the next question, the main competency that I noticed that Musk has exhibited is perseverance. He will persevere through any situation, even when people doubt him or his vision. Adversity is common to face in any workplace, but to see that Musk has mastered how to face it is inspiring. A part of the reading that was confusing to me was how Musk manages so many projects in different fields all at the same time. His time management skills and team must be very accurate and helpful in getting him to do what he needs to do, but I still do not understand how he is so successful in so many different things. My two questions I would ask Elon Musk is how he manages his time and does he ever know when his idea is too far fetched and how to deal with that. The time management question is important to me because it is something that I struggle with. However, learning how to deal with thinking about your ideas or being unsure of how your vision will pan out is a highly stressful situation, especially when millions and billions of dollars are involved. I think that Musk would think that nothing is possible without hard work. Nothing comes easy, and being able to work hard means that you are willing to work toward your dream becoming a reality.