TOP 6 LEADERSHIP TRAITS OF ELON MUSK

By Larry Scheinfeld

1. HE’S CURIOUS AND WELL-ROUNDED.

SINCE DESIGNING A VIDEO GAME AT AGE

12 THAT HE SOLD FOR $500, ELON MUSK HAS

BECOME A MODERN DAY RENAISSANCE

MAN WITH A STAGGERING $12.6

BILLION NET WORTH.

AKIN TO LEONARDO DA VINCI, WHO WAS ALSO TALENTED IN MULTIPLE

DISCIPLINES, MR. MUSK HAS DEVELOPED AN

IMPRESSIVE NUMBER OF INCREDIBLE

INNOVATIONS ACROSS A VARIETY OF FIELDS.

# 2. HE BELIEVES IN HIS OWN IDEAS.

ELON MUSK, AGE 24 ➤After spending just two days at Stanford’s graduate physicals program, Mr. Musk dropped out and went on to create Zip2, an online publishing platform for the media industry that he sold to Compaq for over $300 million just four years later.

Image Source: www.metroactive.com

1 YEAR LATER … ➤After the sale, Mr. Musk merged his online payments startup known as X.com with another startup called Confinity. Together, the companies became what we know today as PayPal.

Image Source: www.boomsbeat.com

# 3. HE PUSHES THE LIMIT.

➤After revolutionizing the way individuals and companies do business, Mr. Musk seemingly turned his attention away from “smaller” projects to focus on revolutionizing life itself.

FIRST, HE FOUNDED SPACEX IN 2002 TO

MANUFACTURE AND LAUNCH ADVANCED

ROCKETS WITH THE AIM OF ENABLING HUMANS

TO LIVE ON OTHER PLANETS.

JUST 10 YEARS LATER, THE SPACEX DRAGON

BECAME THE FIRST COMMERCIAL

SPACECRAFT TO DOCK WITH THE

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.

BY 2022, MR. MUSK HOPES TO LAUNCH A

TEST ROCKET FOR AN UNPRECEDENTED

EXPLORATORY MISSION TO MARS.

IF ALL GOES WELL, HE HOPES TO LAUNCH THE

FIRST CREWED MISSION TO MARS IN

HUMAN HISTORY IN 2024 AND DELIVER

COLONISTS TO THE RED PLANET BY THE EARLY 2030S AT THE LATEST.

# 4. HE CREATES INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO COMPLEX PROBLEMS.

➤As co-founder, CEO, and product designer of Tesla Motors, Mr. Musk envisioned a car every bit as fast and powerful as its traditional counterparts, but one that would produce zero emissions by running completely on electric power.

TESLA’S MODEL S CAN RUN 265 MILES ON JUST ONE ELECTRIC

CHARGE.

BY COMPARISON, NISSAN’S LEAF,

ALSO A FULLY ELECTRIC CAR, CAN ONLY RUN 75 MILES

ON ONE CHARGE.

➤Having put over 50,000 emission-free vehicles on the road since its founding in 2003, Tesla Motors has served as an industry leader from its inception.

# 5. HE’S COMMITTED TO SUSTAINABILITY MOVEMENT.

MR. MUSK’S INTEREST IN CLEAN

AND EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION

DID NOT END WITH CARS.

2013 “HYPERLOOP”

➤In 2013, he unveiled his idea for the Hyperloop, a new age transportation system that will propel people across cities at near supersonic speeds.

➤By pushing and pulling the surrounding air, Hyperloop pods will be able to move at 760 miles per hour, three times faster than the fastest high-speed train, by avoiding the friction that comes with wheels.

➤Though some were initially skeptical when Mr. Musk announced the idea, in less than three years this technological dream is already becoming a reality.

# 6. HE FOCUSES ON LONG-TERM STRATEGIES AND GOALS.

IN ADDITION TO HIS EFFORTS TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS

DURING TRAVEL, MR. MUSK HAS ALSO

WORKED TO CREATE SOURCES OF CLEAN

ENERGY.

BY HELPING TO CREATE SOLAR CITY, MR. MUSK

HELPED THOUSANDS OF BUILDINGS POWER

THEMSELVES THROUGH RENEWABLE SOLAR

ENERGY.

➤ Larry Scheinfeld is a co-founder and partner of Zelkova Ventures. Larry focuses most of his time working with current portfolio companies in determining funding strategies and customer acquisition plans. Larry presently is on the Board of Directors for the Starlight Foundation, which supplies quality of life programs for seriously and terminally ill children.

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