Reading Reflection No. 1

by Josh Korthuis

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

By Ashlee Vance

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?

One thing that surprised me about Elon is his passion to learn at a young age. It said in the book at Elon read all the books they had in the library and had then started reading encyclopedias just to gain more information which is insane to think about. It really showed how dedicated he was to make a difference in the world through how hard he tried to learn everything he possibly could. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

Something I admire about is his ability to break boundaries in everything he does and always trying to invent things for the world to run more efficiently. This can be seen by the 3 billion dollar companies he runs in SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and Solar City. These companies are try to use limited resources to do the same thing others are doing and Telsa and Solar City both promote clean energy as a power source to their products. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

A thing is sensed from reading the book is that Elon will invest his money in anything to feel like he has one-upped the competition. His goal of SpaceX is basically to make it so cheap that it shuts down all competition and then he can be on top which is a smart business decision but can be seen as unfair to other people. 

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

Yes, he encountered failure multiple times along the way but was always able to handle adversity and fight through it. Tesla Motors atone point was hours away from bankruptcy but he was able to make the correct changes and save the company which is now performing better then ever. 

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

 Elon Musk has many unique skills that make him the entrepreneur he is today. He is courageous in the way he never backs down from the challenge of investing in new technologies that could better the world. He is also very strategic in the way he markets his new inventions to the world to increase interest in his ideas. Most importantly though he is a hard worker which gave him the ability to accomplish all the things he has. 

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

I was confused when they talked about how Tesla was hours away from bankruptcy but he was spending his time trying to launch his rockets, like shouldn't he just take a day to try and have Tesla not fall through instead of spending all his time at SpaceX? I guess everything worked out in the end so he know what he was doing. 

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

Question 1- What criteria do you look for when you are deciding whether or not to invest in a new company?

Question 2- How do you manage your time while standing as CEO for three different billion dollar companies? 

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

I definitely think he can grant all his success to hard work, but he could also say it is better to work smarter not harder. I say this because all of his products are things that make life easier and more efficient for people instead of something harder but more rewarding.