An in depth look at Elon Musk, a high achieving, brilliant and somewhat eccentric entrepreneur.

Publisher:	Cammeray, NSW : Simon & Schuster, 2023.
ISBN:	978-1-982181-28-4
Characteristics:	688 pages, Hardcover; 24 cm.
Source:	Yarra Plenty Regional Library
Date Read:	4-April-2024

Once again, Walter Isaacson has done a brilliant job documenting a larger than life personality.

With many chapters (listed below) Isaacson covers Musk’s life well, from his humble beginnings in South Africa where he deals with the tough South African neighbourhood he grows up in, having been beaten up a number of times, to him dominating whatever industry he enters. His father is a bit of a tough master, which no doubt helped shape Musk’s grit.

Like Steve Jobs, you get the impression that his main skill is seeing and driving through ideas, rather than having the same technical know how of those under him. He knows how to get the best out of people, often burning them out.

Musk made some highly lucrative deals in the earlier days of the IT boom, and he has used this wealth to rescue an electric carmaker, build rockets, and perhaps the most controversial of all, to buying and rejuvenating Twitter. And with each he has stamped his own brand by including the letter “X” in the business name. He loves “X” so much, even a child of his has the burden of “X” in their name.

A controversial issue for Tesla car drivers and stock owners are Musk’s promises that never come to fruition. He’s been teasing for years that self drive cars are “only a few years away”, and he’s been saying this for seven years now. My opinion is that there are too many variables too close to the vehicle to ever make self drive cars as safe as the average motorist can drive.

The Algorithm

Musk’s unique way of thinking is illustrated in his “algorithm”, which he developed from his tough days at the Nevada and Fremont factories.

1. Question every requirement. Each should come with the name of the person who made it. You should never accept that a requirement came from a department, such as from “the legal department” or “the safety department.” You need to know the name of the real person who that requirement. Then you should question it, no matter how smart that person is. Requirements from smart people are the most dangerous because people are less likely to question them. Always do so, even if the requirement came from me. Then make the requirements less dumb.
2. Delete any part or process you can. You may have to add them back later. In fact, if you do not end up adding back at least 10% of them, then you didn’t delete enough.
3. Simplify and optimise. This should come after step two. A common mistake is to simplify and optimise a part or a process that should not exist.
4. Accelerate cycle time. Every process can be speeded up. But only do this after you have followed the first three steps. In the Tesla factory, I mistakenly spent a lot of time accelerating processes that I later realised should have been deleted.
5. Automate. That comes last. The big mistake in Nevada and at Fremont was that I began by trying to automate every step. We should have waited until all the requirements had been questioned, arts and processes deleted, and the bugs were shaken out.

He’s a fascinating figure in history now, and it will be interesting to see what else he achieves. I think going to Mars, with SpaceX or any other way, will never happen due to the vast distances and expenses involved. People take for granted the huge achievement of NASA’s project of getting people on the moon, and Mars is more than 600 times the distance.

Elon’s Management Advice

Another interesting perspective on how to manage people.

• It’s 0K to be wrong. Just don’t be confident and wrong.
• Never ask your troops to do something you’re not willing to do.
• Whenever there are problems to solve, don’t just meet with your managers. Do a skip level, where you meet with the level right below your managers.
• When hiring, look for people with the right attitude. Skills can be taught. Attitude changes require a brain transplant.
• A maniacal sense of urgency is our operating principle.
• The only rules are the ones dictated by the laws of physics.
• Everything else is a recommendation.

The book is a top read and with Isaacson’s meticulous interviewing and recording and expressing of details, the reader is not left wanting. The work is an excellent starter to getting to know Elon Musk.

Chapters

The plentiful and short chapters covering Musk’s life.

Prologue: Muse of fire

1. Adventures
2. A mind of his own: Pretoria, the 1970s
3. Life with father: Pretoria, the 1980s
4. The seeker: Pretoria, the 1980s
5. Escape velocity: Leaving South Africa, 1989
6. Canada: 1989
7. Queen’s: Kingston, Ontario, 1990-1991
8. Penn: Philadelphia, 1992-1994
9. Go west: Silicon Valley, 1994-1995
10. Zip2: Palo Alto, 1995-1999
11. Justine: Palo Alto, the 1990s
12. X.com: Palo Alto 1999-2000
13. The coup: PayPal, September 2000
14. Mars: SpaceX, 2001
15. Rocket man: SpaceX, 2002
16. Fathers and sons: Los Angeles, 2002
17. Revving up: SpaceX, 2002
18. Musk’s rules for rocket-building: SpaceX, 2002-2003
19. Mr. Musk goes to Washington: SpaceX, 2002-2003
20. Founders: Tesla, 2003-2004
21. The roadster: Tesla, 2004-2006
22. Kwaj: SpaceX, 2005-2006
23. Two strikes: Kwaj, 2006-2007
24. The SWAT team: Tesla, 2006-2008
25. Taking the wheel: Tesla, 2007-2008
26. Divorce: 2008
27. Talulah: 2008
28. Strike three: Kwaj, August 3, 2008
29. On the brink: Tesla and SpaceX, 2008
30. The fourth launch: Kwaj, August-September 2008
31. Saving Tesla: December 2008
32. The Model S: Tesla, 2009
33. Private space: SpaceX, 2009-2010
34. Falcon 9 liftoff: Cape Canaveral, 2010
35. Marrying Talulah: September 2010
36. Manufacturing: Tesla, 2010-2013
37. Musk and Bezos: SpaceX, 2013-2014
38. The falcon hears the falconer: SpaceX, 2014-2015
39. The Talulah roller coaster: 2012-2015
40. Artificial intelligence: OpenAI, 2012-2015
41. The launch of autopilot: Tesla, 2014-2016
42. Solar: Tesla energy, 2004-2016
43. The Boring Company: 2016
44. Rocky relationships: 2016-2017
45. Descent into the dark: 2017
46. Fremont factory hell: Tesla, 2018
47. Open-loop warning: 2018
48. Fallout: 2018
49. Grimes: 2018
50. Shanghai: Tesla, 2015-2019
51. Cybertruck: Tesla, 2018-2019
52. Starlink: SpaceX, 2015-2018
53. Starship: SpaceX, 2018-2019
54. Autonomy day: Tesla, April 2019
55. Giga Texas: Tesla, 2020-2021
56. Family life: 2020
57. Full throttle: SpaceX, 2020
58. Bezos vs. Musk, round 2: SpaceX, 2021
59. Starship surge: SpaceX, July 2021
60. Solar surge: summer 2021
61. Nights out: summer, 2021
62. Inspiration4: SpaceX, September 2021
63. Raptor shake-up: SpaceX, 2021
64. Optimus is born: Tesla, August 2021
65. Neuralink: 2017-2020
66. Vision only: Tesla, January 2021
67. Money: 2021-2022
68. Father of the year: 2021
69. Politics: 2020-2022
70. Ukraine: 2022
71. Bill Gates: 2022
72. Active investor: Twitter, January-April 2022
73. “I made an offer”: Twitter, April 2022
74. Hot and cold: Twitter, April-June 2022
75. Father’s Day: June 2022
76. Starbase shake-up: SpaceX, 2022
77. Optiumus Prime: Tesla, 2021-2022
78. Uncertainty: Twitter, July-September 2022
79. Optimus unveiled: Tesla, September 2022
80. Robotaxi: Tesla, 2022
81. “Let that sink in”: Twitter, October 26-27, 2022
82. The takeover: Twitter, Thursday, October 27, 2022
83. The three musketeers: Twitter, October 26-30, 2022
84. Content moderation: Twitter, October 27-30, 2022
85. Halloween: Twitter, October 2022
86. Blue checks: Twitter, November 2-10, 2022
87. All in: Twitter, November 10-18, 2022
88. Hardcore: Twitter, November 18-30, 2022
89. Miracles: Neuralink, November 2022
90. The Twitter files: Twitter, December 2022
91. Rabbit holes: Twitter, December 2022
92. Christmas capers: December 2022
93. AI for cars: Tesla, 2022-2023
94. AI for humans: X.AI, 2023
95. The starship launch: SpaceX, April 2023.

Further Reading

• Eric Berger, Liftoff (WiIliam Morrow. 2021)
• Max Chafkin, The Contrarian (Penguin, 2021)
• Christian Davenport, Space Barons (Public Affairs, 2018)
• Tim Fernholz. Rocket Billionaires (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018)
• Lori Garver, Space Pirates (Diversion. 2022)
• Tim Higgins, Power Play (Doubleday. 2021)
• Hamish McKenzie, Insane Mode (Dutton, 2018)
• Maye Musk, A Woman Makes a Plan (Penguin, 2019)
• Edward Niedermeyer, Ludicrous (BenBelIa, 2019)
• Jimmy Soni, The Founders (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
• Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk (Ecco 2015)
• Ashlee Vance, When The Heavens Went On Sale (Ecco, 2023)

Featured image: Photo by SpaceX