Silicon Valley has a lot of very bright people, but there are very few who ever reach the level of Steve Jobs. One who might come close is Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has actually been able to use his visionary take on the future to snatch away senior execs from Apple to come and work for him.
According to a Musk employee writing on Quora, however, it’s not just employees that Elon shares in common with Apple’s late co-founder and former CEO.
Much like Jobs, Musk is described as having a ‘reality distortion field’ that helps him convince others that what they view as impossible doesn’t have to remain that way.
And it’s not always a pretty sight.
“If you want a family or hobbies or to see any other aspect of life other than the boundaries of your cubicle, SpaceX is not for you and Elon doesn’t seem to give a damn,” the anonymous SpaceX employee writes.
“This side of what it’s like to work with Elon shows that no one likes working with Elon. You can always tell when someone’s left an Elon meeting: they’re defeated. These are some of the hardest working and brightest people in the world, mind you. And they are universally defeated. At least in engineering, who knows what HR and finance does.
The reason for this is that Elon’s version of reality is highly skewed. It’s much like Steve Jobs’s ‘reality distortion field’ except Elon isn’t great at public speaking. If you believe that a task should take a year then Elon wants it done in a week. He won’t hesitate to throw out six months of work because it’s not pretty enough or it’s not ‘badass’ enough. But in so doing he doesn’t change the schedule.”
Despite this, however, Musk has previously dismissed reports that Apple could buy Tesla, saying that they are “very unlikely.” Even though Apple did once consider building an “iCar” before settling on a smartphone instead.
Of course, he’s not the only current Silicon Valley bigwig to be likened to Jobs, for better or worse.
Source: Quora
Via: BGR
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
19 responses to “How Elon Musk channels his inner Steve Jobs”
I think he is very overrated by the media. Large amounts of money, from an unimpressive business (PayPal) got him most of his post-PayPal success. And if his employees really feel like that after a meeting then his success will not last. Some people try to be difficult and demanding simply to intimidate and to try and prove their self-worth. Real leaders inspire, empower, and motivate their employees. They do not defeat them.
Too bad Steve Jobs wasn’t subsidized by the US govt instead of – you know – making money from sales.
Is it possible that “anonymous Space X employee” felt defeated because he was defeated on an extremely important point ? We are talking rocket science , there’s no room for error I’m guessing .
Sure , starting PayPal , selling for over a billion, then using that money to build the likes of Tesla Motors and Space X is an overrated accomplishment . You betchya .
Pointing out errors and defeating your employees are two very different things.
It is an overrated accomplishment, since money, and from an unimpressis business, is simply buying the expertise. This man is no Howard Hughes, someone some people foolishly compare him to.
Not sure why jobs, little more than a good marketer, is being compared to someone thathas turned markets on their heads from finance to space. Really musk stands head and shoulders above the showman that was jobs.
Finance? What, PayPal? A totally unecessary middleman forced onto e-Bay users. Please.
Space? Sorry, but it is a change in government policy, and money, that has done that. Space X would not exist with the government opening up and financing competition in that sector. After that, it was open to any billionaire with interest. After all, the Bezos at Amazon is in it too. Proves my point,
Well the only point your proving is how amazing musk is compared to jobs. PayPal was deeply sought after for its ability to easily finance online transactions, hence why ebay bought it out, it was anything but forced onto users. Space is becoming economical thanks to musk, who has been slashing the price of space launches while still developing state of the art vehicles for the future at a fraction of the price compared to their counterparts at nasa. Indeed, it is musk who is responsible for making the us competitive again in the launch market simply because the government run programs where far to expensive and wasteful, the government has no choice but to turn to musk and the private sector. Btw, until benzos company can actually build something and fly it I wouldent chalk them up as a successful aerospace company. Basically your just demonstrating how much more amazing musk is compared with jobs, who’s only saving grace are a bunch of over priced, aesthetically pleasing gadgets, rather pathetic in comparison with musk.
I know of no one, including myself, that enjoys having to go through PayPal. I’ve never met any such person. It was an unecessary service, and still is. It is also most certainly forced on you within eBay.
Space is becoming economical because the American government opened up and finances competition in the market, as I said! Musk is heavily subsidized by the American tax payer!
I never said Bezos was successful. I only mentioned him as another example of another company getting into a market created and financed by the American government.
As I said in a previous post, Apple, under Steve Jobs, defined and developed the modern era of computing in all forms, and the media, all throughout the world. You clearly have a bias against Apple and their products so I wouldn’t expect you to be able to see the bigger picture beyond that.
Lol oh wow. I see why its called the cult of mac. Musk has been playing by the same rules as all aerospace companies have been and has even had the balls to take on monopolies in the sector. The space market was not financed by the american government, its financed by people needing payloads lofted into space for a competing price. Some thing that until spacex came around the us could not do. Apple makes very good, simple and reliable products by and large but that is still no comparison to musk and his company’s endeavours. There is simply no wat to compare these two, especially since jobs can go no further yet elon has only just begun.
There is no logical relevance to your “cult” remark. If you are going to accuse someone of thinking as a cult memeber then you’ll have to logically show how that is so.
The space market of relevance that Musk and the other competitors are involved in was most certainly created by, and is financed by, the American government. Musk has been receiving huge subsidies. He’s rich, but not that rich.
As I said before, you are clearly incapable of seeing the bigger picture of Apple’s accomplishments and its effects on the world because of your obvious anti-Apple bias. You clearly don’t even know much about its products. Keeping that in mind, it may be fitting that you brought up the word cult. I mean who goes into an Apple site just to talk down Apple, if not a person obsessed in some manner, like a cult member?
Don’t make the foolish mistake in thinking that Apple couldn’t have been an even greater company without Steve’s reputed intimidation.
And from what I can see, it looks like you have Mr. Musk simply and wrongly trying to copy the Steve Jobs style of management, or his interpretation of it. I think Steve Jobs was simply a perfectionist, and was not being a jerk just to be a jerk. People can tell the difference.
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and say that Elon Musk’s contribution to society has been much greater than that of Steve Jobs’. Steve was idolized simply because what he created was much more understandable by the general public as opposed to the things Elon has done.
Not many people understand the impact a digital payments system has had on this planet; or the fact that he’s open sourced his patents to increase innovation (and the long-term benefits that are to come from this); or the fact that only China, Russia, USA, and himself are the only entities to reach space, with the latter doing so under extreme financial limitations and severe criticism; or the fact that he’s funded the largest solar energy company in order to make Tesla even more eco-friendly.
I just don’t see how life has significantly improved with Steve’s innovations, other than the fact that my mp3 player is shinier and my laptop is aesthetically pleasing and my phone has become more efficient. I mean the personal computer revolution began at MIT and Boston, not Silicon Valley – had it not been for Steve bringing smaller computers to the masses, it would have been someone else either way, but to make computers that small, it was the geniuses in Boston who achieved this.
You’re right, I do think Elon’s accomplishments surpassed those of Steve jobs. However I also believe that all those iPad, iPhones and macs have enabled others to do great things for society.
Something they could do on a competing product as well, and for a lower price to boot. Moral of the story, people are lazy, find a way to exploit that and you will make alot of money (like jobs)
Because many people do not want to do things in the most difficult ways, and in the long run more expensively in time and cost, does not mean they are “lazy.”
Apple, under Steve Jobs, defined and developed the modern era of all forms of computing, including the smartphone. That has had far, far more of an effect on the world than anything Elon Musk has achieved. It’s amazing that someone would even want to compare the two.
Your final note I would certainly agree with, there is simply no way to put jobs in the same ballpark as musk. The smartphone revolution was the work of multiple company’s apple being only one of many. Computing is the same story, jobs just made a simple, preety and expensive piece of hardware for those less tech savy consumers. A good marketing play but nothing more. Comparing these two is like comparing some fire works to a falcon 9 rocket. Ya, one looks better when it explodes while the other is changing the world. There is no comparing showman jobs with musk.
The smartphones, and the industries surrounding them, looked and operated nothing like what Apple created. It’s ridiculous to even suggest otherwise. You sound very young to not know something so obvious.
What does desiring a better computing experience have to do with being “less tech savy?”
Expensive? Not at all. Basic economics will tell you that the cost of a computer extends well beyond the initial purchase price. You are again showing an indication of being young.
Apple is not in the space business so your fireworks comoarios is flawed.
When you get older you’ll hopefully be able to see the bigger picture of life.
I would love to work for him! Imagine knowing everything he does…such powerful information!
He has a bachelors degree in physics and science. While certainly more formally educated than Steve Jobs, it’s unlikely that he has any expertise in any of the technologies of the businesses he is currently involved in. I would say his expertise is in the overall management of his businesses, which so far seems to be effective,mas Steve Jobs was. Even so, he hasn’t been in business long enough to be compared to someone like Steve Jobs.