Elon Musk, a Serial Entrepreneur

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………………………3
Leadership and Management Style of Elon Musk (Leadership theory).........................................3
Main findings..................................................................................................................................6
Is Musk a manager or a leader or both?........................................................................................6
The skills of Musk..........................................................................................................................6
Consequences of taking his style..................................................................................................7
Musk, a right person for Tesla.......................................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................8
References....................................................................................................................................9
Appendices………………………………………………………………………………………………11
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Introduction
In 2016, an article about Elon Musk was published in The New York Times in which the
opening line stated that Elon Musk was a real-life inspiration for Tony Stark, the superhero from
the "Iron Man" films (The New York Times). He has always been an example of inspirational
leader for many of the enterprises and organizations. People in the business field like to follow
him. He is a great leader who possesses unique and wonderful skills to run his business and
make his goals accomplished in an innovative way (Kinley and Benhur, 2020). He always thinks
for the ease and betterment of people and for this purpose he established X.com, a company
that offered financial services and accepted payments via email. He founded his own rocket
company after failing to acquire a viable rocket to accomplish his dream of cultivating plants on
Mars. His leadership skills in his project SpaceX and Tesla made both the enterprises at top in
the competitive market. Adopting his leadership styles could either beneficial or proven tough at
times. He is also the CEO of Tesla, an electric car manufacturer. Despite being very expensive,
in 2006, Telsa received remarkable attention when launching its very first electronic car due to
the great leadership styles of Musk which proves that he is the best choice for Tesla (Khan,
2021).

Executive Summary
Mr. Musk founded his own company SpaceX in which he is leading his team members in
such a brilliant way so that his dream of sending people to Mars could be achieved. His long-
term ambition is to send people to Mars, which he believes is critical to humanity's survival, for
which he prepared his team to work hard under his leadership (Muegge and Reid, 2019). Elon
Musk, nevertheless, is undeniably deserving of a place towards the top of the priority list
because of his concerns about the people lives. Since, he thinks of people’s betterment, he
continues to create innovative ideas and work on them by implementing his great skills. The
skills of Musk are discussed in this paper. The themes that are being enlightened below include
whether he is a manager or a leader, as well as whether or not he merits the position of CEO at
Tesla. (Musk, 2017).
Elon Musk has different enterprises and he is getting his work done by helping and
leading his team members so effectively that his leadership style has attracted many people’s
excitement and attention. His team members agree on a fact that working under his leadership
is not more than a blessing for them. Elon musk has the ability to think exceptionally. "He's a
brilliant individual. He's already many steps ahead of everybody in the market "a former Tesla
manager told Business Insider "To be successful, one must have to think many more times
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audaciously than he does." An employee form his company remarked, "I feel like I'm 10 times
smarter now than when I initially came." His leadership style not only comes with advantages
but there are also some disadvantages that result in following his leadership style. We're delving
into the specifics of Elon Musk's leadership style and what one can take away from his
inspirational and motivational career (Chorbadzhiskya and Mironova, 2021).
He feels that having a track of work or project continued is important. If there is any
problem team members are facing, it is important for him to know and sort. He doesn't always
have an "open door" mentality, but he schedules time for team members to update him. His
readiness to accept critique indicates that he possesses some transformative leadership
qualities. Musk has strong ideas as well. One can't help but be encouraged to follow in his
footsteps when he talks about going to the moon and beyond (Setili, 2015). Employees might
transition from workers to contributors eager to go above and beyond to attain a higher aim
during this process. Leadership and management styles of Musk and leadership theory are the
main points that are also highlighted in the paper. There are many genres and scholarly
concepts that could be used to demonstrate anyone's leadership style. Some people believe
that leadership ability is innate, while others believe that it must be developed. Elon Musk is a
visionary leader, depending on his leadership style. Such leaders can present a clear picture of
a brighter future. He is designing and manufacturing the electric motors of Tesla despite being a
CEO of the company. He is doing it with using his commendable leadership techniques which
makes his team members work with him with great passion and hard work. Tesla cannot afford
losing him at any cost (Moore, 2021).

Leadership and Management Style of Elon Musk (Leadership theory)

Elon Musk is the ideal of a successful leader. He is one of the most productive
entrepreneurs of modern time. Elon Musk has not only thrived as an entrepreneur with his
several successful businesses, but he has also been able to take these businesses down roads
of huge expansion and into the lime light. Musk’s main agenda of his leadership style is to focus
on bringing an effective innovative change in the world. That kind of leadership is only meant to
have the positive outputs in the market (Corte, 2020). Such leaders don't hang around
philosophical debates about how to have a useful impact to bring up in the globe. However,
such type of leaders indulges them in planning and strategizes how to implement those plans to
prove themselves and make a change in the world. Innovative leaders make their team
members effectively execute the plan to make the company profitable. It makes the company
grow, prosper and shine in the competitive market. Elon Musk adopts the same style to lead.
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His other organizations are running in the same pace. Hard work that is responsible for the goal
to be achieved is the foundation Musk's ventures (Khan, 2021).
Leadership may have a positive or negative impact depending on its style on the
organization, moreover, on its workplace performance and profitability. A good leader will
always take care of the team members needs and provide them the resources required at time
in order to meet the goals. Elon Musk has an aura of working hardly that anyone can deny.
Tesla's objective is long-term sustainability; hence its criteria are different from the other
companies working in a competitive market. Elon Musk has become a market leader due to his
style of leadership (Chorbadzhiyska, et al., 2021). Elon Musk’s style of leadership may be
transformative or transactional which he uses in his work, which has a very positive impact on
his team members and his organizational performance.
There are numerous disciplines and scholarly theories that can be used to show
anyone’s style of leading his team. Some individuals assume that capacity for leadership is
inherent, whereas other argues that they are nurtured. Trait theories, for example, claim that
leaders are born with certain attributes that help them develop into effective leaders. Many
people used to believe that certain personality traits improved a person's ability to lead. Bernard
Bass' Great Man Notion is an example of this theory. While a few people still believe in it, it was
mostly abandoned in the early 1900s. Management and leadership theories will help determine
if Musk is a leader or not (Waqas, et al., 2019) Others, such as Ralph Stodgill (1948), felt that
leaders were born with certain leadership genes that provided them with the requisite leadership
attributes. Later on, this strategy was expanded to encompass skills (learned behaviors).
Physiological traits, cultural class, IQ, capability, charisma, task-related talents, and behavioral
traits were all thought to combine to make one a successful leader at this time in the
development of leadership theory. Leadership theory helps to take a step back and consider the
present needs on leaders. To begin, these various approaches allow people to concentrate on
individual characteristics, behaviors required for effective leadership, the relevant situation, the
type of the followers and their relationship to the leader (Yauney, 2018).
Moreover, people realize the transnational world's interconnections and the importance
of leaders and managers. In today’s time, system leadership is what is more demanding and
necessary for the successful completion of the innovative projects. The significance of
maximizing the capacity of each member in the system becomes clear in this setting. Different
duties would be assigned to different members. The idea of leading using their own skills, with
their efforts acknowledged, is a considerable shift from the traditional old hierarchical
frameworks (Anderson and November, 2013). People in today’s world recognize the rapidity
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with which so many aspects of the institutional and economical lives are changing. When they
add in the various ideas, values, and behavioral norms of future decades, it's evident that they
will require psychological and cognitive flexibility, as well as interpersonal skills. As a result, they
all need to be more humble about what humans know as leaders, how they connect with others
(within the enterprise, clients, or other partners), and why they are doing what they are doing
(Archwell and Mason, 2021).

Main findings
Is Musk a manager or a leader or both?
Leaders that embrace authentic leadership are sincere, honest, and character-based:
People of the absolute quality, dedicated to improving sustainable enterprises, who seem to
have a vision and aim and are faithful to their key principles, who possess skills and talent to
expand their businesses to fulfil the demands of all its partners, and who understand the
significance of their contribution to humanity. Elon Musk is stubborn and persistent in whatever
and why he wants forcing people work for the longer time period. No one would ever think of
work with this type of leader, but because Musk's firms' goals are so thrilling and worthwhile,
people likes to work hard and with great effort to assist him in his projects (Guzman, 2017).
He motivates his team members since he keeps good standards for them; he also has
high expectations for himself. Great leaders set an example for their workers by continuing to
put in long hours and committing to the company's main guidelines. Actually, leadership and
management have certain contrasts on their strategy of reaching goals. Mr. Musk is clearly a
leader since he has a clear vision for his firm, he has a desire and devotion to achieve this, and
he is motivated to overcome the obstacles. He possesses tremendous ability to persuade others
to participate in his vision (Setili, 2915).
Elon Musk, depending on his style of leadership, is a transformational leader. Such
leaders are able to provide a clear vision of a better future. He's a brilliant person. In order to
achieve something like him, one must have to sharpen his mind more than he has. Once his
employee working under his leadership said, "I feel like I'm 10 times smarter now than when I
initially came."

The skills of Musk

He is innovative, inspiring, fast-acting, ambitious and obsessive about his business and
whatever he does. He manufactures rockets, puts pressure on the vehicle industry and does
this for the purpose of sending and settling people to Mars. It would not be right if we say that
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Musk is innovative only, but he also has other great skills. He's recognized for taking risks while
lookout on the future. His fast and easy approach offers benefits in terms of corporate growth
and invention, but it can also irritate his colleagues sometimes (Wilkinson, 2016).
Elon musk possesses the skills of listening to everybody in his team, his audience and
competitors with all ears. He understands how to build ties and connections, as well as how to
act in a variety of settings. His presentation skills are also very attractive and great. It has the
ability to bind the audience to listen carefully the idea and to think on it. Musk's remarks and
demonstrations are inspiring since it is evident that he is enthusiastic in whatever he discusses
(Trujillo, 2017).
It is enticing to the audience to witness someone who is genuinely enthusiastic about the
thing they are marketing. He is completely invested in this product and wishes to share his
enthusiasm with the general audience. Musk is forthright about what a new product can do and
where it might fit in the market. He won't try to oversell the product, and he'll avoid using slang.
Because knowing the fact that the product he's proposing and talking about is close to what he
thinks it will be, users can trust him.

Consequences of taking his style

If a leader in any company is not good, it can make a business going down way. This
trend appears to be also applicable for Tesla. This is where Musk’s fearlessness could be
proven dangerous in some contexts. 27 percent increase in stock prices could be seen since
the time he has taken control on Tesla. On the other hand, sustaining Tesla’s manufacturing
targets had been not continued for a time. The company has a financial obligation to the tune of
$9 billion, with sales that are less important. In spite of Musk being strict in action, Tesla
continues a risky venture with enough potential for success. Musk continues to be one of the
world's most advanced, attractive, and innovative leaders (Dobbs, 2016).
Elon Musk is a complex character, and his approach to management is no unusual. He
has the ability to provide motivation and thrill to his team members. He is also frightening in
some other ways. His approach, like just about any other leader, has pluses and minuses there
seems to be a lesson to be gained from the way he leads his team and numerous enterprises.
Many people think that his ideas are not so exceptional, despite, he leaves no stone unturned in
making an effort to achieve his goals (Saint-Martin, 2019).
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Musk, a right person for Tesla

In 2003, Elon Musk test drove a tZero, a tiny yellow electric automobile. Musk didn't
realize it at the time, but the tZero would pave the way for him to become Tesla's CEO. The
tZero also paved the way for Tesla's first automobile, the Roadster, which debuted in 2008.
Musk has been the CEO of Tesla for several years. As the co-founder and CEO of
Tesla, Elon leads all product design, engineering and global manufacturing of the company's
electric vehicles, battery products and solar energy products. Being a competitive leader, he is
the best choice for Tesla and its progress (Vence and Sanders, 2015). Since Elon took control
of Tesla, the business had been seen to be one of the best in the industry of electric motors.
The reason of why Elon is currently one of the best electric vehicle architects and developers
across the globe. However, he is the CEO of the company, but he has a huge knowledge of
how electric are pieced together, constructed, and other things. Elon’s exit now would be proven
disastrous for Tesla's success, profitability and operations (Musk, 2013).

Conclusion
Elon Musk is great leader who focuses on bringing the positive changes in the world. He
leads his team efficiently in order to make his vision true. He is a great inspirational leader.
Musk is a great leader and the tag he belongs is because of the greater skills, his innovative
ideas and the ambition to achieve them. While some of his ideas are non-viable, but he possess
the capacity to elicit enthusiasm for his goals, initiatives, and strategies.
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References

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Appendix 1

Source: Adapted from A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs From Management (pp.
3−8), by J. P. Kotter, 1990, New York: Free Press.

Appendix 2

Source: Northouse (2013) Leadership Theory and Practice, Page 18

Appendix 3

Source: Northouse (2013) Leadership Theory and Practice, Page 16

Appendix 4
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Source: Peter Fisk (2016) Elon Musk Leadership Style is about vision and obsession