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While most corporate governance focuses on minimizing risk, Elon Musk remains quite
successful because he is a venturesome visionary who welcomes risk, and even failure, as the
21st Century, Musk has continually grown and utilized his leadership and communication skills
In the past decades, achieving sustainability as quickly as possible has become paramount
in today’s society. The term sustainability is concerned with how biological systems embrace
diversity within the ecosystem and indefinite productivity, in a specific sense. The ingenuity of
Elon Musk has encompassed the broader meaning of sustainability, by incorporating the
Elon Musk was born and raised in South Africa. As a youth, Musk longed to obtain
citizenship in the United States. As a young adult, Elon Musk immigrated to Canada where he
became a citizen through his mother’s lineage. A Canadian citizen, Musk performed manual
The educational background of Musk tells of his determination to succeed. Most sources
pick up with his initial attendance at the Queens College in Canada. After a short time passed,
reports say, “Before completing his degree [Musk] came to the United States as an international
student.” 1 A continued pursuit of business knowledge and applied science led Musk to complete
undergraduate studies through a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Wharton School
(University of Pennsylvania) and, later, a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Physics from the
Career
Once Elon Musk’s childhood dream of reaching the United States was accomplished, he
“made his way out to Silicon Valley, gained legal authorization to work” through a visa and,
with the aid of his brother, began his first business venture called Zip2. Shortly, thereafter, Musk
became a United States citizen in 2002, sold Zip2 to Compaq, and cofounded X.com as a
pioneering company facilitates payments through cyberspace. 3 Musk’s transferred his ingenuity
to PayPal, who bought the X.com website as a template to become an exemplary online financial
services provider.
From this entrepreneurial launch pad (no pun intended), Elon Musk became the founder
and CEO of Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX. 4 The latter subject has become the foremost
subject involving Musk in today’s media. As the 2002-founder and CEO of SpaceX, Musk has
imposed an important landmark in recent history for the SpaceX company. On December 22,
2015, “the company “successfully landed an unmanned rocket upright, after sending 11 satellites
into orbit.” 5
Elon Musk released a whitepaper titled Hyperloop Alpha Paper to generate conversation
about a “fifth mode of transportation faster than commercial air travel, more energy efficient
than train travel, and as accessible as a personal automobile.” 6 Musk prompts discussion on this
topic because he feels the “bullet-train initiative” in California will be one of the most expensive
ventures of its type – and one of the slowest in the world. 7 These examples of recycling and
conservation propose innovation - on a universal scale, if you will – and they serve as only the
Goals
Musk’s ultimate goal spans a lifetime and has always been entrepreneurship. From the
beginning, he believed the United States would be the best platform to provide such an
4. Joan Marques, "A Mindful Moral Compass for Twenty-First Century Leadership: The
Noble Eightfold Path." The Journal of Values-Based Leadership 10, no. 1 (2017): 6,
http://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1177&context=jvbl.
5. Anderson, "International Students Who Started Billion-Dollar Companies." 6.
6. Max Werner, Klaus Eißing, and Sebastian Langton. "Shared value potential of
transporting cargo via hyperloop." Frontiers in built environment 2 (2016): 17,
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fbuil.2016.00017 from Musk, E., Hyperloop Alpha.
(2013). http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha.pdf.
7. J. Yarrow, Elon Musk Has Plans for a New, Magical Form of Transportation Called
the Hyperloop. Business Insider [online]. (2013). http://www.seattlepi.com/tech-
nology/businessinsider/article/Elon-Musk-Has-Plans-For-A-New-Magical- Form-Of-
4561606.php.
Gilbert-Bonner 4
opportunity, and Musk pursued his dream until reaching that target. After becoming a United
States citizen, Musk’s business ventures provided many challenges and risks.
As a leader, Elon Musk has obtained his childhood dream, and is currently compounding
his aspiration – he continues to fashion new goals and dreams and set about achieving them. His
pioneering spirit foresaw hurdles and his intellect found solutions to many of them before they
could become obstacles. In looking and acting beforehand, “he met his goal of bringing about a
huge jump in the popularity and prestige” of more than just electric vehicles – Elon Musk
continues to break through established barriers and think outside of many traditional boxes. 8
The success of Elon Musk is largely attributable to leverage provided by his enhanced
communication skills allowing him to inform, persuade, solicit, and direct inspiration to enlist
Inspiring Individuals
When asked about his connection to Nikola Tesla, Musk admires the genius of Tesla, but
admits to being a “bigger fan of Edison than Tesla, because Edison brought his products to
8. Amanda Setili, "Does Your Leadership Style Destroy Agility... or Supercharge It?."
Leader to Leader 2015, no. 78 (2015): 58,
http://www.leetsconsortium.com/articles/Does%20Your%20Leadership%20Style%20Destroy%2
0Agility%20or%20Supercharge%20it.pdf.
9. Marques, "A Mindful Moral Compass," 6.
10. Edward Peter Stringham, Jennifer Kelly Miller, and Jonathan R. Clark. "Overcoming
Barriers to Entry in an Established Industry." California Management Review 57, no. 4 (2015):
88-89,
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Edward_Stringham/publication/283001846_Overcoming_B
arriers_to_Entry_in_an_Established_Industry_Tesla_Motors/links/567ac38a08ae051f9adde88a.p
df
Gilbert-Bonner 5
Communication Style
Pictures are always worth countless words, and those contained in this position paper are
meant to convey the inspiration of the body language conveyed by Elon Musk (i.e., hand
Through effective communication, Musk strives to bring his dreams of “a better future
for humanity” to fruition by achieving and sharing his sustainable ideals. He uses finely honed
skills to communicate through “failures” and lead sustainable innovation, all while learning from
the adventure.
Leadership Characteristics
Elon Musk effectively leads by a complex leadership style incorporating the highlights of
authoritative tactics, though a true servant leader. Using democracy, Musk solicits feedback and
Gilbert-Bonner 6
participation, but is coercive in achieving compliance, handling crisis, nurturing, and compelling
Elon Musk has entered the high-end of the markets with many of his ventures, making
quick and rational decisions, all while using real-life operations as educators. 11 Many attribute
Elon Musk’s total business success to tenacity, in the face of continual threats, tempered with a
“reliance on ethical standards.” 12 Others add an attribute of “designing the company’s strategy
A team of Penn State students, collaborating through a Leadership blog as a part of their
consensus, Musk’s “leadership behaviors coincide with each of Bennis and Nanus’ four
he has always inspired his employees as a social architect; he builds trust with all stakeholders,
In empirical studies concerning other industry innovators, Elon Musk (2013) is proven to
manage objections without breaking stride. Musk is at the front of leaders who “overcome
personal or environmental constraints” which are evidence of “the difficulty of the challenge and
extent of change necessary to achieve their aspirations, as well as the courage needed to face
11. Setili, "Does Your Leadership Style Destroy Agility... or Supercharge It?," 57.
12. Lauren N. Padgett, "Elon Musk: Transformational Leadership in Action." Blog on
Leadership. (March 26, 2015): (last paragraph), https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2015/03/26/elon-
musk-transformational-leadership-in-action/.
13. Setili, "Does Your Leadership Style Destroy Agility... or Supercharge It?," 57.
14. Padgett, "Elon Musk: Transformational Leadership in Action," (first and second
paragraphs), https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2015/03/26/elon-musk-transformational-leadership-
in-action/. In Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus. "The strategies for taking charge." Leaders, New
York: Harper. Row (1985); and Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage,
2012.
Gilbert-Bonner 7
risks and obstacles in pursuit of their goals” (i.e., constraints included by a coercive
government). 15
When Musk is asked what he believes is the most effective leadership trait, his reply is:
I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly
thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think
that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be
doing things better and questioning yourself – Elon Musk 16
Elon Musk is a tenacious, yet sensitive, innovator and leader. An objective look at his
leadership characteristics will produce many specific examples – many sources have noted that
his employees at SpaceX “would follow their CEO into the sun.” He is obviously a very
conscientious visionary, yet he embraces his counterintuitive side when it really counts.
15. Kiko Thiel, "Deviating from Norms to Create Extraordinary Change: Introducing the
Concept of Transcendent Deviance." (2015): 6,
https://weatherhead.case.edu/departments/organizational-behavior/workingPapers/WP-15-
01.pdf. In Elon Musk the mind behind Tesla, Spacex, Solarcity, Tedx interview video,
https://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spacex_solarcity#t-1160586;
quotation from minutes 19:35-20:22.
16. Subha Ramani, "Reflections on feedback: Closing the loop." Medical teacher 38, no.
2 (2016): 206-207,
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Subha_Ramani/publication/277601928_Reflections_on_fee
dback_Closing_the_loop/links/5601b30208aed9851827ca6b.pdf.
Gilbert-Bonner 8
Modern leaders are still learning lessons of humility from Musk’s acceptance – and
welcoming - of failures as opportunities to learn, change, and grow. These lessons are crucial for
effective leadership in the ever-changing, ever-evolving, complex reality of the 21st Century.
When asked how he is able to innovate at such a grand scale, he talks of the importance
of first-principles reasoning – “boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from
there as opposed to reasoning by analogy… which essentially means copying what other people
Conclusion
In 2014, “Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, the electric car company, announced Tesla would
make its patents freely available to competitors,” via the public domain. “Conventional wisdom
holds that patents are essential to keep competitors from imitating innovations,” which is
especially true for smaller startup companies such as Tesla. Historically, conventional wisdom
has been wrong in some cases, altlhough Musk’s unconventional – some would say ingenious -
undertakings are quite timely, since the “conditions that make knowledge sharing advantageous
For the Tesla scenario, Musk must operate in the “sandbox” of the American automotive
industry’s “Big Three.” The question arises of why a CEO on the leading edge of innovation
would risk Tesla’s trade secrets and return on investment (ROI)? 19 In answer, Elon Musk’s
historic motivation is to inspire others – carmakers, in Tesla’s case - to stretch and improve the
competition. Using Tesla, Musk’s ultimate goal in making viable electric vehicles is to reduce
the human footprint on Earth. 20 By making the patents for Tesla readily accessible to
A man who shows many “examples of transcendent deviance and the extraordinary” is an
inspiration to many. The leadership style of Elon Musk is reflective of that very description, and
he promises “to redefine what is possible, and potentially change the way we view the world.” 21
TIME Magazine says of Musk, “It’s a paradox that Elon is working to improve our planet
at the same time he’s building spacecraft to help us leave it.” But it is true that genuine “vision is
binocular – and Elon Musk is clearly a man who can see many things at once.” 22
18. James Bessen, "History backs up Tesla’s patent sharing." Harvard Business Review
Blog 13 (2014): last paragraph, http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/conferences/2014-strategy-
research/Documents/History%20Backs%20Up%20Teslas%20Patent%20Sharing.pdf.
19. Ibid.
20. Stringham, Miller, and Clark. "Overcoming Barriers to Entry in an Established
Industry," 95.
21. Thiel, "Deviating from Norms," 40.
22. Richard Branson, “The 2013 Time 100: TIME presents its annual list of the 100 most
influential people in the world, from artists and leaders to pioneers, titans and icons,” TIME
webpage, (April 18, 2013): , http://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/elon-musk/.
Gilbert-Bonner 10
Bibliography