1. Effective Leaders and Communicators: Elon Musk – Failure is an Option
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Effective Leaders and Communicators: Elon Musk – Failure is an Option by
Patti Gilbert-Bonner

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Source(s): Lauren N. Padgett, "Elon Musk: Transformational Leadership in Action." Blog on Leadership. (March 26, 2015).

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Introduction
Elon Musk is an effective leader, specializing in the technology industries of the 21st Century
Musk has continually grown and utilized his leadership and communication skills
He is active and devoted to finding solutions to major global problems
Traditionally, most corporate governance focuses on minimizing risk
Musk remains quite successful
As a venturesome visionary
Welcoming risk, and even failure, as the conduit to successful invention

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Introduction (Cont.)
Achieving sustainability as quickly as possible has become paramount in today’s society.
Sustainability is concerned with
How biological systems embrace diversity within the ecosystem
Indefinite productivity, in a specific sense
The ingenuity of Elon Musk
Encompasses the broader meaning of sustainability
Incorporates the endurance of systems and processes into the foundation of his ventures

5. Background Elon Musk was born and raised in South Africa
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Background
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 labor in several jobs and positions to make a living.

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Education
Musk’s educational background exemplifies his determination to succeed
Elon Musk initially attended the Queens College in Canada
Not long after, 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
a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania)
a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Physics from the University of Pennsylvania, proper2
1. Stuart Anderson, "International Students Who Started Billion-Dollar Companies." International Educator 25, no. 4 (2016): 6,
2. Ibid., 5.

7. CAREER
Once Elon Musk’s childhood dream of reaching the United States was accomplished
Went to the Silicon Valley,
Gained a visa as legal authorization to work
Began his first business venture called Zip2, with the aid of his brother
Musk became a United States citizen in 2002, and
Sold Zip2 to Compaq
Cofounded X.com as a pioneering company which facilitates payments through cyberspace3
Transferred his ingenuity to PayPal, who bought the X.com website as a template to become an exemplary online financial services provider
3. Anderson, "International Students Who Started Billion-Dollar Companies," 6.
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8. Career (cont.) From this entrepreneurial launch pad
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Career (cont.)
From this entrepreneurial launch pad
(no pun intended – well, maybe),
Elon Musk became the founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX4
As the 2002-founder and CEO of SpaceX, Musk imposed important landmarks
SpaceX has become the foremost subject involving Musk in today’s media.
On December 22, 2015, the SpaceX company “successfully landed an unmanned rocket upright, after sending 11 satellites into orbit.”5
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,
5. Anderson, "International Students Who Started Billion-Dollar Companies." 6.

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Career (cont.)
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
As accessible as a personal automobile6
Musk prompts discussion on this topic because he feels the “bullet-train initiative” in California
one of the most expensive ventures of its type
one of the slowest in the world7
The examples Musk sets forth propose innovation – especially recycling and conservation - on a universal scale
They serve as only the beginning sustainability enterprises, which are Elon Musk’s hallmark
6. Max Werner, Klaus Eißing, and Sebastian Langton. "Shared value potential of transporting cargo via hyperloop." Frontiers in built environment 2 (2016): 17, from Musk, E., Hyperloop Alpha. (2013).
7. J. Yarrow, Elon Musk Has Plans for a New, Magical Form of Transportation Called the Hyperloop. Business Insider [online]. (2013). Form-Of php.

10. 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 opportunity
Musk pursued his dream until reaching that target
After becoming a United States citizen, Musk’s business ventures encountered many challenges and risks
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11. Goals (cont.) Elon Musk, as a leader Obtained his childhood dream
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Goals (cont.)
Elon Musk, as a leader
Obtained his childhood dream
Compounds his aspiration by fashioning new goals and dreams, and sets about achieving them
Foresaw hurdles using a pioneering spirit and intellect that found solutions before they 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
Breaks through established barriers
Thinks outside of many traditional boxes8
8. Amanda Setili, "Does Your Leadership Style Destroy Agility...or Supercharge It?." Leader to Leader 2015, no. 78 (2015): 58,

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Goals (cont.)
The success of Elon Musk is largely attributable to leverage provided by his enhanced communication skills
Inform
Persuade
Solicit
Direct inspiration
Enlist “an entire legion of workers to help him realize this vision.”9
9. Marques, "A Mindful Moral Compass," 6.

13. Inspiring Individuals
When asked about his connection to Nikola Tesla, Musk
Admires the genius of Tesla
Admits to being a bigger fan of Edison than Tesla, because Edison
Brought his products to market
Made those inventions accessible to the world10
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, in_an_Established_Industry_Tesla_Motors/links/567ac38a08ae051f9adde88a.pdf
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14. Communication Style Source(s): Asa Mathat, “All Things Digital.”
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Communication Style
Source(s): Asa Mathat, “All Things Digital.”

15. Communication style (cont.)
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Communication style (cont.)
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 gestures, facial expressions, expectant posture).
In addition to body language, Musk’s communication style
Indicative of servant leadership
Supportively using conversational and inspirational tone
Very effective in persuasion

16. Communication style (cont.)
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Communication style (cont.)
Through effective communication, Musk strives to bring his dreams of “a better future for humanity” to fruition by achieving and sharing his sustainable ideals
Uses finely honed skills to communicate through “failures” and
Lead sustainable innovation
All this, while learning from the adventure.

17. Leadership Characteristics
Elon Musk effectively leads by a complex leadership style within each organization by incorporating these highlights:
Authoritative tactics
A true servant leader
Using democracy
Solicits feedback and participation
Coercive in
Achieving compliance
Handling crisis
Nurturing
Compelling affiliations
Forging emotional bonding
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18. Leadership characteristics (cont.)
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Leadership characteristics (cont.)
Elon Musk enters the high-end of the markets with many of his ventures by
Making quick and rational decisions
Using real-life operations as educators11
Many attributes of Elon Musk’s total business success
Tenacity, in the face of continual threats
Tempered with a “reliance on ethical standards”12
Others add “designing the company’s strategy to maximize the rate of learning”13
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),
13. Setili, "Does Your Leadership Style Destroy Agility... or Supercharge It?," 57.

19. Leadership characteristics (cont.)
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Leadership characteristics (cont.)
A team of Penn State students, collaborating through a Leadership blog as a part of their Psychology education, provided a realistic analysis of Elon Musk’s leadership style.
A consensus said, Musk’s “leadership behaviors coincide with each of Bennis and Nanus’ four strategies typically used by transformational leaders:”
Vision is inherent in everything “Musk”; he has always inspired his employees as a social architect; he builds trust with all stakeholders, even when it hurts; and his creativity is self-evident.14
14. . Padgett, "Elon Musk: Transformational Leadership in Action," (first and second paragraphs), 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.

20. LEADERSHip characteristics (cont.)
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LEADERSHip characteristics (cont.)
In empirical studies concerning other industry innovators, Elon Musk (2013) is proven to manage objections without breaking stride.
Musk is at the pinnacle, as a leader
Overcomes personal and environmental constraints, which evidence the “the difficulty of the challenge and extent of change necessary to achieve their aspirations”
Exhibit the courage needed to face risks and obstacles in pursuit of their goals (i.e., constraints included by a coercive government)15
15. Kiko Thiel, "Deviating from Norms to Create Extraordinary Change: Introducing the Concept of Transcendent Deviance." (2015): 6, In Elon Musk the mind behind Tesla, Spacex, Solarcity, Tedx interview video,
quotation from minutes 19:35-20:22.

21. Leadership characteristics (cont.)
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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 Musk16
Source(s): Lauren N. Padgett, "Elon Musk: Transformational Leadership in Action." Blog on Leadership. (March 26, 2015).
16. Subha Ramani, "Reflections on feedback: Closing the loop." Medical teacher 38, no. 2 (2016): ,
Leadership characteristics (cont.)

22. Leadership characteristics (cont.)
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Elon Musk is a tenacious, yet sensitive, innovator and leader…
Lessons learned
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.
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.
Leadership characteristics (cont.)

23. Leadership characteristics (cont.)
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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 do with slight variations.”17
17. Thiel, "Deviating from Norms," 28.
Source(s): Lauren N. Padgett, "Elon Musk: Transformational Leadership in Action." Blog on Leadership. (March 26, 2015).
Leadership characteristics (cont.)

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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”
Really important for smaller startup companies such as Tesla.
Historically, conventional wisdom has been wrong in some cases
Musk’s unconventional – some would say ingenious - undertakings are quite timely
Especially since the “conditions that make knowledge sharing advantageous today won’t last forever.”18
18. James Bessen, "History backs up Tesla’s patent sharing." Harvard Business Review Blog 13 (2014): last paragraph,

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Conclusion (cont.)
In the Tesla scenario, Musk operates in the American automotive industry’s “Big Three” sandbox
Why would a CEO on the leading edge of innovation risk Tesla’s trade secrets and return on investment (ROI)?19
In answer, Elon Musk’s historic motivation inspires others – carmakers, in Tesla’s case - to stretch and improve the competition
Using Tesla, Musk will achieve his ultimate goals
Making viable electric vehicles plentiful
Reduce the human footprint on Earth20
Making Tesla patents readily accessible to competitors, facilitates that goal through
Speed
Certain achievement
19. Bessen, "History backs up Tesla’s patent sharing.“
20. Stringham, Miller, and Clark. "Overcoming Barriers to Entry in an Established Industry," 95.

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Conclusion (cont.)
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
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
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): ,

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atch
(Sending
A Musk read…
Source(s): Google (2017).

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Bibliography
Anderson, Stuart. "International Students Who Started Billion-Dollar Companies." International Educator 25, no. 4 (2016): 4.
Bessen, James. "History backs up Tesla’s patent sharing." Harvard Business Review Blog 13 (2014).
Branson, Richard, “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).
Marques, Joan. "A Mindful Moral Compass for Twenty-First Century Leadership: The Noble Eightfold Path." The Journal of Values-Based Leadership 10, no. 1 (2017): 7.
Ramani, Subha. "Reflections on feedback: Closing the loop." Medical teacher 38, no. 2 (2016):

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Bibliography (cont.)
Setili, Amanda. "Does Your Leadership Style Destroy Agility... or Supercharge It?." Leader to Leader 2015, no. 78 (2015):
Stringham, Edward Peter, Jennifer Kelly Miller, and Jonathan R. Clark. "Overcoming Barriers to Entry in an Established Industry." California Management Review 57, no. 4 (2015):
Thiel, Kiko. "Deviating from Norms to Create Extraordinary Change: Introducing the Concept of Transcendent Deviance." (2015).
Werner, Max, Klaus Eißing, and Sebastian Langton. "Shared value potential of transporting cargo via hyperloop." Frontiers in built environment 2 (2016): 17.
Yarrow, J. Elon Musk Has Plans for a New, Magical Form of Transportation Called the Hyperloop. TSLA. (2013).