Here's An Idea. Let's Go To Mars!

Let's face it, to become the world's wealthiest self-made man, like Elon Musk, you've got to have had an idea or two! In this 23rd issue, we trace links to stories that may give some clues to Elon Musk's incredible rise to success.

If you're new to us it is recommended that you read issue 1:?One Idea is All it Takes

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About:?Trevor Nel is an 'ideas-generating machine' and co-founder of?WISDOMS?. You can connect with WISDOMS? and become: 1. a?PATRON?and/or; 2. a?PLAYER?, and/or; 3. a?PARTNER?- follow each link for more info.

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Just love this introduction to TIME's 2021 headline story under the header - IDEAS - PERSON OF THE YEAR - Why Elon Musk Will Go Down in History: 'Elon Musk?might be the?most interesting person on the planet. And given his passionate quest (so far surprisingly on track) to make humans into a multiplanetary species, he could someday become the most interesting person in the solar system.'

Elon Musk? Who's he? In case you've been living on Mars, or are just too darn busy to stay abreast of his story, here's a great introduction to Elon Musk: Elon Musk turned 47 yesterday — here's the incredible story of how he went from getting bullied in school to the most interesting man in tech. It contains one important line that captures my attention:

'Musk can't stop coming up with new ideas..'

Here is a 2022 perspective that gives further interesting insight - Elon Musk’s life story: the highs and lows of the Tesla and SpaceX boss. Extract: 'Musk is the richest person in the world with a fortune of $262 billion (€240 billion), but it wasn’t plain sailing for the South-African entrepreneur. There were multiple bumps along the road.'

From Who Is Elon Musk? we learn how he was on the brink of losing everything: 'I put in my last money, even though I thought we would still fail. But, it was either that or certain death for?Tesla. Extremely difficult to raise money for an electric car startup (considered super quirky back then), while stalwarts like GM & Chrysler were going bankrupt.' '..by 2021,?Tesla?became a trillion-dollar company.'

In the above-article we read that Musk had sold 50,000 caps of The BORING Company and 20,000 flamethrowers at a premium price of $500 each, raising $10,000,000 (ten million dollars) '..in revenues that could be reused toward the innovative projects the company is working on.' Key takeaway:

'Elon Musk has made most of his money by investing in ideas and companies he is passionate about.'

Worth mentioning that above-article is from FourWeekMBA - 'The Leading Source of Insights On Business Model Strategy & Tech Business Models' - highly recommended resource link.

Clearly Elon Musk values even the smallest of ideas as having a critical influence in business. In - "20 cent ideas matter." Musk Sends Email to All Tesla Employees - he writes: '..in order to make our cars affordable, we have to get smarter about how we spend money. This a tough Game of Pennies – requiring thousands of good ideas to improve part cost, a factory process or simply the design, while increasing quality and capabilities. A great idea would be one that saves $5, but the vast majority are 50 cents here or 20 cents there.'

In - The Evolution of Elon Musk: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly - we get the article writer's analysis of the Elon Musk biography - Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. The article writer admits to being shaken up by some negative comments about Musk: 'I had always thought of Elon Musk as a great leader and an innovation guru. I had nothing but respect for him.. This left me with one burning question:?Is he a jerk or an innovative leader that we should aspire to be?' 'So I decided to break down Musk’s life into 6 stages highlighting each of these different sides. Only after seeing all parts was I able to come to a conclusion to this question.'

I am not going to ruin the article writer's conclusion for you, the article makes for interesting reading. I am going to warn, however: Never reject an idea, thought, concept, or whatever, because it does not conform to your past paradigm or someone else's paradigm or opinion.. be the idea/thought/concept unregulated, illegal, from someone you don't like, bruising of your ego, or for whatever reason. Look intensely for the GOOD or INNOVATIVE in whatever is proposed, and logically research and reject,?with sound reasoning of your own,?that which does not comply to?your values.

In - What Can Everyday Entrepreneurs Learn from the Life of Elon Musk? - an interview with Elon Musk's biographer, Ashlee Vance - we learn: “He’s less of a CEO chasing riches than a general marshaling troops to secure victory. Where [Facebook CEO] Mark Zuckerberg wants to help you share baby photos, Musk wants to, well, save the human race from self-imposed or accidental annihilation.”

ResearchGate provide this case-study - Elon Musk: A Case Study of The World’s Wealthiest Man - Abstract: 'There is no better word to describe Elon Musk, than an 'entrepreneur'. To Musk, entrepreneurship is more of a personality guided by high intellectual character and proper management skills. The success story of Elon Musk does not depict more of an employee in him, but a creator, manager, and developer of economy-based giant investments. His story rather presents a personality that has high potential in the identification and evaluation of investment opportunities which makes him a visionary and innovative business person. Through the success story of Elon Musk, this study also deduces significant behavioral patterns of an entrepreneur that made him the man he is today. The success story of Musk also explores a huge number of challenges and a strong will pitted to overcome them with time to become the second richest man on the planet. This study exclusively explores Elon Musk, the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, his background, academic, and professional work experience with an expression of how he overcame challenges.'

Elon Musk's 5 Most Ambitious Ideas for the Future - pens the article writer: 'It’s sometimes difficult to understand how Musk manages to engage himself in so many ambitious projects. But at the root of everything, we can see someone curious about life and genuinely interested in leaving a positive legacy. The CEO of multiple companies is clearly not afraid to adopt a vision and work relentlessly toward achieving it, as we have seen on numerous occasions.'

Following a link-trail through above article led me to this illuminating Spacex recruiting video - careers - which gives a good indication of the culture within a Musk organization:

Take note: 'We have amazing people that do amazing work.. because largely they have bought into the vision.. we couldn't do the crazy insane things we do without the help of every individual here at Spaceex.' You gotta listen to the entire 1min:30sec video above.

Consider this - 25 Eccentric Plans and Ideas of Elon Musk For The Present and Future - 'Musk believes that any one of us more power than we have ever had before. Our access to computers, the internet, and social media magnifies our abilities to pretty much do anything. "You have more power than the president of the United States had 20 years ago,"?he said. "You can answer any question, you can video conference with anyone, anywhere. You can send messages to millions of people instantly. Just do incredible things." '

Good ideas are always crazy until they’re not. Elon Musk

The Henry Ford?Museum of American Innovation has a great series of interviews and transcripts of Elon Musk sharing his thoughts: e.g. 'I think people can choose to be not ordinary. You know, they can choose to not necessarily conform to the conventions that were taught to them by their parents. So, yes, I think it’s possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.' - Elon Musk

Can YOU come up with a $100 million idea? Elon Musk is looking for best ideas to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide - 'The Tesla electric vehicle and SpaceX rocket company developer is bankrolling a USD 100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition for the most promising ways to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide by grabbing the gas right out of the air.'

Harvard Business Review carried an interesting insight into Musk's strategic use of 'innovation capital' - Lessons from Tesla’s Approach to Innovation: 'As technology and innovation scholars, we’ve studied how innovators commercialize new technologies and we’ve interviewed Elon Musk, his co-founder J.B. Straubel, and other important members of the team. What we’ve found is that beneath the turbulent surface, Tesla’s innovation strategy?— which focuses on transforming the auto industry as a whole?— offers enduring lessons for any innovator, especially in terms of how to win support for an idea and how to bring new technologies to market.'

From MIT InnovationHQ - MIT'S HOME FOR INNOVATORS & ENTREPRENEURS - a resource 'for MIT’s thriving community of?innovators & entrepreneurs, supporting all who pursue ideas with a passion for world-changing impact - we read: Inc.: Elon Musk Reveals His Innovation Equation. It’s an Easy Way to Gauge If a Business Idea Is Viable - This simple three-part lesson can save you a great deal of time, money, and energy.

Extract: 'Elon Musk is revered as?one of?history’s greatest innovators. But what makes him so brilliant is that his genius is rooted not in an abstract complexity,?but straightforward simplicity.'

So, what makes Musk great? Perhaps this simple insight gives another clue - Elon Musk: Idea to Execution in Six Days

For me, Elon Musk is a highly-optimistic, savvy, widely-read, deep-thinking genius innovator who gets things done by working with the smartest of people in his organizations. Somewhat whimsical and not afraid to share his opinion, he does not seem to take himself too seriously at all. He does however, take his visionary projects extremely seriously. He clearly applies, to a super-effective level, the 6 Pillars of WISDOMS??that our own WISDOMS? team has identified and developed from +150 years of collective life & business experience.

This latest April 2022 TED interview link is a must view: Elon Musk talks Twitter, Tesla and how his brain works — live at TED2022 - 'In this live, unedited conversation, Elon Musk -- the head of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company -- digs into the recent news around his bid to purchase Twitter and gets honest about the biggest regret of his career, how his brain works, the future he envisions for the world and a lot more.'

Elon Musk predicts: 'It will be an Age of Abundance'. In follow-up to the above video, head of TED Chris Anderson interviews Elon Musk at the Tesla Texas Gigafactory on April 6, 2022 on this important topic - A future worth getting excited about - and 'how the radical new innovations he's working on -- Tesla's intelligent humanoid robot Optimus, SpaceX's otherworldly Starship and Neuralink's brain-machine interfaces, among others -- could help maximize the lifespan of humanity and create a world where goods and services are abundant and accessible for all.'

Also recommended: New Elon Musk Interview with Financial Times May 10, 2022

Elon Musk Answers Your Questions! | SXSW 2018 - 'I don't really have a business plan' - Elon Musk at his most vulnerable & disarming. Just love the comments section in this video chat, here are some:

• BlightBreed Official - In 60+ years time, people are going to be saying “I wish I was alive when this man was”. Just like we do these days in relation to Edison, and Einstein. It makes me happy to be alive at the same time as Elon.
• Zanar Aesthetics - There's no 1 like Elon Musk, this is the kind of richest man people look up to, the only richest man in the world, that is so humble, nice, genius, and loved by everyone
• Krisztian Toth - He is like a big child with genius level intelligence. He has the good intentions of the best of humanity and potentially innocent children, he has fun with the things he creates, but at the same time he takes the most responsibility and reasonable steps to keep all of humanity alive. And it is not something he considers work, it's something he personally wants. He considers humanity his team. And he would never blame anyone for not doing their part. He just looks around: oh, well nobody is doing this, but it is vital for my team to survive and for the future prosperity, so I will do it. He is my, and everyone's hero, even if we don't know it yet.
• Yuh - I love watching Elon talk, you can see the gears working, how he puts a lot of brain power into his answers. So much knowledge..
• tommmygunnn - I could listen to Elon Musk talk for hours. There's something very real and humble about him. He doesn't rush his answers and actually takes a moment to think about them.
• David Snyder - 3 years later, and he is still true to every word he says. I am so glad he put everything on the line for his vision of the future, for everyone's sake. So many people believe in him and I hope he knows this.

2021 Earth Day - says Peter Diamandis: '..?here we are with a very special guest, probably one of the greatest innovators and engineers of our time, the CEO of Tesla and Spacex..' - Elon Musk and Peter Diamandis LIVE on $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal

Remember..?just one idea is all it takes.

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Next week:?issue 24 - We explore the track record of billionaire John Paul DeJoria - a rare breed of entrepreneur.

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Trevor Nel?is author of?One Idea Is All It Takes?and numerous publications & articles, including :

1. Another GREAT Day in Africa!
2. Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur
3. Here's How To Be Well-Prepared For YOUR Cycles Of Success
4. Here's How YOU Can Make A Meaningful Difference In Other People's Lives
5. COMRADES Marathon: Metaphor For The Marathon Of Life
6. Riding the wild, wild River Of Life
7. Life Lessons Learnt as a Dusi Rat