13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

            I had the pleasure in reading the biography of Elon Musk, Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Musk’s hardships in overcoming a drunk and an aggressor as a father was the most surprising factor of successes. Tough upbringings are usually presumed to foreshadow poor adult behavior. My admirations for Musk lies with his endeavors in scientific exploration, which is a deep interest I share with him. Expansion of the scientific frontier has proven to be a worthy practicing philosophy that applies to all life and matter in the universe. Science unwraps the vast unknown that lies beyond human understanding. Elon Musk is an entrepreneur that is focusing his capital achievements, from the creation of Tesla, Solar City, and Paypal, on the forefront of scientific exploration. What I least admire from Musk’s character was his failing ability to keep balanced a personal life with his children and his marriages. His first wife would complain, “Elon lives his own life and others are just live in it.” I suppose that this characteristic of his is the cost for taking in such daunting challenges which are responsible for the advancement of humanity. He faced and still faces unmeasurable odds when initiating his interests in developing electric powered automobiles, supplying homes and businesses solar powered panels, and architecting plans to for interstellar travel. In efforts to combat great obstacles, Musk preaches with, “if something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.” Competencies Elon Musk honed was high aptitude for physics and economics. With his scholastic pursuit, he led his entrepreneurial aspirations in the areas of the internet, renewable energy, and outer space. I cannot think of a part in reading the text that I found difficulty in understanding. There was a lot of praise from the author, Ashlee Vance, for Elon Musk and his successes. Maybe if Vance could have explained more about Musk’s faults connecting with the man would have been easier. The two questions that I would ask Elon Musk would be: How did you hold your vision for making an impact to the world? What is the strength that must be withheld to land the influence you now have on people? My reasons for these questions are to further explore the great curiosity of mine for leadership qualifications. In Musk’s approach to hard work, he claims, “work hard, like, every waking hour. If you do the simple math, say that someone else is working 50 hours and you’re working 100, you’ll get twice as much done in the course of a year as the other company.” I deeply share this opinion with Musk, I believe the true factor of perseverance is the decision to apply grit.