Elon Musk: Tesla SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Why get a job at Facebook for people to look at baby pictures when you can work on getting people to Mars? If you want to change the world, don't pick "quick buck" work. Early advantage compounds. Becoming good at computers, chemistry, and math early changes what's possible later. Learning BASIC in three nights is a reminder: intensity can beat time. In a startup, complementary roles matter. One builds. One sells. They joined a field because they believed they could do it better than the existing company. Bringing companies online was a wedge: convince businesses to have an online presence. Losing the CEO title teaches a hard lesson: control isn't guaranteed just because you built the thing. Doing people's jobs for them works short-term. But it makes them dislike you, and then they become unproductive. You can't only learn how systems work. You also have to learn how people work. Putting engineers and welders together in one factory beats separating them by thousands of miles. If engineers have to talk to technicians, reality stays close. SpaceX put a glass office area in the middle so engineers must walk through the factory. Fun detail: the first Tesla Roadster was in Tony Stark's garage in Iron Man because Robert Downey Jr. liked Musk. Musk makes engineers take responsibility for missed deadlines. "I need the impossible done by Friday at 2 p.m. Can you do it?" hits different than "You have to do this by Friday at 2 p.m." Tesla considered hybrids, but it went against what they believed in. When a path violates your beliefs, commit to the end goal and don't look back. Elon's companies connect: SolarCity supports Tesla charging stations; SpaceX uses Tesla battery technology. Sometimes he made two factories compete to see who could make the most batteries. Larry Page's take: people aren't educated broadly enough. Engineers should have broad engineering/science basics plus leadership and "MBA" skills: organize, raise money, run things. When you can think across disciplines, you can dream bigger and make more progress. Elon makes his kids read more than play video games. He thinks schools are getting too soft. Elon says he wants to visit Mars and stay there at 70 until he dies.