Reading Reflection 1

I chose to read Ashlee Vance’s biography on Elon Musk. As most of us know, Elon Musk is the mastermind behind SpaceX, Tesla, and a lesser known but still increasingly innovative solar company. The biography is very well structured; beginning with a small interview that Vance has with Musk, the reader gets an idea or sense of what kind of person Elon Musk is. Afterwards, the biography delves into the beginning of Elon Musk’s lineage up until the time he’s born and then the rest unfolds.

What surprised me the most about Elon Musk is the type of childhood he had. We often believe that some of these entrepreneurs come from backgrounds where they are mistreated and do their best to escape their situations or there are others who are born into families that have every resource they need to develop their business. Musk wasn’t really in any of these predicaments, he was born into a middle-class family. He was a first born that was raised in South Africa and although he was socially awkward, he found his way to read every book he could and teach himself about computer programming when the first computers were being developed. His social awkwardness didn’t allow him to be that cutting edge salesman and instead used the help of his brother Kimbal to help lure venture capitalists into investing in their ideas. Without the help from his brother, I feel like Musk would’ve had a hard enough time trying to deliver the right pitch to the right person. I wish Musk could’ve represented himself in more occasions than he did at the beginning. Musk did encounter adversity. Through his childhood, he was always bullied and founds way to cope with the pressure and stress the bullies placed on him. Most of time he spent with developing Zip2, he faced the possibility of not getting investors to buy into his idea. This placed enormous pressure on Musk since he had his brother and some lead programmers to keep afloat, not to mention they struggled to find a place to live at in the beginning leading to Musk and Kimbal having to spend nights where they worked at for Zip2.

Elon Musk exhibited a strong work ethic and drive that surpassed any of his colleagues that helped him build the empire he has now. I’ve always believed that someone who has a strong work ethic like Musk, didn’t need to have talent or any other resources for that matter. If you gave them a chance and showed them what they have to do in order to succeed, these people will push and work relentlessly until they’ve reached their goal.

In the reading, I’ve ran across some confusing parts. Most notability was the relationship that the 3 Musk kids had with their father. The reading described as a strong working family man that helped provide for all and even helped Elon and Kimbal with buying the office space Zip2. Even through all of that, when asked about their relationship with their father, both Kimbal and Elon wouldn’t talk or elaborate anything about the man. They claimed their childhood and upbringing with him in South Africa was rough but the relationship they have with him portrays a different story.

In all honesty, the relationship between the Musk’s and their father really intrigues me. There is so little information about it in the reading but the little bit that there is shows a whole other story; although personal, I would like to ask Elon what kind of support and insight did he receive from his father as he grew up and started meeting all his goals. Another topic that I’ve had in my mind about Elon is where does he get his motivation and drive from in the beginning when he first moves back to North America from South Africa. Mainly, who or what pushes him to the levels of determination and motivational drive he had in the beginning? Now he has a huge empire to think and goals for each one of his companies but back when he first moved to Canada, where did that inspiration come from and who did he revere as his role models?

As I stated before, Elon exhibited a strong work ethic. He put everything he had on the line to move back to the states and find his way to reach the goals he set for himself. I think he has the same mentality as I do when it comes to hard work; someone who is willing to work hard can reach their goals no matter what the circumstance is as long as they are given guidance or shown what or how to do specific tasks. When he first started working on Zip2, other colleagues would talk about occasions where they would arrive to the office to work early in the morning and would find Musk asleep. On orders from Musk himself, the colleagues would wake him up so he can get back to work and back to reaching his ultimate goals.