Elon isn't personally engineering the cars and rockets himself. He's running a business, which he does have experience in.
Re:How to Win a Currency War
by chrisco255 on Friday April 10, 2020 @08:21PM
(#22838718)
Running PayPal vs Space X vs Tesla requires a ton of different skills and competencies. Tesla is a huge engineering effort and assembly line engineering effort. They've pioneered a number of innovative technologies and approaches. Likewise, Space X has pioneered incredible technology and you can't simply be a passive CEO to achieve those things. It's not like running a laundromat. Musk is a central figure in both of those companies. If you watch his interviews, he has a deep understanding of every level of engineering in both of those companies.
And yet every time they/he gets in trouble is when he veers out of his lane into micromanaging things he has no business in. If his deep knowledge of engineering is critical to their success, that's actually a massive failure of leadership. It's not how you build sustainable things that outlast yourself.
Re:How to Win a Currency War
by chrisco255 on Friday April 10, 2020 @10:33PM
(#22839259)
No, it's not a massive failure. There are many different styles of leadership. There is not one single formula that works for all companies and all circumstances. To look at a historical example, Thomas Edison was a profound engineer and a very capable inventor as well as CEO. Obviously, there's a difference between Musk and say, Richard Branson. There's a difference between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. They found success with different models of leadership.
Of course he invested in, rather than founding, those companies.
Re:How to Win a Currency War
by chrisco255 on Friday April 10, 2020 @07:36PM
(#22838471)
He runs both of those companies. He's not a passive investor. He's CEO. He's highly involved at every level of both of them.
That seems true, at least for the car company, but the specific statement was that he had founded them.
Re:How to Win a Currency War
by chrisco255 on Friday April 10, 2020 @09:31PM
(#22839033)
You're bikeshedding now. Could Elon Musk hold his own in a conversation with any aerospace engineer? Absolutely. Could he hold his own in a conversation with a process engineer? Absolutely. The guy is super smart, reads voraciously, and has self taught himself many different disciplines. Its not a superpower by the way, you can too. We live in the information age. Study any subject well enough and you can hold your own, too.
Other thinkers in this space I'd recommend: Raoul Pal: https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI Danielle DiMartino Booth: https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth Luke Gromen: https://twitter.com/LukeGromen Brent Johnson: https://twitter.com/SantiagoAuFund Ray Dalio: https://twitter.com/RayDalio
...etc. Search around. Educate yourself!