> How Musk pulls this off is something I still don't understand
Honesty, openness, lack of bullshit-bingo, the knowledge that he's in it for idealistic reasons first. It's not a reality distortion field if it's reality.
Of course I realize that to you, this sounds like I'm caught in his "reality distortion field".
As start-up advice, I would say you don't have a reality distortion field. If you try arguing with a customer in public, you are very likely to lose, even if you are right on all the facts.
How Musk pulls this off is something I still don't understand, but don't think you can replicate it.