13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance

1. What surprised you the most?
I think the thing that surprised me the most was how motivated he was to be successful in life. I think that motivation is one of the biggest keys to success. Seeing his goals become a reality is very inspiring.
What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
The thing i admired most about Elon Musk is his drive and determination to be successful and come up with ideas that no one else has thought of.
What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
I think his treatment of others to get the work done is something I did not admire. It took the effort of many others to help his ideas become reality and yet only he gets the spotlight for it. Therefore I think he should be putting his coworkers up on a pedestal for helping him instead of explaining only how he was harsh to them and worked them to death.
Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
I think the life that Elon Musk had growing up caused him to face some adversity at a young age. However I believe that he used this as a motivating factor to be successful and grow into a more mature and inspiring person. Some of the most successful people that I know in life faced hard times growing up and learned to work hard because of that.

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
I think that Elon Musks passion for what he was interested in was a big competency that he exhibited. I believe that to be truly successful as an entrepreneur you have to have a passion for what you are chasing. He also was able to come back from being bullied as a child and make the most out of what he wanted to pursue.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I thought it was confusing that he had a hard time getting funding for the Tesla project. I think with all of the pro-environment people in our country today that getting funding for an electric car would be easy. I'm surprised that more Tesla-like cars haven't started being produced.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask?
1. Do you have any other ideas that you would want pursue?
2. What do you wish you would have done differently in your path to success with Tesla and Space X?

5) What do you think the entrepreneurs opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
I think the Elon's opinion of hard work was that no matter what problems face in life, you have to find something that motivates you and hold on to it. The path to success is not an easy road but it is rewarding when you reach it. I have a very similar opinion to this.