"I think that's the single best piece of advice; constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself."
This week's quote is by an esteemed business magnate, industrial designer and engineer - Elon Musk.
He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI.
Becoming the richest man in January 2021, as famous Elon Musk is, he remains one of the most controversial public figures of today. That's because, despite being one of the richest man in the world, and founder of some of the most eminent businesses, he refuses to play by the rules. Of the industry or common sense.
He has been blocking journalists and media outlets that dare critique any of his companies' products or even objectively report on negative stuff. Several former employees and executives who have known and worked for Musk over the years, have told publications that "Everyone else is finally seeing the way he has always been. He's being the same he has always been in private. He's just being Elon a lot more publicly."
People say, that he has totally stopped caring about what anyone says or think about him. "If you disagree with anything Elon Musk says or does, it’s no skin off his nose. You suck."
While Musk's attitude has actually benefited him financially, but because of his actions, he has lost more than two dozen executives at Tesla, including three general counsels, his director of engineering, director of sales, director of finance, operations, accounting, production, and recruiting.
However, Musk is still idolised among the technorati. In the past year, he has launched two astronauts into orbit from the United States (the first in almost a decade), Tesla is one of the most valuable car companies and Musk is also working towards implanting chips into people's brains. Despite of his ways, Musk is known to be a genius and worshipped by the tech world.
Someone close to him who has worked with him for many years, said, “I’ve worked all over Silicon Valley, with some of the brightest minds in the world, and there’s only one person I would consider a true genius, who is head and shoulders the smartest guy in the room, and that is Elon.”
Being so busy and splitting his time between SpaceX, (which is preparing to send an unmanned spaceship to the International Space Station) and the Tesla Motors, (which is preparing to roll out a luxury electric motor sedan) - he combines his super hectic schedule with a major focus on productivity. He is constantly trying to optimise his time and focussing on a feedback loop, to constantly think about what he has done and how he could be doing better each day.
Even though he has his faults, the man lives and breathes tech. His passion for tech and his persistent determination to change the world has contributed to his success. His main secrets of success that you can take away in your business are -- regular communication, schedule work and follow through, focus on being productive, always get feedback and self improvement.
At DDSN we share Musk's passion for technology to create something evolutionary but also his tenacity and constant improvement. We strive to assist our clients do better each day. The feedback loop is an unquestionable part of the DDSN team’s process. We are a single level hierarchy team. Everyone gets to partake in planning and having a say in important things, fostering a transparent culture of giving and receiving feedback.
Today's Quote
Image By Duncan.Hull - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86942193
Who is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk is a business pioneer, an industrial designer and an engineer.
A centibillionaire, Musk is one of the richest people in the world.
In 2002, he founded SpaceX, of which he is CEO, CTO, and lead designer. n 2004, he joined electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (now Tesla, Inc.) as chairman and product architect, becoming its CEO in 2008. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a non-profit research company promoting AI. In 2016, he founded Neuralink.
He was first listed on Forbe's Billionaires List in 2012, with a net worth of $2 billion. And currently, in Jan 2021, he became the richest person in the world.
He has always worked towards creating better and improved solutions to solve the problems of the society. He is regarded one of the most influential people because he of his forward thinking and innovations.
At DDSN we share Elon Musk's passion of doing better each day by questioning ourselves and incorporating valuable feedbacks in our everyday processes.