On May 30th, SpaceX’s Dragon 2 spaceship successfully launched two astronauts into space, making history on the process. Not only was this manned-launch the first from the U.S. since 2011, but it was also the first achieved by a private company. Certainly, NASA played a tremendous role in the success of the launch. However, the lion’s share of the credit belongs to SpaceX, and more importantly, its innovative leader and CEO, Elon Musk. In fact, it was his vision and his approach to leadership in general that made this remarkable feat a flawless success. It’s been a while since we’ve published a Bold Leader Spotlight story, but Musk’s innovative leadership and historic accomplishment with SpaceX certainly merit it!
Of course, SpaceX is not Musk’s only visionary pursuit. With an innate entrepreneurial passion, this innovative leader has been pursuing countless endeavors since the age of 12. Since that time, he has introduced the world to a collection of his incredible visions for the future. These have included human colonies on Mars, underground high-speed transit, and implantable artificial intelligence devices in the human skull. While these at first seem impossible dreams and delusions, they look to be increasingly probable as the years pass. And it’s all because of the bold and innovative leadership that Musk brings to the table.
“I think it’s important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy… [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there.” – Elon Musk
Championing Innovative Change Through Technology
Bold leadership is routinely characterized in its ability to challenge the status quo and embraced needed change. For Musk, this means taking on some of the most significant issues in our lifetime. Rather than examining what different markets may want, he approaches change from a different perspective. Using a first principles philosophy, his innovative leadership examines underlying key constraints to a problem. And then, he embarks on a journey to test every single possible solution to achieve major breakthroughs. Rather than wait for change to occur, Musk therefore accelerates change for the betterment of all.
In essentially all of Musk’s endeavors, he has sought to apply scientific principles and technology to achieve the impossible. With Tesla, he tackled problems related to battery power and energy storage. With SpaceX, he developed a reusable rocket to dramatically cut costs. And he is pursuing similar strategies for The Boring Company and NeuraLink. If scientific principles suggest a solution should exist, Musk strives to find it. This is a hallmark of his innovative leadership, and a major reason he is disrupting several industries.
“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: Constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.” – Elon Musk
Using Stretch Goals to Catapult Success
Another important attribute of bold leadership is the ability to be driven by results. In this regard, Musk stands atop some of the world’s boldest leaders. In each of his business pursuits, Musk identifies stretch goals for his team to achieve. The achievement of these goals is not beyond reasonable expectations. But they are extreme and demand everyone to push themselves to the limit in order to achieve them. In doing so, Musk not only gets the most out of the talent around him. But he also hits some incredible targets that many believed to be unattainable.
In establishing such lofty goals, Musk has a basic philosophy that supports these actions. He believes that true innovative leadership requires testing extreme situations. In doing so, failures are inevitable, but these failures highlight weaknesses that can be addressed. This has been most apparent in SpaceX operations over the years. Despite dozens of failed launches and some pretty spectacular explosions, SpaceX ultimately excelled. Had it not been for these repeated failures, however, success may have never occurred. This philosophy has always represented a foundational part of Musk’s innovative leadership. (For more on accomplishing great things via stretch goals, check out Ed Kopko’s book “Project Bold Life: The Proven Formula for Overcoming Challenges and Achieving Happiness and Success“.)
“Elon is a master at harnessing and channeling the team to do pretty amazing things that go beyond what the team even thought was possible. If you challenge people to work hard, they achieve more than they think they can. Most leaders don’t want to do that.” – J. B. Straubel, Cofounder and CTO of Tesla Motors
Empowering Passions and a Drive to Be the Best
In achieving major success, bold leaders must empower team members to be their best. By setting stretch goals and allowing failure to guide change, Musk encourages this. But in addition, his innovative leadership also achieves this in other ways. Unlike some other leaders, Musk tends to be tremendously outspoken and often publicizes this extreme visions. In doing so, he attracts attention, which is important when seeking investors. But at the same time, his visions also inspire those affiliated with his efforts. And it helps attract some of the best talent in the world.
Musk has had his share of difficulties that have resulted from some of his bold public statements. This has led to some personal setbacks, and it has led to some turnover in top positions at his companies. But these are sometimes necessary evils for innovative leadership that drives people to be their best. At the end of the day, the question is not whether some missteps were taken. The key issue is whether progress was made. While many may question Musk’s innovative leadership style, few can question the results it provides.
Combining Boldness and Innovation
Musk has already astounded the world with the achievements he has already made. This includes the recent Dragon 2 launch. But in all likelihood, he is just getting started. By exhibiting clear features of bold leadership, he has achieved remarkable success. And by combining bold leadership traits with innovative leadership, these successes have been beyond what many thought were possible. Much can therefore be learned from Musk’s approach to leadership. To attain the some of life’s biggest accomplishments, one has to dream big. And to make these dreams become reality, bold leadership is required. Elon Musk has highlighted both of these key points through the many endeavors he has pursued.
