

Elon Musk Wins 2012 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership Award - MikeCapone
http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/elon-musk-wins-2012-pm-breakthrough-leadership-award-11976048

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Nevaeh
Just 3 weeks ago, Elon received the Mars Pioneer Award from the Mars Society.
Here is his acceptance speech:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK0kTcJFnVk#t=10m56s>

I look forward to listening to his next speech, hopefully geared towards
motivating others to innovate new world changing technology. Something like
his Caltech speech: <http://commencement.caltech.edu/archive/2012_address>

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MikeCapone
A couple more Musk videos for those who might have missed them when they first
came out:

Bloomberg profile that gives a good overview of his companies:

[http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184-elon-musk-
profiled-b...](http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184-elon-musk-profiled-
bloomberg-risk-takers.html)

Reddit AMA:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6K8NkJpUei4)

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john626
The Bloomberg video is one of the most interesting tech interviews I've ever
seen.

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pvnick
Anybody have any information on Elon Musk's leadership style? What makes him
so successful at inspiring people and making efficient organizations?

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Nevaeh
A similar question was asked on Quora, and there were some pretty good
answers. <http://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-work-with-Elon-Musk>

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confluence
Well deserved but I do have a bone to pick with awards retrospectively given
after the outcome and then attributing success to individuals ex post facto.

What exactly is the point of calling a success after the success? Seems like
redundant ass kissing to me.

A fawning mix between humanity's hindsight bias mixed with a large dollop of
the sharp shooter fallacy.

Indeed, if I recall correctly, two of the most awarded companies of the late
90s were Enron and MCI WorldCom by the likes of Fortune, Forbes and other
"respectable" business journals.

Not stating that Musk is like those guys at all - but it does make me wonder
about the true purpose of awards.

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Nevaeh
Elon probably shares your sentiments, since he was an avid reader of Feynman.
Source:
[http://www.iop.org/careers/workinglife/profiles/page_37749.h...](http://www.iop.org/careers/workinglife/profiles/page_37749.html)

Feynman himself once said that he didn't like honors:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f61KMw5zVhg>

So when Elon won the Lady Vivamus sword after accepting the heinlein award for
advances in space commercialization, he fools around with it instead of just
being another trophy, sometimes to impress the ladies:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRpqZjfFzGg>

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jilli2
Yeah Elon is perfect. Except for being peer pressured by shady super wealthy
people.

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Nevaeh
I apologize for the hero worship, but I was merely trying to share some
information that might be interesting to others. Elon is by no means perfect,
his public speaking needs a lot of work, for example. Curiously though, he
doesn't stutter at all when he was interviewed by Hannah. =)

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MikeCapone
I hope many kids read about this man's exploits and are inspired to follow
suit in tackling hard problems with the potential to change the world. Wish we
had more smart people doing that...

