

Elon Musk on Running Tesla Motors and SpaceX - MikeCapone
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_19/b4227076914379.htm

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ericd
This whole article was light on hard content, but had some great ideas
expressed well. For example:

 _Professional managers—MBA CEOs—are not very creative or adaptable, and their
skills don't suit a startup. Business is like a multidimensional probabilistic
chessboard. The rules aren't set, and the same moves don't always make you
win. A lot of people can be really good in a set-piece battle; my biggest
differentiating skill is I can invent new pieces._

expresses an idea that most can't articulate well, but seems intuitively true.

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jwuphysics
I agree that this idea seems intuitively true, but I don't think there is a
problem articulating it. It's simply that many will find it offensive that a
scientist can be better than an MBA student at managing a company.

Then again, Musk majored in both physics and business.

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mkramlich
this quote was golden:

 _"Business is like a multidimensional probabilistic chessboard. The rules
aren't set, and the same moves don't always make you win. A lot of people can
be really good in a set-piece battle; my biggest differentiating skill is I
can invent new pieces."_

Really shows you how he thinks. And I think he's correct too. And life is like
that, in general, not just business. One big multidimensional probabilistic
chessboard. Or perhaps a Rube Goldberg machine, where parts of the machine are
not completely ludicrous. Part of the reason why I'm building a startup that
simulates life. Because making models of multidimensional probabilistic Rube
Goldbergian chessboards is _fun!_

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ianl
The article just ended, felt like the author got half way done and just
stopped.

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Joakal
Commercial from SpaceX on Mars mission:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p6EruPdoXY>

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wilschroter
One thing I love about what this guy has done is the fact that he actually
sees this stuff through. He didn't just talk about these ideas - he made them
happen. It's one thing to do that for a Web site that two guys build in a
room. It's quite another to literally put a rocket in orbit.

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Jayasimhan
liked his comment on Patents.

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lhnn
Agreed. I'm glad that he sees foreign companies as competitors... I'm not
itching to get in a fight with China or Russia, but they're frenemies. We
shouldn't be giving them any more than we have to.

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rch
Well, I'm on board. I knew the name, but until now I didn't know how impressed
I should be.

Thanks.

