For quite some time I’ve subscribed to the view that Elon Musk is the greatest mind of the 21st century. SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City and the rest of his companies have been groundbreaking and pushed the limits of human capability, and we owe it to his singular capability to state the impossible and achieve it. My curiosity to learn how it all began, and what makes Musk, Musk, led me to read this excellent biography by Ashlee Vance. It is to his credit that he has uncovered a complex personality and delved deep into how his mind works, and at the same time keep the reader engaged and not feel left out.

We learn about Musk’s unique and harsh life experiences as a kid, his photographic memory, his grasp of concepts and self learning ability and his deep rooted visions for the world and humanity inspired by science fiction and comics.

Musk worked odd jobs after moving to Canada from South Africa, before realizing he must tap into the dot-com boom. After obtaining a dual degree in Physics and Economics from UPenn, he kicked off his first startup Zip2, an online yellow pages website, and later followed it up with X.com, designed to be an online bank, later merged to become PayPal.

Musk’s experience with these two companies, where he lost favor as a CEO due to investor pressure, led him to become a totalitarian in his subsequent companies. His ultimate dream was to make humans an interplanetary species, and it is with this vision that he founded SpaceX and followed up with Tesla.

Musk’s most challenging time came during this period between 2003-10, where he spearheaded not one but two companies, both started from scratch, both looking to upset the established order, one against decades old experienced space organizations like NASA, Roscomos, etc. and other against decades old experienced car companies like Ford, General Motors etc. Electric cars and cheap rockets have been a pipe dream of many a billionaire only to see them go into oblivion. Musk went all in, faced tremendous pressure, and was within one week of going bankrupt, when Falcon 1 made history on it’s fourth attempt by becoming the first privately developed launch vehicle to orbit the Earth. It resulted in a $1.6 billion contract awarded by NASA, breathing money into the company and saving both from going bankrupt. This period, more than anything, shows us how Musk is far from a normal entrepreneur. Money has never been his goal, and he is willing to risk everything to bring to life what he believes will take the human race ahead.

Tesla brought about it’s own challenges as well, from designing a battery pack, which was secure and efficient, to obtain funding for factories to produce cars on a large scale. Wave after wave of challenges kept bombarding Musk, but he stood relentless in his pursuit of making an electric car which would be desired by the masses. Model S ended up being rated not just the best electric car, but the best car, period.

As it is inevitable with people of such high caliber, Musk was far from being an ideal CEO. His interpersonal relationships with his colleagues was devoid of any emotion or empathy, and he routinely discarded people who’ve toiled for him for years, when he felt they were no longer needed, or they weren’t up to his exacting standards. Call it ego, or his psyche, Musk was intolerant to human foibles, and felt a person’s life was meaningless if they didn’t fully commit themselves to the task of enhancing humanity.

During the course of the book, Musk’s demeanor and perception are often compared to that of Steve Jobs, and his astute sense of technology and it’s impact to that of Bill Gates. In hindsight, Musk seems to a unique concoction of these two, taking technology and human potential to stratospheric heights, in trying to make the world a better place to live in and inspiring millions into believing that dreams can come true.

Originally published here.