Elon Musk is a large-then-life figure in the space industry. He started with his internet start-up businesses such as PayPal before ending up in the sending satellites into space as well as design and production of electric cars under the Tesla Motors.
Elon Musk is a fan of super cars and had a collection of these cars which have large capabilities. At one point he owned five super cars which are: McLaren F1, 1967 Series 1 Jaguar, Porsche 911 Turbo, Hamann BMW M5.
Private jets
Elon Musk owned an L39 Soviet military jet which he sold when he became a father. This is one of the best planes for hauling cargo from one end of the country to the other.
Elon is a rich and eccentric businessman but also a competent engineer who is willing to try new ideas and implement them to the letter. He is very demanding on his team but also makes sure he clears obstacles from their way.
Humble beginning in space business
At the beginning of his space business Musk attempted to purchase ICBM missiles from Russians. However, they never took Musk’s team seriously. If he had succeeded, he would retool them and use them for space travel.
Work ethics
Musk works crazy number of hours in a day. He arrives home at 11 pm and still works some more before going to bed. He loves being where action is in business.
He promotes intensity at work, this is known to increase productivity of workers. This is why he believes in being lean and running on a low budget but with a large output and outcomes.
Hobbies
Elon Musk loved reading technical manuals on rockets to understand the ins and outs of making rockets. He was good at absorbing large amounts of information. He has been a devourer of information.
People who work for Musk
Elon Musk loves working with the best people out there. When he started SpaceX, he hired the best brains by scouting university campuses and identifying the best performing students as well as those who are talented and have displayed their talents in various projects.
Musk has always loved setting insane targets for his staff members. He loves producing his products on the cheap and fast approach.
Musk assumes a no-nonsense attitude at work. He would identify test sites in some of the most remote areas such as Kwaj which was inhabited by snakes, fire ants and was very hot. His private jet was always used to transport his workers to the company sites to avoid wasting precious time and reduce travel fatigue.
At the test site, they used to have 12 hour-days for 10 days straight, go back home for a weekend and then head back to work again for years. It was a lot of labour of love. They arrive at work at 8:00 am work for 12 hours then go for dinner and rest and start all over again the following day.
Musk made it a point of receiving daily updates from the test site on phone at the end of every day.
Elon Musk was very demanding but would always remove obstacles to make sure his employees deliver. His team was very innovative, they always did those of the activities at night or over the weekends to avoid waiting for permits to be approved. He always wanted thing to be done as soon as possible.
Musk made it his habit to fly across America to pay impromptu visits to work sites and ensure business is moving according to schedule. If anything was behind schedule, he would be pissed off and could show it.
“You are fucking us up the ass, and it doesn’t feel good,” Elon Musk once told a contractor who was supplying SpaceX.
Musk loved following up on thing personally. That way things moved fast. Remote offices were turned into bedrooms at night with mattresses and sleeping cots.
Workers in the remote Island had refrigerators, a good grill and a plumped shower to make it feel live living and not camping. At the Island on the equator, the sun rose at 7 am and that is the time when SpaceX started working each day. Every single day would start with meeting to list what needed to be done.
The SpaceX team valued entertainment, they had DVD players for watching movies at night. The remote workplace gave them a torturous but magical experience.
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