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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Ashlee Vance
Read between
August 28 - September 9, 2018
One thing that Musk holds in the highest regard is resolve, and he respects people who continue on after being told no.
This group tends to be a mix of Ayn Rand devotees and engineer absolutists who see their hyperlogical worldviews as the Answer for everyone.
Where Mark Zuckerberg wants to help you share baby photos, Musk wants to … well … save the human race from self-imposed or accidental annihilation.
replied. “I was just going to send out an e-mail. We’re fucking
“He does what he wants, and he is relentless about it. It’s Elon’s world, and the rest of us live in it.”
his rapidly inflating ambition. This left Musk searching for an
Fricker would not be the last person to accuse Musk of overhyping products and playing the public, although whether this is a flaw or one of Musk’s great talents as a businessman is up for debate.
Musk rarely lets a slight go unpunished.
Musk insists that the historical record reflect his take on events. “He comes from the school of thought in the public relations world that you let no inaccuracy go uncorrected,” said Vince Sollitto, the former communications chief at PayPal. “It sets a precedent, and you should fight every out-of-place comma tooth and nail. He takes things very personally and usually seeks war.”
he had succeeded to a large degree despite himself.
While others tried to wrap their heads around the Internet’s implications, Musk had already set off on a purposeful plan of attack.
He exhibited a deep insight into human nature that helped his companies pull off exceptional marketing, technology, and financial feats.
Did he hype things up and rub people the wrong way? Absolutely—and with spectacular results.
The founders of start-ups as varied as YouTube, Palantir Technologies, and Yelp all worked at PayPal.
This collection of super-bright employees has become known as the PayPal Mafia—more or less the current ruling class of Silicon Valley—and Musk is its most famous and successful member.
History has demonstrated that while Musk’s goals can sound absurd in the moment, he certainly believes in them and, when given enough time, tends to achieve them.
“We fought a lot, but when we weren’t fighting, there was a deep sense of compassion—a bond,” Justine said. The couple had been sparring for a few days about phone calls Justine kept getting from an ex-boyfriend—“Elon didn’t like that”—and had a major spat while walking near the X.com offices.
“Money is not his motivation, and, quite frankly, I think it just happens for him,”
Musk said. “That’s my lesson for taking a vacation: vacations will kill you.”
ELON MUSK TURNED thirty in June 2001, and the birthday hit him hard. “I’m no longer a child prodigy,”
Howard Hughes,
Musk believed that the very idea of America was intertwined with humanity’s desire to explore.
“Southwest Airlines of Space.”
Bowing to his nature, Musk set an insanely ambitious timeline for all of this.
As word of SpaceX’s ambitions spread, top engineers from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Orbital Sciences with a high tolerance for risk fled to the upstart, too.
but he was not alone among this group of young, nimble engineers who crossed disciplines out of necessity and the spirit of adventure.
“A friend of mine wrote to remind me that only 5 of the first 9 Pegasus launches succeeded; 3 of 5 for Ariane; 9 of 20 for Atlas; 9 of 21 for Soyuz; and 9 of 18 for Proton.
“People pay for cool and sexy and an amazing zero-to-sixty time,”
Anyone who tries to build a car company in the United States is quickly reminded that the last successful start-up in the industry was Chrysler, founded in 1925.
“People had been making transmissions since Robert Fulton built the steam engine,”
You have these huge doubts that your life is not working, your car is not working, you’re going through a divorce and all of those things.
The cramped Soyuz capsule that takes people to the space station has mechanical knobs and computer screens that appear unchanged from its inaugural 1966 flight.
“His biggest enemy will be himself and the way he treats people,”
The region is filled with early adopters willing to buy the latest gizmos and suffer through their bugs.
the car as the love child of an Aston Martin and a Maserati.
He will protect those close to him at all costs and, when deemed necessary, seek to destroy those who have wronged him or his friends.
No, Musk just seems to possess a level of conviction that is so intense and exceptional as to be off-putting to some.
