"Musk Biography" did not disappoint me. Its author, Isaacson, is a well-known American biographer and has also written "The Biography of Steve Jobs."
Walter Isaacson was no ordinary person who could write a biography. When Jobs first asked Isaacson to write a biography of him, he was rejected.
01 The history of Apple
That was 2004. The only achievements that Jobs could achieve at that time were Mac computers, iPods and Pixar. Products such as iPhone and iPad that pushed Apple to its peak were far from being released. Isaacson felt that Jobs was "unworthy" and told him that he would be fine by the time he retired. However, in 2009, when Isaacson learned that Jobs had been suffering from cancer for many years (Jobs was preparing to undergo surgery when he called Isaacson in 2004), he quickly began interviewing for the biography.
Walter Isaacson / Baidu Encyclopedia
So, is Musk "worthy" today?
Isaacson once commented on Musk, "In some ways, he is the Steve Jobs of our time." The cover of "Musk Biography" clearly states - "Elon Musk personally participated and publicly recommended". Extreme praise + personal seal will inevitably make people worry about whether this book will become a "big soft article" of nearly 600 pages. Friends who often deal with words should know that it is not necessarily a good thing for your work to be recognized by the person you are writing for, because you are probably not standing on an independent stand. However, Isaacson had already thought of this. Neither Jobs nor Musk "reviewed" their biographies - that is, read them before they were officially published. Not being reviewed (and revised) is a rare freedom for creators. If this kind of freedom is used properly, what is written is a flesh-and-blood "human story" rather than a superior "god's epic".
Fortunately, "The Biography of Musk" and "The Biography of Steve Jobs" are about "human stories." After reading, you can see their genius side and their "devil" side.
02 The achievements of Musk and Jobs
Their common identity is "entrepreneur". Entrepreneurs realize their ideals by creating products and running companies. Some entrepreneurs are far-sighted, able to see the future, and promote innovation by taking over the overall situation; some entrepreneurs focus on details, demand perfection, and create extraordinary works with the heart of a craftsman. There is no doubt that both Musk and Jobs have these two qualities. They are ideal but not utopian, and they are focused on the present without losing sight of the future.
Jobs' talent was mainly displayed through two companies, one is Apple and the other is Pixar. His most remarkable products include:
Apple II and Mac. Apple Ⅱ was launched in 1977. Jobs and his partner Woz created it together. This series sold nearly 6 million units in total, which greatly promoted the development of the personal computer industry. The Mac was launched in 1984 and reappeared in 1998 after being reformed by Jobs. It popularized the graphical user interface and triggered a home computer revolution.
iPod and iTunes Store. iPod is a music player launched in 2001, and iTunes is a music store launched in 2003. These two products have changed the way people consume music and opened the door to Apple's content and application ecosystem.
iPhone and App Store. The smart phone iPhone released in 2007 completely amazed the world. The gradual growth of the App Store has turned the iPhone into an omnipotent treasure chest, from which both users and application developers continue to benefit.
iPad. The iPad released in 2010 ushered in the highlight era of tablet computers.
Pixar. In 1986, Jobs invested US$10 million to acquire an animation film team and established Pixar; in 2006, Pixar was acquired by Disney for US$7.4 billion. During this period, Pixar created a series of masterpieces such as "Toy Story" and became "the most successful independent film studio in history."
It can be said that Jobs brought disruptive changes to industries such as personal computers, music, mobile phones, tablets, and animated films, and changed the lifestyles of hundreds of millions of people. Without Jobs, these exciting products would have been years late.
Now that Steve Jobs has passed away, many achievements can be concluded, but Musk is still in his prime, and the businesses he is involved in are too complex, and most of them are difficult to conclude. Musk’s most outstanding products at present are mainly:
1. Falcon Rocket. Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 and successfully launched its first rocket in 2008. SpaceX has now achieved great success, achieving achievements that many national space agencies have never achieved, and opening a new era of space exploration.
2. Tesla Motors. Tesla was established in 2003. Musk entered the company as an investor in 2004 and gradually led the company's development. With the launch of Model 3 (released in 2016) and Model Y (released in 2019), Tesla Motors has become the best-selling electric vehicle in the world, greatly accelerating the electrification process of the automobile industry.
Other businesses founded or managed by Musk, some of which are less conspicuous in terms of achievements, some have just begun, some have not yet been resolved, and some are quite controversial, are listed below:
3. Solar power generation and energy storage business. SolarCity was founded in 2006. The idea and funding came from Musk, and the operator is his cousin. In 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity for US$2.6 billion and integrated it with its energy storage business Powerwall. The vision of clean energy is great, but the current business is not going well.
4. Starlink. In 2015, SpaceX announced the Starlink project, with the aim of developing a "global satellite Internet system" and "providing high-speed Internet services to everyone in the world." Starlink will show its talents in local geopolitical conflicts in 2022. However, due to issues such as cost and space pollution, Starlink has not been used on a large scale and has been controversial.
5. Zip2 and X.com. These are Musk's first two entrepreneurial projects. The network software company Zip2 was acquired for US$307 million. The online payment company X.com merged with Confinity and was renamed PayPal. It was later acquired by eBay for US$1.5 billion. Musk made his first pot of gold from these two projects and had the capital to try to launch the rocket.
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Musk
6. Others. Twitter, Musk acquired Twitter for US$44 billion in 2022, and subsequently carried out drastic reforms (now renamed X.com). OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company that developed ChatGPT, was one of the founders and early donors, but Musk later withdrew. Hyperloop, a company manufacturing floating high-speed train systems. Boring Company, tunnel construction company. Neuralink, a neurotechnology and brain-computer interface company. xAI, an artificial intelligence company that competes with OpenAI. It’s too early to say whether these careers will be successful, but they all look interesting.
Of course, comparisons of Jobs' and Musk's career achievements are inconclusive. The two of them have their own achievements and different styles. Bill Gates once said: "Musk is an engineer with strong hands-on ability, while Jobs is a genius in design, talent selection and marketing."
They are like two bright stars in the sky of this era, each emitting their own light.
03 The Commons of theirs
There must be something in common that set Musk and Jobs on the same path to success.
Looking through their stories, I drew some similarities:
1. Received entrepreneurial enlightenment early.
When Jobs was in high school, he met Woz, a technical genius. They both liked tinkering with electronic products. Later, the two made a "blue box" together, which could be used to make free calls (strictly speaking, this was "theft"), and sold almost 100 units, making a small fortune. The blue box established their cooperation model-Woz was responsible for inventing products, and Jobs made the products Woz invented better and sold them. Steve Jobs once said that without the blue box, there would be no Apple. Later, the two of them joined a computer enthusiasts' club together, where Woz came up with the idea of creating a "personal computer" and built it with Jobs.
Musk has been fond of science fiction, games and programming since he was a child. He went to Canada from South Africa, and then from Canada to the United States to attend college and pursue his American dream. During college, he was full of interest in researching electric vehicles and rocket manufacturing, and several internship experiences made him He further strengthened his belief.
2. Get on the venture capital bandwagon.
When starting a business in the high-tech field, it is unrealistic to rely on the money you earn to snowball development because the initial investment is too large and the competition is fierce.
After Jobs and Woz made the Apple II computer, they had no money to mass-produce it, so Jobs went to Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital for financing, and Valentine introduced him to the young millionaire Mike Markkula. . Markkula eventually joined Jobs and Woz with $250,000 and turned Apple into a normal company. Later, they attracted new and important investors.
During the Internet wave, Musk and his brother Kimball wrote a program that combined maps with business directories and received $3 million in venture capital. The company they founded, called Zip2, began recruiting employees and expanding its business.
3. Get kicked out of the company and make the first pot of gold.
One thing investors often like to do is to introduce mature managers into the company to replace the young founders.
Because Jobs was both domineering and immature in management, Markkula quickly asked him to hand over control of the company. Later, Jobs lost control of Apple's next-generation computer, Lisa, but he exerted his power after taking over the fringe project Mac. showed his extraordinary talent. Interestingly, John Sculley, whom Steve Jobs hired from Pepsi-Cola, drove him out of Apple a few years later with the phrase "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to have a chance to change the world?"
In 1984, Apple Computer launched a new portable computer. Apple President John Sculley, accompanied by Apple co-founders Steve Jobs (left) and Steve Wozniak (right), address more than 3,000 dealers and software vendors at Moscone Center Industry representatives present/Visual China
The story is very similar. Not long after receiving venture capital, Musk's position changed from CEO to CTO. Later, Zip2 was sold for US$307 million. The same was true for the second company Musk founded immediately, the online financial company X.com. Not long after receiving investment from Sequoia Capital, Musk changed from CEO to chief product officer. Later, Musk squeezed out the company's CEO, but it wasn’t long before he was kicked out of X.com by the board of directors. The reason is simply that his rude and rude management style is unacceptable to employees and shareholders.
The subsequent success of Jobs and Musk added a positive footnote to these cruel experiences. Many agree that being kicked out of the company made Jobs wiser and more mature. So does Musk.
However, Jobs made more than $100 million by selling his shares after being driven out of Apple, and Musk's two projects brought him $22 million and $250 million respectively. Two frustrated billionaires are not losers.
4. Create a business that truly belongs to you.
Jobs did not spend too much money after he got rich. He always advocated a simple and refined life. Musk was different in the early days. After receiving $22 million, he very generously gave $1 million to his mother and $300,000 to his father, buying a mansion and a $1 million McLaren sports car. What they have in common is that after enjoying the short-term changes brought about by wealth, they all decided to put most of the money they earned into the next adventure, an adventure completely under their own control.
Jobs founded the NeXT company and designed the NeXT computer exactly according to his own ideas. Musk turned his attention to his favorite space field, and came up with the idea of "colonizing Mars" and launching rockets into space. Musk originally wanted to buy two old rockets from the Russians, but when the negotiation failed, he simply decided to build them himself. So, SpaceX was established.
The two young entrepreneurs with free wealth soon enjoyed the pleasure of doing whatever they wanted, but they were also destined to fall into the trap unearthed by them. It allows them to grow, and keeping growing is a prerequisite for greatness.
5. Become an investor
With a huge amount of money in hand, Jobs took a fancy to the animation department of Lucasfilm, which was seeking to be sold. It eventually cost $10 million to acquire and establish Pixar. Pixar has three businesses, graphics computers, rendering software, and animated short films. Jobs didn't want Pixar to serve only the professional market; he wanted Pixar's computers and software to attack the mass market. Jobs was later proven wrong.
Eberhard registered Tesla and wanted to produce electric cars, but he had no funds. After introducing his vision to Musk in the SpaceX office, Eberhard received a $6.4 million investment from Musk, and Musk became the chairman of Tesla. Like Jobs, Musk made critical and tinkering changes to Tesla's first sports car (they planned to build a dazzling sports car first, and then turn it to the mass market), which ultimately caused costs to soar and delivery to be delayed. Harder left due to disagreements with Musk, and Musk took over Tesla himself. Fortunately, after the Roadster sports car was released, the response was pretty good.
Jobs' role at Pixar was completely different from that at Apple and NeXT. Especially in the later stages, Jobs was a layman when it came to the production of animated films, so he learned to play the role of standing behind the professionals to provide support, rather than doing things. All decisions are made by himself, no matter how big or small. This is of great significance to him once again leading Apple in the future. Musk continued to learn from Tesla's early experience and realized that although it caused constant problems, he was the best engineer and he must be at the steering wheel, not anyone else.
6. Experiencing the darkest moments
After letting themselves go, they all ran into big trouble.
Jobs's plan for the NeXT computer was so unreasonable that the shipping date was significantly delayed, and there was little money left. Jobs could only seek investment again. It took 4 years for the NeXT computer to come out, but because the price was too high and the functions were not innovative, the response was mediocre. NeXT later simply gave up manufacturing hardware and only made operating systems, which ran counter to Jobs' original philosophy. He was disappointed.
All three of Pixar's businesses were losing money and were in financial trouble. Jobs had already invested nearly $50 million in total, so Pixar could only carry out major layoffs. Both hardware and software failed, and Jobs could only hope that Pixar could create a great animated work.
SpaceX is experiencing constant ups and downs. In the fourth year of its establishment, the Falcon rocket was tested for the first time and failed. In the fifth year of its establishment, the second test launch failed. In the sixth year of its establishment, the third test launch failed. Musk has spent all his money, but he is not ready to give up. He is still going all out to prepare for the fourth test launch.
On Tesla's side, Musk realized that it is easy to design a car, but difficult to build it. Tesla's supply chain is very unstable and its funds are stretched thin. They even misappropriated the deposits paid by customers for the Roadster. Musk borrowed money from everywhere, and his friends persuaded him to sell one of his two companies, but he refused.
Whether it is Jobs or Musk, in a career that is completely dominated by themselves, difficulties can only be overcome by themselves.
7. Welcome victory
Fate did not let them lose everything, and even gave them some good luck.
While the NeXT computer was not progressing smoothly, Apple's market share, led by Sculley, was also constantly losing and was already on the verge of collapse. Apple's new CEO, who succeeded Sculley, urgently needs a new operating system to save Apple. So Apple acquired NeXT again. Jobs was able to return to Apple and gradually take charge. His glorious story has continued since then, transforming Apple, updating Mac, launching iPod, iTunes Store, iPhone, App Store, and iPad. Since then, Jobs and Apple have been almost invincible and moving forward.
After "Toy Story", a collaboration between Pixar and Disney, became an instant success, it launched a series of masterpieces such as "Toy Story 2" and "Finding Nemo". The success of Pixar forced Disney to acquire it to get out of the creative troubles it was in. The acquisition price was US$7.4 billion. After the transaction was completed, Jobs became Disney's largest shareholder. He gained both fame and fortune.
The rocket finally took off. SpaceX’s fourth launch was successful and it quickly won a $1.6 billion NASA contract. Musk began to implement his grand plan to launch larger rockets, recyclable rockets, and manned rockets. Success becomes the norm and failure is rare.
Tesla, which almost went bankrupt, received a series of life-saving investments, launched Model S and Model X, and established its own battery factory and automobile manufacturing plant. Although Tesla was once deeply involved in a mass production crisis after the launch of Model 3, these setbacks were more like happy troubles - there were too many orders and delivery could not keep up. Nothing can easily destroy this company. In 2022, Tesla sold 1.31 million vehicles, and its market value exceeded US$1 trillion at its peak, far exceeding all automobile companies.
Although these similarities in the stories of Jobs and Musk may not be the standard path for genius to succeed, the underlying principles may be worth learning from. They all had career ideals early on, and even knew what role they wanted to play; they all made good use of the help of venture capital, and also bore the consequences of losing power and learned lessons from it; after they obtained the first pot of gold in their lives, , instead of settling for life, they used it to chase dreams that were completely under their own control; willfulness brought setbacks, and setbacks brought reflection. They overcame and they grew; they finally learned how to truly change the world, and finally did it.
Geniuses are all alike.
04 The key traits led to Succeed
What are the key traits that have been consistent throughout the lives of Jobs and Musk and helped them succeed?
1. Focus on products
The purpose of a company's existence is to serve its own products. No matter how big the company is, no matter how much personal wealth they have, Jobs and Musk have not devoted their personal time and energy to enjoying a luxurious life, nor have they become managers who are only willing to point fingers behind the scenes and scratch their own problems. Instead, they focus on product details from start to finish.
For example, in products such as Mac, iPod, and iPhone, Jobs was involved in every detail, whether it was the materials and appearance of the hardware, or the functions and interfaces of the software, and he always put forward extremely strict design requirements. His colleagues complained about this. . Sometimes Jobs' orders were wrong, but that didn't stop him from continuing to exercise almost crazy control over products. Packaging, marketing, and other aspects of displaying products, he did not miss at all. His perfectionism makes Apple's products almost works of art and has a religious appeal.
So does Musk. Tesla's first car put forward surprisingly stringent requirements for the body, doors, door handles, headlights, and dashboard, which made the cost of this car significantly increased and production difficult. When asked why he cared about every tiny curve, Musk said he just wanted the car to "stun the world." When Tesla Model 3 had production capacity problems, Musk went to the factory to supervise and improve the production process. For the rocket, he questioned the procurement of every component, and decided that SpaceX would have to make those components whose prices were obviously unreasonable by itself. When some materials cracked, Musk even used glue to glue them himself.
After acquiring Twitter in 2022, the man who was already the world's richest man spent day and night dealing with subtle but difficult problems. He turned a sofa in Twitter's office into his own bed. This guy isn't putting on a show, he's really solving problems, and he really (not entirely) understands them.
Musk enters Twitter headquarters (top);
Musk comes to the coffee shop on the 9th floor (bottom)
2. Pursue simplicity
Great entrepreneurs always find simple answers to complex problems.
The electronic products created by Apple are all very "easy to use" and "simple". For example, Apple computers have popularized user-friendly graphical interfaces into industry standards. For example, the iPhone has eliminated physical keyboards. One small thing that made Jobs proud was that a child who had never used a smart device picked up an iPad and knew how to use it intuitively. The same is true in company management. After Jobs returned to Apple, he immediately cut off 70% of its product lines. The pursuit of simplicity means putting user needs and experience first. Under this concept, everyone will be required to eliminate noise and focus on creating excellent products.
In the manufacturing industry, Musk has done more thoroughly. Whether it was a rocket or a car, he asked everyone to question every requirement and the only thing to abide by were the "rules of physics." So he frantically cut off many unnecessary (or less necessary) components and processes, even if those things existed to ensure safety. Musk summarized a "five-step working method". After you have questioned, you must start deleting "everything you can delete." Of course, some things may have to be picked up in the end. If not enough is picked up, then delete it. Not enough. For rockets and cars, the benefits of pursuing simplicity are obvious - this will significantly reduce production costs and improve production efficiency. Therefore, the rockets and cars made by Musk are excellent and cost-effective products. Of course, some people will complain that they are simple and not luxurious enough. The interiors of Tesla cars often receive such comments.
3. Ultimate control
Both Jobs and Musk are trying their best to control the manufacturing process and upstream and downstream ecology of products.
Jobs learned early on that people who value software should build their own hardware. Therefore, what Apple has been doing is innovation in the integration of software and hardware. Apple will not open its operating system to others like Microsoft or Google. Some people criticized him for being closed-minded, but Jobs believed that only by being closed-minded can he create great products. Today, Windows and Android occupy the vast majority of the market share, but Apple's products gain the most reputation and profits.
After rocket parts were too expensive and he felt the suppliers were "too shady," Musk asked SpaceX to manufacture more and more parts themselves, which greatly reduced their costs. He also went against the trend in the production of Tesla cars. Globalization has caused many American companies to close their factories and allocate orders overseas. But Musk wanted to keep control of the manufacturing process firmly in his hands, so he built his own factory. For an electric vehicle, the importance of batteries is self-evident, so Musk boldly built his own battery factory. The following story proves that this approach is very wise.
Extreme control over all aspects of product manufacturing may not be economical in the short term, but it is crucial to creating excellent products. It’s also more profitable in the long run.
4. Only use geniuses
In Jobs's black-and-white view, his colleagues were either geniuses or idiots, and their work was either top-notch or terrible.
Jobs believed that top talents only want to work with top talents, and mediocre people should not work with them. He is eager for talents, although sometimes he makes mistakes, such as poaching Sculley, a Coke seller, to become Apple's CEO. But overall, he's very good at finding those really top talents and making them work for him. For example, Jobs was extremely accomplished in marketing. Apple's famous "1984" and "Think Different" ads were produced by the same excellent advertising agency. He was willing to continue to cooperate with these top talents. For another example, after founding NeXT, the first thing Jobs did was to spend $100,000 to ask Paul Rand, a 71-year-old design master at the time, to design a logo for NeXT.
"1984" Advertisement
Interestingly, Isaacson, the author of "The Biography of Steve Jobs," felt when Jobs asked him to write his biography that Jobs had not read his work. So why is Steve Jobs so persistent? The reason may be that when it comes to unfamiliar fields, Jobs always likes to ask - who are the top talents in this field? Someone must have told him that Isaacson was the best biographer.
Musk also attaches great importance to recruiting people. He personally interviewed the first 1,000 employees of SpaceX. The early team was almost an all-star lineup, and most of them came from large aerospace companies or top scientific research institutions. However, he most likes people who can solve problems. He said that "people who really solve problems can tell all the details." Apart from SpaceX and Tesla, Musk's business is very extensive. Without the help of top talents, Musk is unlikely to drive so many businesses at the same time.
One thing that Jobs and Musk have in common when it comes to hiring people is that they are both strict and even "rough". They often lose their temper over something, complain and criticize their colleagues, and are ready to fire anyone at any time. This makes them wear the hat of "tyrant". But this style also objectively ensures the execution of the personal will of Jobs and Musk, and the company can promptly eliminate those who they consider mediocre.
5. Create a sense of urgency
Jobs would always set unrealistic goals, especially regarding production schedules. The Mac team's T-shirts read "Work 90 hours a week and still have fun doing it!" If someone had told Steve Jobs that it would take 10 days to complete a job, he would have cut it to 5 days (or even less) without even considering it. objective limitations. Sometimes this works well, sometimes it leads to disaster.
Musk is even more "outrageous". When SpaceX co-founder Tom Mueller handed Musk the engine research schedule that had been shortened as required, he immediately said that it would have to be cut in half. The other party said it was impossible, and Musk asked him - you Do you still want to continue to be responsible for the engine? The story of Tesla Motors is roughly similar. When the factory could only produce 2,000 vehicles per week, he boasted to Wall Street that it could produce 5,000 vehicles per week in 2 months. In order to complete this impossible task, Musk entered the factory and took over it personally. Since the assembly line was not enough, he set up a tent in the open space outside to add a new assembly line. Eventually they did. However, Musk has also made mistakes. He clamors every year to achieve fully autonomous driving of Tesla cars, but has never been able to achieve it.
“A crazy sense of urgency is how our company operates,” Musk said.
In fact, these inhumane practices can bring out the potential of everyone, allowing them to achieve goals that were originally thought to be far away in the midst of tension and pain.
Of course, the most important thing is that Jobs and Musk are passionate and never stop. They never rest on their laurels after achieving an achievement. They are non-stop, chasing the next target.
View more at EASELINK
