Leadership Style of Elon Musk

This report elaborates on the leadership style of Elon Musk, his characteristics, skills, and the consequences of his leadership style. It also discusses whether Elon Musk can be the right person for the electric car company Tesla in the future.

Running head: LEADERSHIP STYLE OF ELON MUSK
Leadership Style of Elon Musk
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
The main purpose of this report is to elaborate on the leadership style of Elon Musk. It
throws light on his characteristics along with the skills that can help in moving the companies
in the forward direction. The report also elucidates on whether Elon Musk can act as the
right person for the electric car company Tesla in the future.

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Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................ 3
Elon Musk as leader and manager.........................................................................................3
Characteristics and the skills of Elon Musk............................................................................4
Consequences of Elon Musk’s Leadership style....................................................................5
Elon Musk and future of Tesla................................................................................................6
Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 6
References............................................................................................................................. 7

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Introduction
Leadership style refers to approach that helps in providing the direction and the
implementation of plan in an organization. It is inclusive of the explicit along with the implicit
actions that are performed by leader. Management style means planning along with the
organization of work that helps in accomplishing objectives in an organization (Bolman and
Deal 2017). Elon Musk is the name of a technology entrepreneur and an engineer. He is the
founder of the company Space X and he is also the product architect of the company called
Tesla Inc. He was ranked as the “World’s Most Powerful People” by the Forbes Magazine in
the year 2016. This report elaborates on how Elon Musk is both a manager and a leader.
The report also discusses about the characteristics along with the skills that have helped
Elon Musk in driving the company in the forward direction. This report also elucidates on the
positive effects that his leadership style has been able to bring on the organizations.
Elon Musk as leader and manager
According to the New York Times, Elon Musk served as the real life model for the
character of Tony Stark who was the superhero of that of “Iron Man” movies. The personal
life of Elon Musk has provided inspiration to many people. Elon Musk was able to earn
degress in the subject of economics along with physics from University of Pennsylvania. He
started Zip 2 that was a publishing business that helped the newspapers in developing the
city directory websites (Vance and Sanders 2015). Elon Musk also founded X.com that was
instrumental in providing the financial services along with the payment with the help of e-
mail. Elon Musk started the rocket company by the name of Space X so that the people can
be send to the Mars that is essential for survival of human race. He is the CEO of Tesla who
oversees the aspects of the product design along with the engineering of the electric
vehicles of the company (Kessler 2015). The mission of the company is to make transitions
into that of sustainable energy future.
Elon Musk can be said to be both a successful leader along with a manager as he
was able to bring about changes in the organization that revealed that he has the unique
traits of both leader and that of a manager. He can be said to be an effective leader as he is
transparent and he can keep the employees personally engaged. He can move his teams in
the forward direction that showed that he has the capabilities of a successful leader. A good
ability of being a leader is being able to lead without any kind of fear (Vance 2015). Elon
Musk displays these admirable quality that has enabled him in becoming popular among the
employees. He does not get moved by the opinions and the views of the other people that
has helped him in becoming the strong leader who can take steps for the progression of his
company (Tannenbaum and Schmidt 2017). Democratic leadership needs collaborative

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energy along with the aspect of delegation of the responsibilities that can help in the
development of an organization. Elon Musk had the elements of the democratic leadership
that helped him in making the decisions and cultivating the participation of the employees in
an organization. Elon Musk knew when to act and mediate the conflict that helped him in
synthesizing talent of the members of the team. Elon Musk has been able to achieve
success as leader as he has always been transparent about the current state of his
company. Elon Musk puts the messages directly to the people and not with the help of the
PR campaigns. Elon Musk treats the employees to be valuable and he feels the stress that
his employees feel within the organization. Elon Musk can be said to be a manager who is
successful as he removes any kind of separation that exists between him and the employees
(Antonakis and Day 2017). Elon Musk puts himself in the production line of Tesla so that he
can solve the problems in the organization in the personal manner. He is always keen to
listen to the problems that the employees have that helps his company in solving the major
problems. He leads from that of front lines that has been able to put Elon Musk in the
successful managerial position. Musk also responds to the questions along with the
complaints on the platform of the social media that has made him a successful manager.
Characteristics and the skills of Elon Musk
Elon Musk possess distinct characteristics along with the skills that has helped in
driving the companies in the forward direction. Elon Musk has the intuition along with the
judgement that has helped him in improving the surroundings of the company.
Transformational leader helps in navigating the organization so that the organization
undergoes improvement by bringing about changes to the thoughts, procedures along with
cultures within an organization. Elon Musk showed the traits of that of the transformational
leadership style as he was able to lead with the help of example. Elon Musk challenged the
old way of doing the things so that it can pave the way for more efficient strategies in the
organization. He works for the future improvement of his companies and he does not deviate
himself from the mission (Shamir and Eilam-Shamir 2018). Elon Musk has the
characteristics of being self-driven that helps him in propelling the companies in forward
direction. Elon Musk have the determination that helps in taking courageous steps in spite of
failure taking place in the organization. Tesla Motor was unable to achieve production
deadline for that of Tesla Roadster and the company was almost near bankruptcy but Elon
Musk refused to submit to the circumstances. Elon Musk was able to find investors that
helped in the survival of Tesla. Elon Musk put all the stakes on that of mortgage that helped
him in avoiding bankruptcy. Elon Musk has the skill of creativity that helped him in starting
the ambitious projects that helps in revolutionizing industry (Klenke 2016). Elon Musk also
has the ability of learning the new things that helped him in gaining considerable knowledge

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in relation to programming and physics. It has helped the entrepreneur in succeeding in the
business environment of the present age.
Elon Musk also has the skill of turning the vision into the reality that has helped him
in achieving success in relation to the various business. Elon Musk has the skill of sharing
the vision with the team that makes the people believe in the projects. Elon Musk has made
concept of the Hyperloop which has been taken up by various countries like the UAE along
with Sweden. Elon Musk has the skill of the innovation that has helped Hyperloop in
becoming popular and it has made the process of distant travelling easier. Elon Musk has
the ambitious personality that has helped him in making the innovations that can help in
making the world a better place. Elon Musk is possessed with the skill of inspiring the target
audience with the help of creation of brand awareness. This has helped Tesla in evolving as
best electric car within market. Elon Musk has ensured the fact that the brand is available
everywhere by making the charging stations (Grint et al. 2016). He has succeeded in
providing the wall chargers that have high power in the hotels, restaurants and the shopping
malls that has helped in the recognition of the brand across the world. The name of Elon
Musk is synonymous with that of the new projects on that of the regular basis. Elon Musk
has made projects like Solar City that has grown to become largest electricity provider for
the people of North America. Elon Musk is also endowed with the skill of motivating
workforce that helps in retaining the best talent of the industry. Elon Musk not only hires best
people from the various countries by providing lucrative salary but he provides them with the
facilities that helps in the retention of those employees in the company.
Consequences of Elon Musk’s Leadership style
The leadership style of Elon Musk has been able to bring benefits for the company
but in the event of taking his leadership far it can have bad consequences on the company.
Elon Musk has the ability of recruiting the top talent in the organization and the corporate
career of Elon Musk brings out various great accomplishments. Elon Musk has shown
commitment along with perseverance in relation to the various endeavours (Vance and Musk
2015). He can act as a dynamic leader and adapt himself in the changing environment. He is
charismatic and very forceful in relation to the public communication. Elon Musk lays more
stress on his self-interest instead of that of the customer that can have negative
consequences in the long run. Elon Musk has a lot of imagination but sometimes it bears
negative consequences on the employees of his organization. Elon Musk has displayed
enormous amount of confidence and his comments have proved to be injurious for the
reputation of his organization (Northouse 2017). The risks that have been taken by Elon
Musk have proved to be harmful for the company.

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Elon Musk has laid so much attention on the element of profit that he has ignored the
heath of his workers that would cost his company. The safety of the workers would be
undermined by the leader that can lead to decline in the profits that is made by the company.
Elon Musk is innovative but his tendency of innovation can make him commit mistakes that
can prove to be disastrous for the reputation of his company (Renko et al. 2015). Elon Musk
likes to take chances and he operates on that of leading edge that can cost the fortunes of
his company. He makes visions for his organizations but for his visions to become valid it
should be supported by the environmental conditions (Holten and Brenner 2015). The team
of Elon Musk can fail to realize the vision of Elon Musk that can act as a deterrent for the
revenue earned by the company.
Elon Musk and future of Tesla
Elon Musk can be right person for the electric car company Tesla in the times ahead
and he would be able to develop the company with the help of his unique characteristics
along with innovative leadership style. Tesla can be said to be a young company which is
navigating its way so that it can reach the pinnacle of success. Elon Musk can help the
company in the setting of the strategic goals that can pave the path for success of the
company. Musk can help in devising strategies that can fuel success of the company Tesla
(Roach 2017). Tesla is crucial for future of that of sustainable transport along with the energy
generation. Tesla can accelerate advent of the sustainable transport and it can do that only
with the help of able leadership of Elon Musk (Iqbal, Anwar and Haider 2015). Elon Musk
knows about the significance of alternative methods of the mass transportation in the
present age and this can seal the future of Tesla.
Conclusion
Leadership style is indicative of approach that can implement plan within an
organization. Elon Musk acts as both successful leader and a manager because he brought
about the changes that showed that he had unique traits of leader and a manager. Elon
Musk was effective owing to is transparent policies that kept the employees engaged in an
organization. Elon Musk was able to guide the teams that exhibited that he had the
capabilities of the successful leader. Elon Musk had the quality of intuition that proved to be
helpful for improving surroundings. The old manner of doing the things was challenged by
Elon Musk that paved the path for the effective strategies in organization. He always
focusses on mission of company that helped in the growth of his companies. Elon Musk was
right person for Tesla as he helped in development of company by dint of his leadership
style.

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References
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Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Grint, K., Jones, O.S., Holt, C. and Storey, J., 2016. What is leadership. The Routledge
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Holten, A.L. and Brenner, S.O., 2015. Leadership style and the process of organizational
change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(1), pp.2-16.
Iqbal, N., Anwar, S. and Haider, N., 2015. Effect of leadership style on employee
performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5), pp.1-6.Kessler,
A.M., 2015. Elon musk says self-driving tesla cars will be in the us by summer. The New
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Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk. Benbella Books.
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