Elon Musk's Leadership: Theories, Style, and Change Management

This report provides an analysis of Elon Musk's leadership, examining his traits, style, and strategies through the lens of various leadership theories such as the great man theory, trait theory, transformational theory, and situational theory. It explores Musk's achievements as the founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, highlighting his work ethic, risk-taking abilities, and problem-solving skills. The report evaluates both the positive and negative aspects of his leadership, assessing how his strategies have led to change in business performance and the lives of people. It also discusses his ventures like SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company, and his philanthropic foundation, emphasizing his focus on sustainability and innovation. The report concludes by reflecting on Musk's application of leadership theories in converting his ideas into tangible realities.

Makes a Great Leader? (ELON
MUSK)

INTRODUCTION
Great leaders possess a clear vision, courageous and have honesty, humility, integrity and clear
concentration. Moreover, the great leaders assist individuals in reaching its objectives and are not
afraid to recruit persons which could be better than them as well as undertakes pride into
attainment of those they assist along the way (Kolenda, 2021). Leadership is a concept of
stimulating and motivating the individuals to strive harder for the acquisition and
accomplishment of the goals as well as objectives in a timely and proficient manner. The value
and necessity of leadership theories can be derived from the potential idea that it assists in
inspiring and assisting individuals for the achievement of a specific desired outcome (Northouse,
2021). For completion of this report, Elon Musk is chosen which is known to be a great business
leader as well as who is founder and CEO of SpaceX and early investor and CEO of Tesla. He
was born in year 1971. He had a rough childhood wherein he was bullied by his classmates. He
was even beaten up by his class fellows on a regular basis. Although, his school life was very
traumatizing but his passion for technology and books kept him going through the same. Elon’s
first start up named Zip2 was a successful venture which was in partnership with his brother.
Post that, he worked upon several concepts and ventures and then acquired phenomenal and
ground shattering success through his two of the most successful business units i.e. SpaceX and
Tesla Motors. Despite his controversial statements and the media image in the public, he still
continues one of the most influential leader worldwide (Who is Elon Musk, and what made him
big?2020). The topics which are going to be covered in this report are reason behind selection of
great leader according to their achievements. The leadership theories and models such as trait
theory, transformational theory, situational theory, and great man theory are applied to the
chosen leader in order to analyse the leadership quality and competencies of the same. Critical
evaluation of leadership traits and styles along with its positive and negative points. Moreover,
the analyses and critical assessment about the strategies of leadership with appropriate examples
of how the leader has led the change in business performance or lives of the people are also
explained. Apart from this, plan for the leadership of change of an appropriate level of
complexity is also developed in this report.
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MAIN BODY
An effective leader is the one who is responsible to maintain their each and every activity in an
appropriate manner and also pay more attention on their team members so that leader can
improve the performance of their staff members. There are various global leaders are present
who are performing their business activities in an effective way and Elon Musk from one of them
who is performing a prominent role in order to improve the effectiveness of their employees.
Elon Musk is considered as the famous entrepreneur, businessman and a great leader who is
founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla. The main motive to consider this leader is their specific
qualities like work ethic, risk taker, problem solver, ambitious, obsessive. There are various kind
of achievements of Elon Musk are given which can provide the appropriate impact on their
leadership. There are various factors are identified which are demonstrating the effectiveness of
this global leader such as it is identified that Elon Musk has been transforming the IT industry,
Musk took appropriate steps in order to save the environment, Elon Musk had the option to
pursue a successful career in video game production after graduating from university. Elon musk
is a global leader and Musk is mainly famous for their innovativeness and ambition.
Elon Musk is a famous and global leader who are mainly popular for their work ethic and their
innovativeness. Elon musk is the founder of the Tesla and it is considered as his great
achievement. Elon Musk supervises various activities like industrial design, development and
also global manufacturing for the Tesla's electric automobiles, collection of cells & solar energy
products as a co-founder and CEO. As a CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk mainly focused about their
business activities and pay more attention on the expansion of the renewable energy and other
activities since Tesla foundation in the year 2003. There are various activities are performed by
the Elon Musk in order to maintain Tesla performance.
It is analyzed that Elon Musk has been vocal about his specific opposition to fossil energy &
there is no surprise that Elon Musk founded established his own vehicle electric production plan
in the year 2003. Elon Musk has long aspired to transform the way the world thinks about energy
and prepare electric automobiles affordable for average person (Alonso‐Almeida and et.
al.,2017). It is identified that initially his automobiles were only attainable to elite class, with
lowest pricing starting at $80,000. This is also a great achievement for the Elon Musk because he
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combined greenhouse gas savings of 90,000 Tesla cars sold US is around the 33 million pounds.
It is generalized that each Tesla car saves around 650 pounds of greenhouse gas for all those who
drive them in the United States.
Giga factories are also considered as the big achievement for the Elon Musk. His gig factories
are another endeavour that can helpful to push the international firm to go for the direction of the
sustainability energy (Kelly and MacDonald, 2019). It can be determined through the same that
Elon Musk tend to follows situational leadership theory wherein he changes the approach of
leading and managing the work as per a concerned specific situation or consideration. His
leadership style alters on the basis of his operations within a given venture. In order to lead a
venture which is mainly focused upon the elevation and enhancement of the sustainability, it is
necessary for the leader to combat and respond to numerous unexpected and abrupt obstacles in a
potential manner. Therefore, Elon Musk opts of situation leadership in order to overcome the
unpredictable complexities proficiently and productively (4 things Elon Musk can teach us about
effective leadership, 2019). It is analyzed that, these factories are planned to be completely self-
sufficient, using wind and also solar to power them. The goal of these factories is to mass-
produce lithium ion batteries for Tesla's similarly energy-efficient automobiles (Koo and Park,
2018). While the first giga factory was built in Nevada, there is already another in operations in
New York, with ambitions to build more around the globe. The design of these plants resulted in
a 30 percent reduction in the cost of assembly for Tesla batteries. The advantage of mass-
producing these battery packs is that it aids in the mass-production of Tesla vehicles (Lonati,
2020). This lowers the costs & makes them more accessible to a wider range of individuals,
which benefits the environment.
In 2002, Elon Musk founded SpaceX which is famous, an aerospace manufacturer and also space
transport services organisation. This is also containing as his main achievement. There are few
things are involved regarding this achievement which are as follows - It is determined that, the
prospect of the global warming looming, Musk set out specific designs as a backup plan in case
to approach a point of major disaster. SpaceX was founded in 2002 with the specific objective of
assisting mankind in their quest to become a multi-planet civilization (Mwesigwa, Tusiime and
Ssekiziyivu, 2020). One of Musk's greatest ambitions has always been to be able to send humans
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into space and inhabit Mars effectively. After several attempts to launch the Falcon 1 rocket into
orbit, SpaceX ultimately succeeded on the fourth try. Following this triumph, the near-bankrupt
company got attention and support, preventing it from going bankrupt. The next major
achievement came in 2012, when the firm became the first privately owned company to transfer
cargo to and from the Space Station (What is Elon Musk's Starship? 2021).
The boring company is also a great venture led by Elon Musk. Although it began as a side
project, Elon Musk's company, The Boring Company, has enormous plans. The Boring
Company that is focused on innovative modes of transportation has set out to alleviate traffic
congestion in major cities by developing underground options (Sethibe and Steyn, 2017). Rather
than visualizing a future with flying automobiles, Musk contends that tunnels are a preferable
answer due to issues like weather, noise and pedestrian. Because the work is done underground,
it will have no impact on the surrounding community (Why Elon Musk’s Boring Company is
finding that traffic is tough to fix, 2020). Furthermore, it will have little impact on existing city
buildings. Connecting large cities that are reasonably close to each other, such as Los Angeles
and San Francisco, is part of this idea.
Elon Musk has his own foundation on top of it all. Despite the fact that it isn't the most well-
known of his businesses, it continues to do its part to aid the globe. Many of the gifts, which
range from $200k to $600k per year, are used towards disaster relief. Of course, in classic Musk
fashion, many other donations support sustainable energy initiatives, such as the donation of
solar-powered systems around the world and the advancement of science education (How Elon
Musk's secretive foundation hands out his billions, 2019). There are some other achievements
gained by the Elon Musk as a successful leader. Musk is containing good command on various
things like Research and advocacy in the field of renewable energy, Paediatric research, human
space travel research and advocacy Education in science and engineering Humanity will gain
from the production of safe artificial intelligence (The 17 Best Things Elon Musk Believes, 2021).
Elon Musk's success with each one is astounding. Elon Musk has also declined his Tesla pay in
order to devote as much money as possible to the development of electric vehicles.
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Leadership theories and models are extremely significant for leaders in order to maintain a sense
of motivation and drive within their organizational workforce. The application of these theories
can result in achievement of commitment results by the leaders and the organization as a whole.
Elon Musk also relies upon several leadership theories and process in order to covert his ideas
into realties of the present day world.
As per the great man theory, it is very important to improve the greatness and effectiveness of
the leader. On the basis of this theory, it can be determined that great man idea of the leadership
is considered as the specific concept. It is identified that leaders are born not made. Leadership is
a natural trait (Khaliq, Usman and Ahmed, 2021). This type of leader frequently includes
inherent qualities such as intelligence, courage, confidence, insight, and charisma (Sethibe,
2018). This theory is applicable in reference to Elon Musk as it can be stated that he is an
individual who exhibited inherited courage and insightful values from the start of his childhood.
The ill treatment that he went throughout his childhood period depicts the level of persistence
and courage he had within himself. Despite these severe circumstances, he grew up to be an
accomplished innovator, revolutionary, tech – enthusiast (Marasan, 2021). One negative aspect
related to the given context is that the leaders must not make its inherited qualities a weakness
for themselves. In reference to Elon Musk, he could have battled his bullies and let himself out
of his introversion.
The trait theory suggests that leadership can contain certain characteristics and traits which can
useful to make them great leader. Elon Musk also contain specific characteristics which contains
positive and negative impact on his leadership. The major trait showcased by Elon Musk in all of
his decision can be termed as risk taking approach and confidence. He is a man who is un-phased
by the success or failure of his ventures and strive constantly to accomplish his vision and
dreams in the best manner possible. For instance, investing in the electric vehicle was a
supremely risk taking decision back in year 2004 where there was little knowledge and expertise
in regard with the concerned industry (Tesla CEO Elon Musk: The Risk Taker and Money Maker,
2021). But, Elon Musk took the decision to invest within the same and the rest is history. The
existing value and success of the Tesla is living proof of how sheer dedication and belief in a
specific idea or concept can help an individual to acquire global recognition. Elon Musk is an
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impulsive speaker and this can be seen in his interviews and public appearances. This can be
characterized as one of the negative traits of the same as it has led the individuals to get caught
into various issues and controversies in the public domain.
As per the viewpoint of Laurie J Mullins, Transformational leaders can be termed as the
exceptional leaders who have far sighted vision for success. They have tendency to come up with
innovative and non-conventional approaches which can stimulate their growth and need for
recognition in the right direction. These leaders are highly beneficial in the global domain as they
are renowned for catering innovative and creative and offering which satisfies an emerging need
of the customers. Elon Musk has capitalized upon transformational leadership in his business
process in order to heighten the value of his venture within the market environment. He can be
termed as a transformational leader because of his impelling contribution within the electric
vehicle industry. The perseverance and visionary attitude of Elon Musk makes him an incredible
leader to follow as very few individuals can possess the incredible attitude to leading the
ventures like Elon Musk (Hamed, M., 2021). Also, one negative factor which can be drawn can
be stated is the increase in employee burnout. Since, Elon musk believes in constant changes and
development his business practices, it may sometimes not go well with the staff. Hence, it may
result in enhancement of employee burnout.
The situational theory is not mainly concerned about the any specific leaders but it is focusing on
the situations. The situational leadership theory does not refer to a appropriate sort of leader or
suggest that one style is superior to the another. Rather, according to situational theory, the best
form of leader is one who can easily adopt the change and maintain leadership style in every
situation. It is analyzed that Musk react as a strong leader and performer and maintain some
specific activities like commanding, coaching, influencing, participating, delegating, or other
means they deem appropriate. The business decision of Elon Musk can be marked as an evidence
which can state his belief in situational form of leadership. He is a leader who manages and
mitigates the risk existing within competitive market sector through the adoption and
implementation of situational leadership (Archwell and Mason, 2021). For instance, the launch
of gigi factories is relevant example to prove how the increasing demand for sustainability within
the business process and practices has been optimized by Elon Musk in order to drive successful
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results and outcomes with assistance of the concerned initiative in the market. It can be said that
sometime being situational can cause Elon Musk to create severe disruptions within the
management of an organization as the continuous need for adaptability within the employees can
impact their level of productivity within the workplace.
It is necessary for the leaders to adopt the right leadership style in order to improve the business
performance. As per to pick the right leadership style, leaders need to create the distinct culture
because people are very diverse and also facing complexity at their working place (Nellyanti,
et.al 2021). It is identified that culture may not be more beneficial to the company in the long
run. However, if leaders have a clear understanding about the objectives for company then leader
will able to identify the specific skills, personalities and different abilities of the people that
leader need to succeed as well as the management that will help to achieve the business
objectives. There are various leadership style are implementing by the Elon must in order to
change the business performance like supportive leadership style, participative leadership style,
transformational leadership style (Zhao, Hwang and Lee, 2016).
Employees are motivated by their leaders who can put in the place systems and mainly focused
at maximizing employees’ capabilities, utilizing organizational resources & providing the right
direction to the business performance (Siyal, et.al, 2021). Elon musk adopts motivation strategy
in order to maintain the change process to improve the change process and increase the business
performance. Motivation can provide the favorable and also significant impacts on each and
every employee (Tafvelin and Stenling, 2021). In order to maintain motivational activities, Musk
adopts some specific leadership styled like transformational and Laissez-faire style on
motivation were discovered.
Communication is considered as the most appropriate strategy for the leadership which can
helpful to enhance the business performance via following proper communication channel (Yue,
Men and Berger, 2021). It's usually beneficial to establish which components of each leadership
model will encourage the type of culture and achievement that want firm to have for successful
implementation of leadership ideals. Different mixes of leadership principles will provide the
benefit to the organisation that are why it's critical to be flexible in trying something new and
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evaluating their short-term performance in terms of work atmosphere, employee retention, and
income produced (Tuleja, 2021).
Leadership is considered as the group of individuals or person ability for influencing as well as
guiding followers. Moreover, the leadership have to fulfil various key responsibilities and roles
in order to attain success. Additionally, with effective leadership roles and responsibilities,
leaders may develop a vision as well as encourage individuals to form it a reality. In addition to
this, they also have the ability to motivate all for attaining its objectives (Hiebert and Klatt,
2021). There are various personal abilities that are required to fulfil the key leadership
accountabilities and roles in respect of developed style of leadership.
Interpersonal skills can consider to be effective personal abilities for fulfilling the leadership
responsibilities and roles (Karnes, F.A. and Bean, S.M., 2021). As through this, I able to
communicate with others into various ways, from transmitting information to motivating others
by directing them. Additionally, this personal ability of mine assists me in implementing
effectiveness within my area of work. I believe that in in absence of this leadership quality, I
may find it difficult to play the several roles and accountabilities of leadership that are guiding
and directing of individuals and others.
Respect, this is also considered as the essential personal abilities which are helpful for me in
accomplishing the roles and responsibilities of leadership. Treating individuals with regards upon
regular basis is one of the vital abilities that a good leader must adopt to (Lian, E., 2021).
Additionally, this helps me to ease disputes as well as tensions, develops faith, as well as
improve effectiveness.
Courage, it is also known to be the vital personal ability that leaders should have. It may be
harder to speak up in front of others, voice a new idea, facilitates feedback to other or flag
concern for all others (Tilghman-Havens, 2021). Instead of obviating issues or enabling disputes
to fester, this specific quality enables me to step up as well as shift things into appropriate
directions. Therefore, it can be stated that various personal abilities support me in fulfilling the
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leadership responsibilities and roles to attain success. In addition to this, in absence of these
quality, I might lack the proficiency to perform all their accountabilities effectively.
Change leadership is undertaken as the competency for influencing as well as motivating action
into others as well as reacts with vision and agility at the period of development, uncertainty or
disruption for bringing out the changes which are required (Asbari, Hidayat and Purwanto,
2021). Moreover, the execution of the leadership of change may develop various positive
impacts upon team members or other individuals and also assists in reaching the ultimate
objectives. Such as, in case any problem arises, I must be able to use change leadership to
resolve them. In order to do the same, a specific change plan must be taken into consideration.
Establishing a clear vision is the first and foremost step in order to manage a change. For dealing
with the various complexities, 1 have to develop a clear vision which can be shared with team
members in such a manner which is both motivating as well as understandable. A clear vision
will help me to direct my group members about the specific goals in a considerate manner. feel
that clear and set vision results in achievement of the desired outcomes in outstanding manner.
Thus, I will make my team members understand about the vision of the change through a clear,
precise and structured approach. (Onyeneke and Abe, 2021).
Leveraging the change management timeline is the next time which will be considered by me.
The change is a kind of journey which needs a strategy before, during and after execution. I will
have to undertake numerous effective steps for the same. Before the change and for the initiative
of change, I need to focus upon the problems that my followers are facing before adopting
change (Ford, et.al, 2021). For it, I will set effective goals which are related to change initiatives.
During the change, I will conduct a meeting and emphasize aspects which have to be performed
by my team members in order to enhance the progress. After the change, I will reinforce the
goals with assistance of effective evaluation and ensure that the changes are performed
appropriately (Painter, 2021).
The support the team members is crucial in order to lead change. For obtaining the support as
well as commitment from my team members, I will try to utilise the various change management
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strategies for mitigating emotions such as resistance and fear (Ali and Anwar, 2021). For
instance, I will focus upon providing training to my group members for respective change. It is
prominent to ensure an effective two-way communication when implementing a change process.
It is highly necessary monitor information various times to attain sustainable change. Also, the
possibility of leadership change management success is huge when team members provide
opportunities for communicating with others (Jacobsen, 2021).
I will ensure that smooth two-way communication process is carried out among the entire group.
I will provide opportunity to every group member to come up to me and facilitate their
feedbacks. I will try my best to hear out their concerns and queries properly and would work to
resolve the same in the best of my ability. Necessary focus needs to be provided to skill
development as well. At the time of change, I will facilitate much needed training about the
changes to the team members and execute a reinforcement strategy which promotes an actual
time and continuous learning. This in turn will support me and group members to combat
complexities which arises during the executions of roles and responsibilities (Daniel, 2021).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded that great leader plays essential role within this competitive world. The
main reason behind this is that their characteristics assists individuals in reaching its objectives
and is not afraid to recruit persons which could be better than them as well as undertakes pride
into attainment of those they assist along the way. In addition to this, there are various leadership
style are implementing by the Elon must in order to change the business performance like
supportive leadership style, participative leadership style, transformational leadership style. Also,
the importance of the strategies of leadership are more because it helpful to improve the
effectiveness of the leaders and improve the performance of the business. There are some
leadership strategies are implementing by the Elon Musk. Moreover, various personal abilities
that are required to fulfil the key leadership accountabilities and roles in respect of developed
style of leadership are communication, respect and so on. Apart from this, leadership of change
is essential during complexity as it is the competency for influencing as well as motivating action
into others as well as reacts with vision and agility at the period of development, uncertainty or
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disruption for bringing out the changes which are required. Moreover, the executing the
leadership of change may develops various positive impacts upon team members or other
individuals and also assists in reaching their objectives.
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