People, Culture, and Contemporary Leadership: An Elon Musk Analysis

This video presentation analyzes the leadership of Elon Musk, focusing on his impact on SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. The presentation begins with a brief introduction to Musk, highlighting his role as CEO of these innovative companies and his significant net worth. It then identifies three key characteristics that contribute to his success: his use of a group think leadership model, his transformational leadership style, and his strong visionary leadership traits. The presentation further explores three key ways to measure Musk's leadership effectiveness, including the application of the group think model, his transformational leadership approach, and the trait theory. Finally, the presentation examines how Musk's leadership has contributed to the success of his organizations, including PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla, highlighting key accomplishments and innovations. The analysis concludes by emphasizing Musk's inspirational leadership style, which fosters a dynamic and effective corporate environment. The presentation references Banks et al. (2016), Early (2017), Kaplananz.zoom.us (2019), Mair (2016), Obschonka and Fisch (2018), Schoemaker et al. (2018), and Välikangas (2018).

Running head: PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Introduction to the leader (30 seconds)
Hello, today we will be analyzing the various aspects that are significantly related to leadership.
Leadership is the value that can essentially determine the success or effectiveness of businesses
in today’s world.
For this we have selected one of the most influential leaders in the world today. Elon Musk is the
chosen leader for understanding leadership as it is and its major implications. Elon Musk is the
US based CEO of SpaceX, one of the most innovative businesses in the world today. SpaceX is
engaged in space research and production of rocket parts and engines.
However, Musk is also associated with other innovative enterprises such as being the CEO of
electric car manufactures, Tesla and the solar power project SolarCity. His net worth is more
than 19.5 Billion US Dollars.
Three essential characteristics that make them stand apart (104 seconds)
There are three main characteristics that are essential for Musk to stand apart. (video
focuses on showing some clippings of Elon Musk). These factors can be described as:-
Firstly, Elon Musk greatly uses the group think leadership model. He uses this model to
ensure that all the people working in his various organizations develop innovative mindsets
(Kaplananz.zoom.us 2019). The employees are empowered to make strong decisions concerning
product development, project timescales and innovative approaches.
Secondly, to the point transformational leadership makes him one of the most effective
leader in real time organizational situations. This means that he is constantly focused towards
change. The employees are constantly skilled and improved to enable them realize their full
potential. (Clippings of Elon Musk with his employees).
Thirdly, he has strong leadership traits. He is a visionary leader with the necessary skills
to apply the required aspects to realize the visions for his corporate endeavors (Mair 2016). In
accordance of this theory of leadership Musk has shown great leadership from the very
beginning. He created and shot to fame, the PayPal. He led his team in SpaceX through early
disappointments to ultimate creation of effective spaceship engines.

2PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Measurement of leadership effectiveness (103 seconds)
The leadership of Elon Musk can definitely be measured in the various accomplishments.
However to make the understanding of his leadership skills worthwhile, it is important that the
leadership effectiveness is measured in three key ways.
Firstly, the theory of group thinking can be greatly applied to measure the group skills
that Musk has been able to develop among his employees. The group think model is effective as
it helps the followers to align their own performance objectives with the vision of the leader
(Banks et al., 2016). The leader needs to instill this confidence among the followers.
Secondly, as found earlier, one of the most important traits of Must has been his
outstanding transformational leadership. This type of leadership focuses on the various goals that
need to be achieved along with the empowering the people to achieve those important goals. This
is important as it helps to understand the core competencies of the followers (Obschonka and
Fisch 2018).
Thirdly, the trait theory can be applied to the way Musk has been able to apply his
leadership skills. Musk has a charismatic trait that he uses to inspire the people around him. This
is important as the people working for innovative business ventures such as Tesla or SpaceX get
the necessary motivation from their leader.
Performance and contribution to organizational change (103 seconds)
One thing that is much evident through the leadership of Elon Musk is how it has actually
helped to create better success for his organization. It is important to understand that the
leadership of Musk has enables all of his business ventures to prosper (Early 2017).
Firstly, PayPal as an online money transfer and payment tool was highly successful in the
beginning. SpaceX became the most successful commercial rocket equipment and spaceship
manufacturing company.
In 2008, SpaceX became the Falcon 1 rocket was the first private rocket to put any
satellite into the orbit of the earth. In 2012, SpaceX was able to launch a berth and vehicle to an
international space station.

3PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
2006, SpaceX received a contact from NASA to make space vehicles for them. Tesla
became the world’s leading manufacturers of high performance electric vehicles. The success of
the electric cars made it possible to manufacture more such cars and enabled the company to
reach greater heights. Tesla success made way for the SolarCity project which was a pioneer in
the field of clean energy harvesting (Välikangas 2018).
Conclusion (20 seconds)
The analysis of the capabilities of leadership displayed by Musk brings to the front the most
important aspect about his leadership. Musk has inspired more than he has led. This made his
leadership endeavors even more effective. It is important to remember that Musk has shown
leadership that is the most effective in terms of the new age corporate environment that
organizations have to endure.

4PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
References
Banks, G.C., McCauley, K.D., Gardner, W.L. and Guler, C.E., 2016. A meta-analytic review of
authentic and transformational leadership: A test for redundancy. The Leadership
Quarterly, 27(4), pp.634-652.
Early, G., 2017. A short history of leadership theories. Retrieved from.
Kaplananz.zoom.us. (2019). Sally-Anne Leigh's Zoom Meeting - Zoom. [online] Available at:
https://kaplananz.zoom.us/recording/share/oZJvZFbcbV60m0mNzyhMz_T1ht4V7YG5r2pKS5O
MEEewIumekTziMw [Accessed 9 Sep. 2019].
Mair, M., 2016. Enlightened entrepreneurship: the success of Elon Musk.
Obschonka, M. and Fisch, C., 2018. Entrepreneurial personalities in political leadership. Small
Business Economics, 50(4), pp.851-869.
Schoemaker, P.J., Heaton, S. and Teece, D., 2018. Innovation, dynamic capabilities, and
leadership. California Management Review, 61(1), pp.15-42.
Välikangas, L., 2018. Forum on Tesla and the Global Automotive Industry. Management and
Organization Review, 14(3), pp.467-470.