I was purusing the book you linked, Ill have to read the whole thing, seems super interetsting!
A block quote on p 142 jumped out at me. It's from Avionics Engineer Ken Watson:
"Elon is brilliant. He’s involved in just about everything. He understands everything. If he asks you a question, you learn very quickly not to go give him a gut reaction. He wants answers that get down to the fundamental laws of physics. One thing he understands really well is the physics of the rockets. He understands that like nobody else. The stuff I have seen him do in his head is crazy. He can get in discussions about flying a satellite and whether we can make the right orbit and deliver Dragon at the same time and solve all these equations in real time. It’s amazing to watch the amount of knowledge he has accumulated over the years. I don’t want to be the person who ever has to compete with Elon. You might as well leave the business and find something else fun to do. He will outmaneuver you, out think you, and out-execute you"
Is this guy "not smart enough to judge his ideas"? He spent 25 years at JPL before spacex, so that seems a little far fetched to me...
I guess after reading those few pages filled with anecdotes from highly skilled, non-retired engineers singing his praises on the record (ie staking their reputation), Im skeptical of your argument lol.
Its fun reading these! Sorry if I come off combative, arguing is just fun.
I guess I'm not sure what your point is. He wouldn't be where he was if he wasn't a smart guy. But he's a smart guy that (we'll show more in future weeks) also makes some fundamental, sometimes very silly mistakes.
In any case, brillance in physics doesn't really get a person off the hook for business errors or mistreating workers or alienating advertisers off of Twitter etc. Our point, as we'll expand on, is the idea that narrow technical saavy makes any person above criticism makes innovation far less intelligent than it should be.
And that's exactly why Elon makes his biggest mistakes: the story of the genius innovator leads to hubris or a lack of humility.
I was purusing the book you linked, Ill have to read the whole thing, seems super interetsting!
A block quote on p 142 jumped out at me. It's from Avionics Engineer Ken Watson:
"Elon is brilliant. He’s involved in just about everything. He understands everything. If he asks you a question, you learn very quickly not to go give him a gut reaction. He wants answers that get down to the fundamental laws of physics. One thing he understands really well is the physics of the rockets. He understands that like nobody else. The stuff I have seen him do in his head is crazy. He can get in discussions about flying a satellite and whether we can make the right orbit and deliver Dragon at the same time and solve all these equations in real time. It’s amazing to watch the amount of knowledge he has accumulated over the years. I don’t want to be the person who ever has to compete with Elon. You might as well leave the business and find something else fun to do. He will outmaneuver you, out think you, and out-execute you"
Here's Ken's Linkdn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rkevinwatson/
Is this guy "not smart enough to judge his ideas"? He spent 25 years at JPL before spacex, so that seems a little far fetched to me...
I guess after reading those few pages filled with anecdotes from highly skilled, non-retired engineers singing his praises on the record (ie staking their reputation), Im skeptical of your argument lol.
Its fun reading these! Sorry if I come off combative, arguing is just fun.
I guess I'm not sure what your point is. He wouldn't be where he was if he wasn't a smart guy. But he's a smart guy that (we'll show more in future weeks) also makes some fundamental, sometimes very silly mistakes.
In any case, brillance in physics doesn't really get a person off the hook for business errors or mistreating workers or alienating advertisers off of Twitter etc. Our point, as we'll expand on, is the idea that narrow technical saavy makes any person above criticism makes innovation far less intelligent than it should be.
And that's exactly why Elon makes his biggest mistakes: the story of the genius innovator leads to hubris or a lack of humility.