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Comment by caymanjim | Hacker News Reader

Cynics will say this is a PR move, but I don't think that's how Musk operates. I think he sees a problem, thinks it's being solved inefficiently, has ideas he considers better, and wants to act quickly. It's the foundation of all his companies. It's a bit of a renegade/cowboy mentality, and some caution is warranted, but he thinks outside the box and acts on it more than most people.

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>Cynics will say this is a PR move, but I don't think that's how Musk operates.

You can't be serious...

Musk's #1 trait, for better or worse, is promotion. Or do you really think he's the guy doing the engineering on all this stuff?

He says he spends the majority of his time on engineering, actually.

I dont know about others but I first heard of Musk as "the paypal guy who made a rocket". Felt like a sudden lucky-genius thing. Only recently I learned that he graduated in physics (energy storage or something not far). This changed my view of him substantially. He has flaws but I guess I can rely on his understanding of matter and moving objects.

>Only recently I learned that he graduated in physics (energy storage or something not far)

He has an undergraduate degree in Physics. There is no focus on "energy storage".

Sorry, material science in stanford, I didn't knoz he was at Upenn before that too and that he stopped at B.S (different terminology from France)

For someone who's number one trait is promotion (as you claim), he definitely seems to have achieved much more in his life (I mean, last 15 years) in engineering than most other marketers, promotoers, or, well, engineers.

>he definitely seems to have achieved much more in his life (I mean, last 15 years) in engineering than most other marketers, promotoers, or, well, engineers.

In what sense? Because the companies he runs do great engineering? Was Steve Ballmer a great engineer because Microsoft built great things? What about Steve Jobs?

Elon Musk is great at a crucial skill for CEOs: selling a vision.

> selling a vision

You mean, financing a vision? I don't see many other billionaires doing that (Gates & Buffet excluded).

>You mean, financing a vision?

Do you say that because his wealth is tied up in the companies? Yeah, and Zuckerberg "finances" Facebook, and Larry Ellison "finances" Oracle, and Larry and Sergy "finance" Google...

Tesla has sold vast amounts of equity and debt. That's how the company is financed.

No, becaues he spent his own earned/liquid wealth to start up and finance these companies, before they reached any level of success that enabled them to be financed externally.

Oh bollocks. Look at his twitter account, it's EXACTLY how he operates. He's a thin skinned narcissist, not dissimilar to Trump or Jordan Peterson. You'd think at his level of success he'd be above replying to everything bad written about him, but he's so fucking sensitive that he just jumps in there like a child.

I used to be a huge fan - this IS the Tesla and SpaceX guy, but man, follow him on Twitter long enough and you just want him to fuck off.

I see a lot of hate on Jordan Peterson. I'm not an unwavering fan, but I don't see what is so offensive about him. I also don't see him as a thin-skinned narcissist.

Again, look at the twitter account. These powerful, influential men are apparently so insecure that every piece of criticism warrants a personal response.

I don't ever get on twitter so maybe I don't have the same perspective. Could be the piece I am missing. I am not very interested in the social media aspect of these figures though.

EDIT: I will further add that I really don't think you can just take the bad without looking at the good. It is factual to say that he has helped many people learn to take personal responsibility and improve their lives. I don't think you can take that for granted. I don't necessarily trust everything he says but I'm not sure where the Trump comparison comes from. Whether you are a Trump fan or not, I don't think they are really comparable...

His skin seems thicker than yours at least, so I'm not sure you should be the one to judge...

>His skin seems thicker than yours at least, so I'm not sure you should be the one to judge...

Elon Musk has public events that demonstrate his thin-skin (unlike the poster you refer to). Like when he wrote journalists angrily because they didn't mention him as a co-founder of Tesla, even though, you know, he didn't co-found it?

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