Nothing. He has the same 'reality distortion field' that Jobs had.
I've never worked with Elon Musk nor do I know anyone who has, so who knows if he does have a proper RDF the way Steve did. But he definitely has a form of the latter - subconsciously, we want to see heroes conquering space just by the might of their hard work, smarts, and determination, and Elon is the perfect person to project that on to. Hence why journalists write glorious introductions like the one above without anyone having to ask them to.
I am surprised no one has written about the PR machine behind Musk. Because it is truly masterful.
He didn't co-found Paypal, and was an early investor in Tesla, not a founder. He did found SpaceX.
This isn't to take away from his accomplishments, just pointing out the inaccuracies that are perpetuated in the media that make him seem larger than life.
>but he's never been fired from his position as CEO as Jobs once was.
Wasn't he fired from Paypal after they acquired his company?
"just pointing out the inaccuracies that are perpetuated in the media that make him seem larger than life" - You don't have a great track record so far, noting you have just made some incorrect statements yourself.
On that note, I've seen quite a few people come to this conclusion. They hear about him doing good things and think he must have some ulterior motive. They see him release patents and think he MUST be doing it for some secret business advantage. But no. That's just him. And now that you say it, I do actually think he is larger than life.