Steve Jobs and Elon Musk
Entrepreneurs understand that when thing changes, whether technology or market, they have to adjust or “pivot” their business quickly to survive. However, some successful entrepreneurs have the ability to see that change is coming BEFORE it happens and change quicker than others to capture the new opportunities.
For example, Steve Jobs who foreseen the new opportunity in mobile phone quickly moved Apple from a computer company to a smartphone company. Elon Musk, who also foreseen the dot-com crash, sold Zip2, a web company and quickly moved to Pay Pal, a financial and money transfer company. Few years later, he moved into the electric cars and created Tesla, a successful company before other automakers started to build their electric cars. He also start SpaceX, a successful aerospace company using the latest technology that outperformed other big aerospace companies who are too slow to change.
What Steve Jobs and Elon Musk know that others do not? According to people who are working with them, they both always on the alert, sensing for signals of change. Steve Jobs followed technology news from industry research labs all over the world. If he saw something interesting, he investigated immediately for new idea and application. A friend of Steve Jobs explained: “He read many technical magazines to search for new ideas, even he never finished college, but he read more than anybody that I know. He told me: ” Many company leaders do not have good reading habit. When they do not read, they do not know. Too many of them allow the pressures of daily crises impact them and distract them from thinking big. They are drowning in details and often obsessed with making money which narrow their thinking and destroy their innovation ability.”
Elon Musk is also an avid reader when he saw something interesting he asks a group of technical experts to learn about new opportunities across multiple domains. A friend of Elon Musk explained: “Elon is a dreamer, he loves science fiction and Isaac Asimov’s books about space travelers. Many people think that he likes cars, but space is his ultimate goal. He wants to send people to Mars and establish a colony there.”
What Steve Jobs and Elon Muck have that other do not? Based on books and articles written about them, it seems both of them have a vision on the opportunity and commit to pursue it. They do not wait for others to agree with them on what to do or which direction to take their business. Once they make a decision, they both have the courage to pursue the new opportunities with a strong passion; they know what obstacles they must face and find way to overcome them to achieve their dream. They can manage the transition from one business to others without difficulty. They stay firm with the reality and know when to accelerate and when to slow down with a strong conviction to make it happens. Besides the vision, they both have the ability to bring many people who believe in them, to go along with the change.
So what can we learn from these entrepreneurs? The both read a lot and monitor technical and market trends for signal of change. They know how to listen to experts for their views but make decision on their own. They seek different viewpoints to look for opportunity that others missed, and they have the courage to do what they envision, regardless how difficult.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
