I think what strikes me the most about Elon Musk’s philosophy is not really his work ethic, his tenacity, or his perseverance. These qualities of his are of course out-of-this-world, and he is no ordinary man in any of these regards.
But to me, it’s his openness towards competition that is most extraordinary. Or rather, his encouragement towards competition.
He wants competition. He wants more people in the ballgame, because he realizes that the more people building electric vehicles, the better it is for the Earth.
That was the goal with Tesla — is to try to serve as a catalyst to accelerate the day, the day of electric vehicles. - Elon
He almost has a fatalistic stance. He’s fine with Tesla going belly up, as long as he has tipped the scales towards a more green Earth, namely by inspiring someone to do it better than him.
If somebody comes and makes a better electric car than Tesla, and it’s so much better than ours that we can’t sell our cars and we go bankrupt, I still think that’s a good thing for the world - Elon
This is some pretty radical shit. And just not in a white surfer guy way “raaadd dude”.
I could talk about this man’s admirable qualities and stories all day. If that makes me a cringey fanboy, then so be it.