Introduction
Elon Musk is one of the most prominent business leaders of the 21st century. The CEO of Tesla, Inc., SpaceX, and the chairman of Twitter have been recognized for their leadership abilities. Needless to say, managing a variety of profitable and innovative businesses requires specific traits related to efficiently managing teams and having a strong vision. This paper exemplifies Musk’s successful transformational skills and the potential to incorporate principles of servant leadership to maximize job satisfaction and task delegation.
Background
Elon Musk’s biography is, to a certain extent, a testimony to his successful leadership path. Musk was born in South Africa in 1971 and lived there before moving to Canada for academic reasons. Nonetheless, the South African businessman ended up graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
The businessman’s first major success was the establishment of X.com in 1999, which ultimately became PayPal (Phillips & Pohl, 2022). Subsequently, after selling PayPal, Musk used the acquired capital to fund SpaceX, a corporation specializing in spacecraft. Additionally, several years later, Musk started working on Tesla, the car manufacturer that has changed the automotive industry by introducing an innovative approach to transportation.
Currently, one of the most prominent car manufacturers is attributed to the popularization of electric cars. Needless to say, the businesses mentioned previously are Musk’s most important accomplishments. A particular success is attributed to SpaceX and Tesla; the two companies have been the most innovative in their industries, namely, space and automotive (Phillips & Pohl, 2022). The challenge that occurred in becoming successful with these businesses was the fact that neither initiative had been adequately addressed before. Hence, Musk was the first to invest in such agendas, which implies a lack of experience and a high risk of failure.
Leadership
Musk is certainly, indeed, a strong leader. Evidence suggests that his intelligence and vision inspire and motivate his employees to operate based on innovative premises (Khan, 2021). Simultaneously, Musk has a unique approach to managing his teams. He is notoriously against bureaucracy, avoids meaningless meetings, and strives to maximize productivity while acknowledging the need for a strong workforce (Korzynski et al., 2021). He communicates with his workers and is always aware of what is happening in the work environment, which makes him a strong leader.
Elon Musk demonstrates a variety of leadership traits and behaviors that generate success. One of the leadership traits that can be identified is resilience. Researchers point out that Musk easily shifts goals depending on changing circumstances and consumer behavior (Khan, 2021).
Hence, while he has set objectives, he can navigate the market and adapt to its ever-changing dynamics. Additionally, Musk is motivating and inspiring, according to his employees (Khan, 2021). As they describe him as intelligent and visionary, they are more likely to follow his example and incorporate such behaviors in their work.
Leadership Style
Musk is, undoubtedly, a transformational leader. His employees follow his example and are resilient toward organizational and market change. The style has been mentioned in literature in correlation with Elon Musk (Khan, 2021). The CEO is innovative and takes risks, something that his team members can efficiently incorporate into their tasks and objectives. Despite his ability to motivate others, he does so through his intelligence and ability to create a professional vision.
Hence, Musk can be categorized as an office-holder charismatic leader who is solely charismatic in his work environment. This may result from his rarely being identified as socially captivating outside the realm of his companies, the evidence being his provocative tweets that are regarded as inappropriate by a large Twitter audience (Seigner et al., 2023). Nonetheless, in the professional domain, Musk’s charisma is one of the drivers for motivating employees.
Recommendations
Musk could benefit from implementing elements of the servant leadership style. The recommendation is, indeed, supported by relevant literature (Khan, 2021). Musk’s approach to employees is often solely from the perspective of maximizing efficiency and increasing production. Furthermore, he does not delegate certain tasks, which may lead to burnout.
However, servant leaders are more understanding of the needs and personal desires of the team members. This implies that Musk could find it advantageous to put more trust in his workforce and be more understanding towards certain struggles and needs. This action would further improve Musk’s transformational leadership as it implies collaboration rather than being unable to delegate.
Musk is an example of a person whose qualities were developed rather than being intrinsic, since he is not a typical charismatic leader. Instead, he has acquired the professional intelligence to form a vision and motivate others to follow it. Hence, he developed into a leader rather than being one from birth.
Conclusion
Elon Musk is a prominent leader who is relatively different from other CEOs. His transformational style is based on having a vision and innovative approaches, which are something his employees follow and aim to achieve. However, Musk is an office-holding charismatic leader who lacks understanding and the ability to delegate tasks. Hence, elements of servant leadership could benefit him in his workforce management. Musk is a leader with acquired skills who overcame certain personality traits to become influential.
References
Khan, Md. R. (2021). A critical analysis of Elon Musk’s leadership in Tesla Motors. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 11(1), 213–222. Web.
Korzynski, P., Kozminski, A. K., Baczynska, A., & Haenlein, M. (2021). Bounded leadership: An empirical study of leadership competencies, constraints, and effectiveness. European Management Journal, 39(2), 226–235. Web.
Phillips, P. J., & Pohl, G. (2022). Entrepreneurial decision and the strange behavioral economics of Elon Musk. SSRN Electronic Journal. Web.
Seigner, B. D., Milanov, H., Lundmark, E., & Shepherd, D. A. (2023). Tweeting like Elon? Provocative language, new-venture status, and audience engagement on social media. Journal of Business Venturing, 38(2), 106282. Web.