Elon Musk is one of the smarter guys on the planet, and thus capable of using his words
to really break down a bully or two.
So, we went through his social media accounts, interviews and question and answer sessions
to find the Top 10 examples of Elon Musk being an absolute savage, proving that while he
may be modest when it comes to naming endeavours like SpaceX or the Boring Company, he's definitely
got a way with words when he wants to.
SolarCity and Tesla Merger
Back in August of 2016, two of Musk's largest companies, SolarCity and Tesla, announced
that they would be merging.
Musk held a 20% stake in each of the companies, but because they were public the merger needed
to be approved by shareholders.
Musk's goal was reportedly to create an "Energy Empire" by combining his electrical car business
with a "vertically integrated and sustainable energy company" that could power stuff like
your home.
The $2.6 billion dollar acquisition was controversial in that it was considered a conflict of interest,
considering that Musk's Tesla was essentially giving a ton of money to Musk's SolarCity.
Musk responded by saying that the only conflict of interest would've been had he NOT merged
the companies.
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With that out of the way, let’s get back to Musk’s ferocity.
He's Savagely Honest...
Even About Himself
Musk had done a great job replacing Steve Jobs as the go-to CEO that people put on a
pedestal.
A large part of that stems from his willingness to engage with his followers on social media.
Back in July of 2017, Twitter user @EricDiepeveen, stated: "Following @elonmusk on Instagram
shows an amazing life.
I wonder if the ups and downs he had make for a more enjoyable life".
Those "Up's and Down's refer to not only the ups and downs of being an extremely rich CEO
that's also a public figure (which there are many negatives to) and refer to his childhood,
which he's described as "excruciating" (because of bullies, which may explain his lack of
patience for bullies today and his acid/silver tongue).
Musk responded: "The reality is great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress.
Don't think for a second that people want to hear about the last two".
This is a surprising amount of honesty that you don't often hear from successful people,
and that shows that Musk's savage honesty extends to himself as well.
He did follow that up by saying that the way he's found to deal with it is by "taking the
pain" and ensuring that you "really care about what you're doing".
What it Really Takes to Run a Business
Musk is also brutally honest about other aspects of running a business to let people know that
it's not all mansions, supercars, and literal rocketships.
In an interview with a Youtube channel named Limitless Stars, Musk showed his amazing vocabulary
and honesty when asked about advice he had for people looking to start a business themselves.
Musk, a father of five, clearly is pretty stressed out and that's what happens when
you run cutting-edge businesses that are literally pushing the boundaries of modern science.
Tesla, for example, is notorious for missing production deadlines for it's highly popular
and super in-demand cars, the Hyperloop transit system is basically a theoretical concept
that some say is impossible to actually create (safely or at all) and he's had a disaster
or two in terms of his SpaceX rockets and their ability to land after traveling back
from space.
So, while he never seems to really be in a bad mood, he did answer that question with
a description that would make any sane person think...
Ten times (minimum) before starting a business.
Of starting a business he said; "Starting a company is like eating glass, staring into
the abyss of death.
Um, if that sounds appealing, go right ahead".
Maybe he was just trying to get out of hosting career day at one of his kid’s schools?
Late Show Visit
It's always good from a public relations standpoint to hear that the feedback from your national
TV appearance is that you came off like a villain from James Bond, but that's exactly
what happened after Musk stopped by a taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Musk, who became rich mostly thanks to PayPal, has basically morphed into the person people
ask about anything and everything scientific and futuristic now.
During his Late Show visit, Colbert asked Musk about his thoughts on humans colonizing
Mars, a planet that Musk referred to as a "Fixer-Upper" planet that could be transformed
into a livable place like Earth.
How would Musk do that?
It's simple, really, you'd just have to "Nuke" the polar ice caps!
While the crowd laughed and it did seem like something Goldfinger would say, there is some
logic behind it.
The thought is that by using nuclear weapons on the ice caps you'd not only melt the ice
for water, but you'd also vaporize the water and carbon dioxide stuck in the caps, which
could create an atmosphere thick enough (over time) to actually warm Mars to a habitable
level—which could melt the rest of the ice and hopefully support plants that'd just love
all that carbon dioxide.
So while it may seem nuts, there’s some reasoning behind it nonetheless.
The Snake Charger
Musk’s Bond villain moment isn’t the only time that he has been savage on The Late Show
with Stephen Colbert.
And while the first time was a legitimate, albeit insane-sounding, answer, this example
shows that Musk does, in fact, have a sense of humour.
He must've received the notes that he sounded kinda evil and decided to humanize himself
by making a joke or two.
The one that lands in this video is one that’s fun for the whole family as it refers, basically,
to being violated by a robot.
Colbert showed a video of the "Snake Charger" that, while still a prototype, could be the
future for Tesla owners at least, as it automatically detects your car and slowly finds the plug-in
and charges the car without you doing any work!
After the video was played, Musk suggested that people should refrain from bending over
near the Snake Charger and while the crowd hesitated to figure out if he just went there,
Musk burst out laughing, showing that he’s as funny as he is smart.
Now videos of this process on YouTube are set to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
Being Savage Runs in the Family
Musk is the father of five children that he's had over the course of two marriages.
To his credit, he’s one of those dads who actually listens to his kids when they criticize
him.
He was driving his son in his Tesla Model S one day, which initially had reading lights
in the back that were removed in exchange for more headroom.
Of course, Musk being Musk, he probably makes his kids read physics textbooks while he drives
them from one robot building competition to another...
Robot building competition and when it got too dark outside for his son to read unaided,
he asked his dad why there weren't lights in the back of the Model S. After hearing
from his father the reasoning behind the lack of illumination, Musk's son responded the
Model S, one of the most sought-after cars in the world, was in fact "The Stupidest Car
in the World".
That actually lead to Musk not only adding lights to the next batch of Model S’s, but
also offering to install the lights in S’s that had been delivered to their owners for
free.
So, this shows that not only does Musk listen to feedback, but also that his ability to
be a little savage didn't skip a generation.
No Discount on a Tesla
Part of the controversy behind the merger of Tesla and SolarCity was that Musk's cousin,
Lyndon Rive, was the CEO of SolarCity at the time of the merger.
Being a family member, the owner of a company that he also owned a percentage of, and also
that he planned to buy for nearly $3 billion dollars, you'd think, might land some perks
for Rive.
However, it turns out that while some have said that Musk was dealing under the table
via that merger, he's actually a pretty fair person that treats everyone the same way,
even family.
Rive learned that first hand when he asked Musk for a family discount for a Tesla.
Rive explained in an interview, “I asked, hey Elon, can I have a family discount?”
and his answer was, “Yeah absolutely.
Go to TeslaMotor.com, buy the car online, and the price you see there is the family
discount.”
Not just savage, but also a sign that Musk isn’t down with nepotism.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons that he resigned from Trump’s White House economic
advisory council.
The Crewless Ship
The Verge is a website that focuses on the "intersection of technology, science, art
and culture" and while it’s a fine journalistic institution, it also is prone to making mistakes
sometimes.
A while back, they had an article about a crewless ship that was going to be able to
essentially deliver cargo without a pilot or risk to human life in the process.
While there was nothing wrong with the article, it was a Tweet corresponding to the piece
that appropriately rubbed Musk the wrong way.
When the article was tweeted out, the vessel was labeled as the world's "First crewless
ship".
See, Musk had developed a crewless ship, and responded with a checkmate of epic proportions
by just showing his already in action vessel and saying “ummm…”
This also means that Musk dabbles in the road (with cars), sea (with crewless ships), space
(with SpaceX rockets) and even futuristic travel (via the Hyperloop).
Is there anything this guy won’t get into?
Really though, after this interaction you should probably also add that Musk is also
an avid dabbler in the science of burns, as well.
Musk Quotes South Park
Part of being the CEO of a large multi-national corporation or two is that you're essentially
a public figure and thus have to deal with all sorts of negative stuff, especially online.
Musk has had to deal with that more so than some other people, because he's not only the
owner of multiple companies, but also because he's the most famous businessman in North
America and certainly one of the most famous in the world.
While he mostly ignores trolls online, he sometimes has responded to them, more so if
they're damaging to his personal or professional reputation, which is what the case was when
he quoted South Park in November 2016.
A quote unquote "author" “named quote unquote" Shepard Stewart" was writing fake news stories
about Musk and his companies, which prompted Musk to ask his Twitter followers for assistance
in identifying Stewart while quoting South Park.
In the Tweet, Musk said: "Can you uncover who is really writing these fake pieces?
Can't be skankhunt42.
His work is better than this" (If you don’t know, Skankhunt42 was a cyber-bully on an
episode of South Park during Season 20).
Just savage Musk and what are you doing watching cartoons.
Musk Cancelled a Tesla Pre-Order
Earlier I mentioned that part of Musk's appeal is the fact that he spends a lot of time responding
to people who reach out to him on social media and while most of the time that's a positive
thing, there have been moments where Musk has to lay down the law.
The most infamous example of this is when Stewart Alsop, a venture capitalist from California
that was on the waiting list for a Tesla Model X back a few years ago.
Alsop took offence mainly to the launch event for the Model X and wrote an open letter,
starting by telling Musk that he should be ashamed for himself for a few reasons, including
that the event started late, was far too crowded and focused too much on the safety of the
car as opposed to things like performance, technology or comfort.
People like Alsop had attended to the event after putting down a $5,000 down payment on
the Model X and while he may have been frustrated by the
slow manufacturing process that Tesla is still dealing with, he didn't explain it that way.
Musk responded by cancelling Alsop's pre-order after Alsop ended his letter by stating that
Musk should show some "class" and followed up on the cancelled pre-order with another
letter titled "Banned by Tesla", proving that he hadn't learned his lesson.
Either way, Musk showed restraint by not responding to that comment, but as they say, actions
speak louder than words and Musk proved that.
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