The Tesla factory was inspired by the SpaceX work environment and features plenty of bright paint and a well lit environment.
The Tesla factory can be seen in the image below of a WIRED timelapse video of the Tesla Model S production line below.
The Tesla factory also features pedal bikes that employees can use to get around faster.
These innovations and many more help make for an efficient environment where maximum productivity can occur.Elon calls the Tesla factories Alien Dreadnaughts and this factory fly through shows how much robotics and machinery is used inside the belly of the Giga factory Berlin.
Elon, like many highly successful people, is a voracious reader and learner.
Elons knowledge impresses because he has read and listened to so much content over the course of his life.
“You don’t know what you don’t know. You realize there are all these things out there.“
One of the reasons Elon prefers reading to listening to content is because “Reading has a faster bit upload rate.“
AKA you can consume more information by reading than you can by listening.
Elon was an especially excellent reader in his youth and his excessive knowledge is proof he continues his information.
Musk spent his childhood with his nose in a book. He read every book in the library then read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from cover to cover.
They’d kick him out of the book store sometimes for being there reading for so long.
If you want to know what you don’t know it’s a good idea to read up.
On a reddit AMA (Ask me Anything) Elon shared thoughts about learning:
“I think most people can learn alot more than they think they can.”
To learn more you need to read more.
One way I have been able to read more is by setting a daily page goal of 10 pages. Often times I will read more than 10 pages and by ensuring I hit my goal of 10 pages a day keeps me learning more every day.
Another reading strategy I use is by keeping an active “Books To Read” list in my Google Keep app. The way I work with my list is to sort the list with the books I believe to be the most valuable at the top of the list. Then when it’s time for a new book I simply buy – or borrow from the library – the books at the top of the list.
Having a couple of books on the go at a time can help you stay engaged and eager to continue achieving your daily goal of reading 10+ pages.
It’s also important to re-read the best books you have ever read from time to time to refresh your mind with their powerful knowledge.
On a call with investment bankers in 2018 Elon refused several bone headed comments and told day traders or investors afraid of volatility straight up not to buy Tesla stock because:
“I am not here to convince you to buy our stock…I could care less.”
What Elon does care about is innovation. He shared some powerful insights about innovation on the on the call:
“What matters is the pace of innovation. It is a fundamental determinant to competitiveness…
Let’s say competitors, maybe they come out with something new every six years. We’re maybe every two to three years.
So if our innovation is let’s say twice that of any given competitor…
And this is true generally of companies in any industry…
Whichever company has the highest rate of innovation, unless that company is actively killed by it’s competitors in some way that’s nefarious, or shoots itself in the foot, it will at some point exceed those competitors…
Like this is obvious that this would occur with Amazon and Wal-Mart because wal-mart’s rate of innovation was negligible. And Amazon’s was very high. The outcome was obvious a long time ago.”
In a more recent interview about the AxelSpringer Award (Which Elon ended up winning) Elon echoed similar sentiments saying:
“The company with the higher rate of innovation will unequivocally win long term.”
The lesson here is clear: Innovation matters most.
Moreover the more aggressively you innovate and iterate the faster you will dominate.
“Innovation per year is what matters. Not innovation absent time. Because if you want to make say 100% improvement in something and that took 100 years, or one year, that’s radically different…
So it’s like “what is your rate of innovation?” that matters and “is the rate of innovation accelerating or decelerating?”
At InvestHK Elon said: Innovation comes from questioning the way things have been done before…
And if in the education system you’re taught not to do that that will inhibit entrepreneurship.
Interviewer: “Being able to question what you were taught?”
Elon: “Being able to say: ‘Is there a better way?”
Elon has innovated with Tesla to the point where multiple sources who confirm Tesla has created some of the best cars ever.
That’s the game changing level of innovation you need to have a position in the marketplace where you are in a category of your own.
Here are some of Elon’s quotes on innovation:
“Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive, and determination of the people behind it as the product they sell.”
“Great companies are built on great products.”
“Failure is essentially irrelevant unless it is catastrophic.”
Although Elon does not strive for failure, he certainly does not hide from it either. And that is why he was able to push on and succeed with SpaceX after their first three rockets failed and he was down to his last dime.
Facing failure head on and learning from it is a lesson I learned the hard way. Once I got a speeding ticket and rather than setting the court date in my calendar I shoved the ticket in a folder and forgot about it. Since I missed the court date I got the maximum fine in my absence.
Had I faced that situation head on maybe I would have emerged successful. At least I would have gotten a lesser fine, or perhaps the cop would not have shown up for the court date and my ticket would have been dropped.
These days no matter how difficult the issue I might be facing I deal with it as soon as possible so it does not become ignored or forgotten about, causing the punishment of ignorance over time.
Action is the antidote to despair.
As Elon says:
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
“If every time somebody came up with an idea it had to be successful you don’t get people coming up with examples.”
Failure is not to be feared. In fact just the opposite: It should be encouraged!
Because with more experiments, which will cause more failures, you will ultimately end up with more successes and a faster pace of innovation.
In the documentary Elon Musk: The Real Life Ironman an early PayPal employee who worked with Elon in PR shared a story about his high expectations:
“Elon expected a lot out of the people, but we all expected a lot of each other, that’s how you get it done.”
“In the culture of startups the expectation is that everybody is working all the time. You get there at 9 or 10 in the morning and not leave until 9 or 10 or maybe after that at night and Elon was definitely working until midnight every night…
It was just what we did. And it was exciting. Rarely did anyone complain…”
It’s important to keep in mind that the first person Elon had high expectations of was himself. And if he was not working until midnight every night the people he worked with probably would have been less vigilant about holding themselves to such a high standard also.
Elon fully acknowledged the improbability of starting SpaceX at the Living Legends of Aviation dinner:
“In the beginning when I told people I was trying to create a rocket company, they thought I was crazy. That seemed like a very improbable thing. And I agreed with them – I think it was improbable. But sometimes the improbable happens.”
Elon is living proof of the power possible when you go all in and work hard to make the improbable into reality.
On a call in 2018 with investment bankers where Elon refused several bone headed comments and told day traders or investors afraid of volatility straight up not to buy Tesla stock because:
“I am not here to convince you to buy our stock…I could care less.”
What Elon does care about is innovation.
1. Innovation is What Matters Most
Innovation is defined as when you: Make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.
He shared some powerful insights about innovation on the on investors call:
“What matters is the pace of innovation. It is a fundamental determinant to competitiveness…
Let’s say competitors, maybe they come out with something new every six years. We’re maybe every two to three years.
So if our innovation is let’s say twice that of any given competitor…
And this is true generally of companies in any industry…
Whichever company has the highest rate of innovation, unless that company is actively killed by it’s competitors in some way that’s nefarious, or shoots itself in the foot, it will at some point exceed those competitors…
Like this is obvious that this would occur with Amazon and Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart’s rate of innovation was negligible.
And Amazon’s was very high. The outcome was obvious a long time ago.”
[Here is an image of Amazon Robots in one of their warehouses]
In a more recent interview about the AxelSpringer Award (Which Elon won) he echoed similar sentiments saying:
“The company with the higher rate of innovation will unequivocally win long term.”
The lesson here is clear: Innovate or you will lose ground to companies who do.
2. Accelerate Your Rate of Innovation
Moreover the more aggressively you innovate and iterate the faster you will dominate.
“Innovation per year is what matters. Not innovation absent time. Because if you want to make say 100% improvement in something and that took 100 years, or one year, that’s radically different…
So it’s like: “What is your rate of innovation? matters and is the rate of innovation accelerating or decelerating?”
The part minimization of the SpaceX Raptor engine is a great example of efficiency promoting innovations.
At InvestHK Elon said: “Innovation comes from questioning the way things have been done before…
And if in the education system you’re taught not to do that that will inhibit entrepreneurship.
Interviewer: “Being able to question what you were taught?”
Elon: “Being able to say: ‘Is there a better way?”
Elon has innovated with Tesla to the point where multiple sources, and undeniable facts, confirm Tesla has created the best car ever.
That’s the game changing level of innovation you need to have a position in the marketplace where you are in a category of your own.
Here are some of Elon’s quotes on innovation:
“Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive, and determination of the people behind it as the product they sell.”
“Great companies are built on great products.”
“Failure is essentially irrelevant unless it is catastrophic.”
Although Elon does not strive from failure, he certainly does not hide from it either.
His ability to push on and succeed with SpaceX after their first three rockets failed and he was down to his last money is why SpaceX made it to orbit when they did.
3. Failure is An Option
Facing failure head on and learning from it is a lesson I learned the hard way. Once I got a speeding ticket and rather than setting the court date in my calendar I shoved the ticket in a folder and forgot about it.
Since I missed the court date I got the maximum fine in my absence.
Had I faced that situation head on maybe I would have emerged successful.
At least I would have gotten a lesser fine, or perhaps the cop would not have shown up for the court date and my ticket would have been dropped.
These days no matter how difficult the issue I might be facing I deal with it head on because that is the only way to resolve the issue at hand.
Action is the antidote to despair.
And facing failure is the only way to overcome it.
As Elon says:
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
“If every time somebody came up with an idea it had to be successful you don’t get people coming up with examples.”
Failure is not to be feared. In fact just the opposite: It should be encouraged!
With the Cybertruck, for example, at first the window broke when they unveiled the truck. This event did not derail them.
Perhaps the publicity it created even helped them make more sales!
Tesla produced a shirt even, which shows the broken window.
Broken window or not Tesla has produced the safest pickup truck on the market.
With more experiments in innovation, more failures will occur, and by acting on them you will ultimately end up with more successes and a faster pace of innovation.
Tesla having safety as the #1 priority of their company certainly helped them innovate and achieve their 5 star safety rating as well.
4. Gaining a Competitive Advantage
Innovation is absolutely a vital key to gaining a competitive advantage in your industry…
At MIT Elon explained “In terms of our competitiveness, it mostly comes down to our pace of innovation. Our pace of innovation is much, much faster than the big aerospace companies or the country driven systems…
This is generally true: If you look at innovation from larger companies and smaller companies, smaller companies are generally better at innovating than larger companies…because smaller companies would die if they didn’t try innovating.”
Innovate or die. And don’t let the small size of your company deter you…small, smart and technically strong often trumps large, clunky and wasteful.
Elon is an extremely strong thinker and as such the intellectual waters he swims in and the decisions he makes may appear risky to others but make perfect sense to him.
Almost everything new has an element of fear at first.
Without an element of fear and risk a great reward is rarely found.
Safe is risky and risky is safe.
Because innovation is how you win and innovation requires risk.
Avoiding innovation is a bigger risk than not innovating at all.
Innovation requires a focus on what could be rather than what already is.
5. What Matters is The Rate of Innovation
Elon has said “What matters is the rate of innovation.”
“What exactly is innovation?” you might be wondering. At Tesla AI day Elon explained “In general innovation is how many iterations and what is the average progress between each iteration. And so if you can reduce the time between iterations the rate of improvement is much better.”
Innovating more effectively and rapidly than your competition gives your business the best chance of success…
So always be innovating!
The faster your rate of innovation the faster your business will rise to power and capture market share.
Tesla has been innovating faster than other car companies and the compounding effect of all of these innovations are an essential part of the reason why Tesla is now the most valuable car company with no signs of slowing down.
Amazon has been innovating more than Wal-Mart and this makes it clear how Amazon has been gaining market share from Wal-Mart.
6. Innovation is Future Focused
Innovation is future focused and being future focused is key if you want a more fantastic future.
Elon certainly is and says:
“I think within the next five years we will see the electrification of aircrafts. First propeller, then turboprop, then jet engines.“
“What is important is that we establish a self-sustaining city on Mars so the future of consciousness and life as we know it can survive.“
Elon goes on about innovation in an interview with Offshore Northern Seas.
“Establish an expectation of innovation, and the compensation structure must reflect that…there must also be an allowance for failure because if you are trying something new, necessarily there is some chance it will not work.
If you punish people too much for failure they will respond accordingly and the innovation you get will not be very incremental.“
So keep thinking ahead because the future is where we’ll be spending the rest of our lives.
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