Reading Reflection No.1

My first reading reflection is on "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest For a Fantastic Future".

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?  I like reading about all the popular scientists out there: Michio Kaku, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Richard Dawkins, etc., including Elon Musk.  So I already knew quite a bit of information about the guy, because I'm a big astronomy and science enthusiast.  But I had no idea that he had such a difficult childhood.  Apparently his dad was a real jerk and he was bullied so bad that he was even hospitalized.  Bullying is common, but getting thrown down flights of stairs and beaten?  That's crazy.
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?  I admire his vision of the future and his imagination.  He's a risk-taker.  Ultimately that can be your undoing, but it's worked out for him so far.  I also share his passion for getting off this planet.  Like him, we need boots on the ground in Mars.  Life is fragile and our planet is no exception.  All it takes is one meteor and our race is gone.  I admire how he thinks of human beings as a whole.  
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?  According to his coworkers, he's not a very nice guy.  Seems to lack empathy.  This trait seems to be common though with successful genius entrepreneurs, so it's not that surprising as I also heard the same thing about Steve Jobs.  I guess if you're so focused on your goals, you don't care if you hurt people's feelings in the process and won't let anything get in your way.  I guess it helps, but at the cost of your social life?  I wouldn't want that for myself. 
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?  He definitely encountered adversity as most entrepreneurs do.  Living at work, divorce, bad economy, space program losing money, etc., these are all things that are hard and challenging to deal with.  But I'm not sure he ever outright failed.  His father gave him some money which he invested in one company, merged with another, got bought out, made more money, invested in another, and so on and so forth until you see the man he is now: a billionaire in charge of SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, Hyperloop, etc., and will probably take humans to Mars.  One thing is for sure, he persisted.  He just never stopped and did whatever it took.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?  Risk-taking, determination, and scientific literacy.  He was going to get a PhD in applied physics.  I mean, it sort of helps to be smart.  He may take risks, but they seem to be extremely calculated.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.  Just all the initial companies he was part of, founder vs co-founder, the merging of companies, the renaming of companies, it was all just a little much.  

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?  Would you consider yourself narcissistic, egotistical, or an elitist?  If so, where exactly does your drive come from to help all of humanity?  Why not just take your money and live a relaxing stress-free life?  I would ask these questions because I'm interested in the conflict, if there is any, between success and empathy.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?  I would imagine hard work to Elon Musk is going against the grain, thinking outside the box, and being so creative that you shun the naysayers and produce something truly noteworthy, respectable, and successful.