The Entrepreneur I Resemble Most - Essay Example

Introduction

There isn’t a distinct and acceptable definition for entrepreneurship. In general, entrepreneurs are people who on seeing an opportunity will amass and marshal resources with an aim of exploiting that opportunity. Entrepreneurs have also been called innovators, pioneers, risk takers and visionary. It is also believed entrepreneurs have a knack for creativity and are intelligent (Link & Siegel, 2007). Moreover, a number of theories have been developed with the aim of describing entrepreneurship. These theories include sociological entrepreneurship theory, psychological entrepreneurship theory and economic entrepreneurship theory amongst others. An entrepreneur can be described using a number of theories and characteristics. However, to describe the profile of an entrepreneur, eight main factors have largely been used. These factors are; autonomy, innovation, goal orientation, adaptability, flexibility, leadership, need for self-empowerment and need for achievement (Evers & Cunningham, 2014). Utilizing these eight factors in assessing myself, I have come to the conclusion that Elon Musk is the entrepreneur that I resemble most. Elon Musk is a South African born entrepreneur and the founder and owner of Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Musk foundation and SolarCity Corp amongst others.

Brief profile of Elon Musk

Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971. His childhood friends described him as a reclusive person who kept to himself. At an early age of 10 years, he developed an interest in computers. He taught himself how to program and by age twelve he had made a sale of his first computer game called Blastar. In 1989 he moved to Canada and joined Queen’s University. Later in 1992 he moved to America and studied business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania (Oakey, 2012). It was while pursuing a PhD in energy Physics at Stanford University that Elon Musk launched his first company Zip2 Cooperation, an online city guide. In 1999 he sold the company to Compaq Computer Corporation for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options. This would be Musk’s First multimillion dollar company. In the same year, he cofounded a financial payment service called X.com which would later become PayPal. In 2002 eBay acquired pay pal at a cost of $1.5 billion in stock. At the time of acquisition Musk owed 11% of Pay pal (Szopa, 2013).

The entrepreneurial nature of Musk would not let him rest on his laurels and after the sale of Pay pal he founded his third company in 2002 called Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, also known as SpaceX. Under the guidance of Musk and through his vision and innovation, SpaceX grew in leaps and bounds and by 2008 it was a well established spacecraft building company which had NASA as one of its clients. Future plans for the company include the transportation of astronauts to outer space. Preservation of the human race and space exploration are Musk’s utmost interests. This led to the founding of Musk foundation whose main interests are discovery of clean and renewable energy sources. Musk’s interest in environmental conservation led him to start Tesla Motors Inc which is dedicated in production of mass electric cars. Other Musk’s ventures include SolarCity Corp that was bought by Tesla Motors Inc in 2016. Forbes has rated Elon Musk worth at $11.6 billion as of 2016 (Audretsch, Link & Hayter, 2015).

Rationality and justification for entrepreneur choice

Elon Musk has showed great leadership, innovation and vision in his entrepreneurial ventures. When he was a child back in South Africa, Musk had read books about United States and he knew that’s where he wanted to be in order to achieve his dreams. While in college, Musk was sure that sustainable energy, Internet and space travel were the future and all his companies were founded on this basis. This shows Musk as being goal oriented and visionary (Martin, 1994). His innovative skills are unparalleled. He is a pioneer in mass producing electric cars, space travel as well as in financial payment services amongst others. Musk’s most prominent trait is that he is a system disruptor. While most motor vehicle manufacturer were competing in creating more efficient gasoline powered engines, Musk, through his company Tesla found ways of mass producing electric cars. Such feats demonstrate Musk’s flexibility and adaptability in creating new products and services (Duening, Hisrich & Lechter, 2010).

His has shown commitment and uncompromising leadership skills. Most of his pay is in form of stock options. Showing such commitment in his work inspires his employees. His uncompromising attitude ensures that all employees are pushed to achieve the impossible. His need for achievement and self empowerment is enormous. Musk is not just passionate about what he does and wants to achieve. His commitment and hard work towards achieving his goals can only be described as obsessive. He leads by example and spends most of his waking time shaping and executing his ideas (Mayer, 2011). He is persistent and relentless in his quest for perfection. For example, it took four years of testing and remodeling to get SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to work. The acquiring of SolarCity Corp Tesla motors reveals the autonomous nature of Musk. Musk has always had unique visions that cannot be easily shared. He always has been his own boss and knows what he wants. He has low tolerance for mediocrity and hires the best minds on the planet (Piperopoulos, 2012).

Such vision, clarity of mind and laser focus on achieving the target sets Musk apart from the rest. He leads the innovators and attempts the impossible. When the rest of humanity is skeptical of his dreams and visions he stays true to them and in the end proves them wrong. Although he is a billionaire, he is a hands-on leader and can be seen testing Tesla cars after every design change. Musk’s spirit of never resting on his laurels, seeking new ventures, taking risks and most of all putting dreams into action is the ideal example of a true entrepreneur (Carpenter, 2012).

Discussion on Findings

The entrepreneurship of Elon Musk can be described most effectively using the psychological theory of entrepreneurship. This theory focuses on those individual traits of an entrepreneur which make them successful in entrepreneurship. There are many characteristics that have been found to occur frequently in most entrepreneurs. Studies have been conducted on entrepreneurs with an aim of critically analyzing these characteristics. The psychological theory of entrepreneurship has grouped these characteristics into three namely; personal traits, locus of control and need for achievement (Stokes, Wilson & Mador, 2010).

Locus of control is an individual’s view and understanding of the causatives of main events in their lives. Locus of control of an individual can be described as either internal control orientation where an individual believes they have control on the actions that determine outcomes in their lives, or external control orientation where an individual believes that external factors control the actions that determine outcomes in their lives. The theory states that the success of entrepreneurs comes from both internal and external factors (Bornstein, 2007). Research has found that entrepreneurs have higher internal locus of control as compared to the general populace and thus it is this belief in self rather than belief in external factors such as chance, fate or good luck that enables entrepreneurs to succeed where others fail (Burns, 2012).

Personal traits can be described as the qualities that an individual displays in most situations. The psychological theory of entrepreneurship states there are a number of innate qualities possessed by certain individuals which make them entrepreneurs. It is impossible to directly study inborn traits but much insight can be gained by studying the traits that are possessed by the most successful entrepreneurs (Wickham, 2006). It is by studying such individuals that we can gain a better understanding of these qualities. Some of the traits that entrepreneurs exhibit include; being opportunity driven, having great knowledge of their jobs, being creative and innovative and having management skills of a high level. Furthermore, most successful entrepreneurs are known to have high mental energy, are optimistic in all situations, are hard working and show resilience and commitment to their work (Nicholls, 2008) .While little evidence exists in form of research findings to support this personal trait model, an accurate conclusion can be made that indeed one can have innate qualities that enable them to be entrepreneurs (Bay & Fabian, 2015).

The need to achieve is based on the natural desire that each individual has to succeed in what they do. Entrepreneurs are highly motivated by their need to achieve. Studies done show that there is a direct relationship between entrepreneurship and motivation. An entrepreneur will be motivated to take risks if they believe that the reward is worth it. Further studies have shown that while entrepreneurs tend to take fewer risks as their fortunes grow, they would still venture into new challenges with risks rather than take a back seat and enjoy the security of a stable income (David Deakins, 2009).

Elon Musk continues to display most of the traits described in the psychological theory of entrepreneurship. Despite the many successes he has had in his life, having founded so many successful companies, he still continues to look for more challenges. He is considered one of the most disruptive entrepreneurs in our society today. His uniqueness comes from always striving to do something new. He does not like incremental improvement on others ideas but would rather be creative and innovate in his ventures. Such fresh thinking has brought the world an electric car that is mass produced and is comparable to the ordinary gasoline fueled car. Humanity is on the verge of commercial space travel made possible by the inventiveness and determination of Elon musk. True to the spirit of entrepreneurship, Elon Musk isn’t slowing down and has already dreamt of hyper loop transport system that will change how we travel. The world is beholden to this great inventor, innovator and entrepreneur (Birkeland, 2004).

Reflective Discussion

As one of the modules learning outcomes, I was able to take the entrepreneurial aptitude test. The evaluation concluded that I processed strong leadership skills, was highly innovate, was curious about new things, had a high need for self empowerment and also had a high degree of autonomy. However, I was also less optimistic, less adaptable and had an average need for achievement. Most of the qualities I possess match those of Elon Musk and it is therefore no surprise that he is my entrepreneurial role model and I will strive hard to emulate him. Understanding what entrepreneurship entails is another desirable learning outcome. By studying Elon musk’s, the entrepreneur, I have come to not only comprehend what it takes to be an entrepreneur but also appreciate the commitment and hard work that goes into becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs (McDaniel, 2015).

Another desirable learning outcome is getting to comprehend the different theories of entrepreneurship. I was able to achieve this through the analysis of Elon Musk’s life. This required me to evaluate Musk against all the three theories of entrepreneurship with the aim of choosing which theory best describes him. The complete nature of Musk’s entrepreneurship enables him to be described adequately by all the three theories. However, it is the psychological entrepreneurship theory that fully epitomizes Elon Musk. Emulating a truly great entrepreneur was another modules learning outcome. Through the analysis and study of Elon Musk’s entrepreneurship, I learnt that it is impossible to copy another entrepreneur since we all have different entrepreneurial spirits. I also learnt having a disadvantaged childhood does not mean you cannot dream and work to achieve those dreams. The Destiny of our lives lies within us. To be a truly great entrepreneur, one cannot stop and rest after achieving one dream but has to continuously strive for better and higher goals in life. Always keep raising the achievement bar and stay true to the saying “sky is the limit” (Lowe & Marriott, 2012).

Conclusion

To be an entrepreneur is dream held by most of us. Although we all have the capacity of being entrepreneurs, not every one of us can be a successful entrepreneur. To become an entrepreneur requires self belief, hard work, imagination, focus and desire to succeed. Although there are a number of theories that describe an entrepreneur, they all have use similar terms when describing the attributes of an entrepreneur. These attributes are similar and are universal in all entrepreneurs no matter their field of specialization. One of the most universal attributes of entrepreneurs is believe in self. They hold the belief that they control their destiny and can achieve what ordinary people deem improbable. Most successful entrepreneurs are born with unique traits the enable them to achieve the impossible. However, this should not discourage anybody from indulging in the entrepreneurial spirit inside them and exploiting opportunities that come their way. Just like Elon Musk, let us dream big and through discipline, determination, sacrifice and hard work let us strive to fulfill our dreams and visions. Remember, the secret lies not in doing different things but doing things differently.