“In every artist there is a
touch of audacity without which no talent is conceivable.”_Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe
In a few
years back—2016, to be precise—the revolutionary founder and CEO of the ultra-modern
electric company (Tesla), Elon Musk enhanced his reputation as one of the true
heroes of our time.
Heroes are said
to emerge in a crisis. And that is true. But this time around, the crisis
didn’t affect just a few persons; it affected almost two million people: the inhabitants
of South Australia.
The country
experienced a huge storm with devastating tornadoes which brought down key
infrastructures of energy, electricity and power. And the aftermath resulted in
almost total blackout of the whole South Australia.
To cut the
long story shut, the country had a very serious problem to deal with, and she
dealt with it awesomely.
As it turned
out, South Australia dealt with it awesomely only because she had the help of
white knight in formidable armour: Elon Musk was the one who saved the day in a
pretty remarkable way.
Though many
of us would prefer to flee from problems of any kind but very few people would
rather think creatively on how to upturn such problems into an opportunity for
service. Elon Musk is one of those few.
To help out,
Elon Musk made an offer to the South Australian government that is both
ambitious and daring. He made a business deal out of the crisis by taking full
responsibility for restoring the power grid in just 100 days.
In his own
words, he wrote: “Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from
contract signature OR IT IS FREE.”
Think about
the last part of the sentence to really understand the confidence of the man.
He placed a binding condition on himself to either deliver as promised or
forfeit the sum of N50m dollars. Wow!
And as you
would expect, once the contract was signed, the whole world started counting
from day one to see if Musk had bitten more than he could chew, this time
around.
Alas, the
iron man, Elon Musk not only won over his self-imposed challenge but he succeeded
in a pretty remarkable way: he delivered on his promise forty-days ahead of
schedule. Impressive!
And it was
such a great success that didn’t just strengthened Tesla reputation; it really
offered exceptional value to the people Australia.
The next
part of this article is where we get to learn the secret power of the gallant man
on a white horse.
Be Audacious in Your
Preparation
“If the leader is filled with high
ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will
reach them in spite of all obstacles.”_Carl von Clausewitz
After
reading that remarkable story, I paused to reflect on what could be his secret.
What gave
him the sheer confidence to make such a bold offer?
And how was
he able to meet up in almost half the time?
And how can
we strengthen our character so we can be a little more like him in striving to
fulfill the big promises we make to others and ourselves?
In search of
answers, I read more on ‘our knight’. And it turned out that Elon Musk truly knows
something about life far above the average person on the street.
Elon Musk revealed
the hidden secret of his blatant audacity in the following words:
“Work like hell.
I mean you just have to put in 80 to
100 hour weeks every week; this improves the odds of success.
If other people are putting in 40
hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you’re
doing the same thing.
You know that you will
achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve.”
I think this
quote says a lot on why he had the confidence to put himself in a tight corner,
beforehand. It also says a lot on how he could cut his execution time into
almost half.
You see,
beneath his audacity to dream and aspire big is his audacity to act massively.
You and I need
to understand that our big promises mean nothing, if we are unwilling to correspondingly
commit big and make amazing things happen.
Arguably, the
two qualities of men of confidence, which may portray a touch of wonder in the eye
of an average person, are their sheer will and their incredible commitment to relentless
action.
Truly Care and Be
Genuinely Willing to Serve
“The best way to find yourself is to
lose yourself in the service of others.”_Mahatma Ghandi
In this
case, Elon Musk’s motivation to big commitment springs not from fame or fortune
but from his deep desire for service. He said: “For me it was never about
money, but solving problems for the future of humanity.”
So to thrive
out of a crisis, we need to truly care about people’s welfare and creating
value to serve their greatest needs during such a period.
Finally, we should
strive to be audacious in our aspiration to tackle meaningful problems in the
society. Above all, we should always strive to matchup our actions with our
bold promises. No wonder the former Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Benjamin
Disraeli concluded that, “success is the child of audacity.”
