Paying Attention: I like Elon Musk. He thinks big. He does big. He takes big risks. He wins some, he loses some, but he’s got the right attitude about it all. He just keeps moving forward. He is also transparent, something which far too many people in business are not. Got to love that as well.
Musk recently released through TESLA his Master Plan, Part Deux.
This is the second part of his big vision for Tesla. It’s a short read but that’s perfect. A truly great business plan is one page because people can comprehend and execute one page of initiative and strategy and innovation. A huge business plan–something in the 200-300 page range–is just a cumbersome document that’s hard to bring to life. I know a lot about business plans because I have written a lot of them. Including the 200-300 page documents. The best advice I ever received was from a college business professor who said a good BP needs to be one page and the rest of is rationale, research, documentation to validate the one page you’re going to do. Sold. All in.
I encourage you to take the time to read Musk’s Master Plan for two reasons. One is that you will not see anything like his Master Plan from any other car company (but please know that a large part of Musk’s advantage at Tesla is that they are distinctly not like any other car company). It’s clear, understandable, reasonable, backed up with enough of the right kind of numbers and logical. It is a very good read.
The second reason I encourage you to read the Master Plan, Part Deux is it provides insight into how Elon Musk thinks and, I believe it’s time to acknowledge the fact that Elon thinks a lot better–a whole lot better–than most of us. There is a clarity and direct simplicity in the way he thinks that is instructional if you’re the type that pays attention to these things. If you’re not–move on. It’s going to go past you anyway.
Also, almost simultaneous with the release of the Master Plan Part Deux, Tesla’s Gigafactory is going online.
And you need know something about that as well. So please click this link to go to Wired’s post on the Gigafactory.
Do those two things–read the Master Plan and then Wired‘s piece on the Gigafactory–and you’re going to be a hell of a lot of smarter about one of America’s most innovative and disruptive companies then you were yesterday. It’s a good use of your time.
The Fine Print: Images from Getty Images (all rights reserved, used by permission). As always, we thank Getty Images (who have a massive archive of photos of all kinds of stuff) for sharing. Thanks guys.