In 150 words (the transcript):<p>"I think successful entrepreneurs probably come in all sizes, shapes and flavors. I'm not sure there's any one particular thing. For me, some of the things I've described already I think are very important. I think really an obsessive nature with respect to the quality of the product is very important and so being an obsessive compulsive is a good thing in this context. Really liking what you do, whatever area that you get into, even if you're the best of the best, there's always a chance of failure so I think it's important that you really like whatever you're doing. If you don't like it, life is too short. I'd say also, if you like what you're doing, you think about it even when you're not working. It's something that your mind is drawn to and if you don't like it, you just really can't make it work I think."
Elon Musk is the next Steve Jobs. What Jobs did for computing, Musk is doing for Space exploration. In this video he displays many of the same signs of a "reality distortion field". He describes quite candidly what the general public thinks is crazy and unachievable (especially in 2002). In some ways I think his way of thinking is much more contrarian than Jobs. This year seems to be a tipping point for how we (the average person) see the future of space.<p>From all who care to dream,
Thank you Elon Musk!
Unrelated to this particular lecture, but the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Seminar is a really excellent source of interesting interviews. I always get excited when I see a new podcast sitting on my phone, waiting to be listened to.<p>The whole series is really high quality...definitely recommend.
Interesting to watch him talk about SpaceX only days after their successful mission. In this clip (<a href="http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=382" rel="nofollow">http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=382</a>) he says based on historical data it is unlikely the mission will stay within the 15 billion dollar development cost and 2012 timeline. Not sure about the budget, but they made their deadline. Makes their recent success even more impressive.