How Do You Shift Paradigms? Elon Musk Says It's Through Impossible Goals
From reusable rockets to breaking new ground in the electric car industry, Tesla and Space-X CEO Elon Musk stays one step ahead of the technology curve—and he does that by running behind schedule.
Musk sets impossible deadlines as a matter of policy, to create the tremendous pressure needed to deliver paradigm-shifting work—which explains why Musk has never launched a product on time, Bloomberg reports.
His most recent unreachable goal: Tesla’s July 1, 2017, launch of its Model 3 electric car.
"Now, will we actually be able to achieve volume production on July 1 next year? Of course not," Musk said on Tesla's earnings call. "In order for us to be confident of achieving volume production of Model 3 by late 2017, we actually have to set a date of mid-2017 and really hold people's feet to the fire, internally and externally.”
One thing would help Tesla’s chances of reaching the impossible goal: The completion of its $5B, 5.5M SF Gigafactory in Sparks, NV, set to begin operations in 2017. (Although who knows how realistic that goal is?) [Bloomberg]
