[Recorded: January 22, 2013]
"I could either watch it happen or be part of it."
Elon Musk on joining the Internet Revolution
"If you had a chance to go back in time and work with Howard Hughes when he was creating TWA, if you had a chance to be there at that moment when it was the dawn of a brand new era, wouldn't you want to do that? That's why I'm here."
Dr. Garrett E. Reisman
NASA Astronaut (former) and Senior Engineer, SpaceX
On CBS' 60 Minutes March 16, 2012
Elon Musk is living two ultimate boyhood fantasies: creating a sports car company and a rocket launch corporation. As co-founder of PayPal, Musk helped transform payment online systems and then, like a true revolutionary, set his sights on electric cars and space transport.
Today Elon Musk is CEO of both Tesla Motors and SpaceX. He also serves as chairman of SolarCity, the solar power provider.
In 2008, Musk was named as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire magazine and one year later, the National Space Society awarded Musk their Von Braun Trophy, given for leadership of the most significant achievement in space. In 2010, Musk was the youngest recipient of the Auto Executive of the Year Innovator Award and was listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 of the World's Most Influential People. His life story was the inspiration for the Iron Man movies about an executive turned space hero.
Join Alison van Diggelen of Fresh Dialogues for a lively conversation with Elon Musk about what inspired his entrepreneurial journey from South Africa to Silicon Valley; the lessons he learned at PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX and SolarCity; and how he manages to lead two ground-breaking companies simultaneously. Why does he believe that electric cars are a vital component in the move away from oil to a more sustainable energy economy? And what is behind his fascination with creating a multiplanetary future for mankind, including a self-sustaining base on Mars?
