This is how Elon Musk makes big decisions

This is how Elon Musk makes big decisionsThis is how Elon Musk makes big decisionsElon Musk, the man who has started four four-billion dollar companies - PayPal, Solar City, SpaceX, and Tesla - is an engineer, a prophet of the upcoming war between humans and machines, and inventor who has continued to redefine the limit of whats feasible to build in his quest to have self-driving trucks and rockets to outer space go mainstream in our lifetime.To be a visionary, you have to build immunity to inevitable failures and naysayers calling your ideas crazy. Selling your idea to the masses starts with anticipating concerns and foolproofing the cracks and holes in your plan.In his recent sprawling profile in Rolling Stone, Musk shares the scientific method he applies to his businesses, so that he can catch problems before they become problems1. Ask a question.2. Gather as much evidence as possible about it.3. Develop axioms based on the evidence, and try to assign a probability of truth to e ach one.4.Draw a conclusion based on cogency in order to determine Are these axioms correct, are they relevant, do they necessarily lead to this conclusion, and with what probability?5. Attempt to disprove the conclusion. Seek refutation from others to further help break your conclusion.6. If nobody can invalidate your conclusion, then youre probably right, but youre elend certainly right.The Musk approachUnder this approach, nothing can be assumed or taken for granted, which is necessary when youre inventing products without precedent. Yes, Musks idea for self-driving trucks needs to follow the laws of physics, but everything else can and will be negotiated and interrogated.Musk said that most of us dont apply this method to our own ideas, too tied to our own biases and assumption. Musk said we think Its true because I said its true, but that method is very unscientific.Harvard Business Review would call Musk a change-approach leader a CEO who is focused on reinventing tomorrow, ev en if this focus on the process comes at the expense of a specific point of arrival, to the lament of anxious employees, and disgruntled stakeholders and customers.Better late than earlyTake Musks answer to Rolling Stone when discussing why Teslas Model 3 the car with a nearly half-a-million-person-long waiting list - is behind schedule.Musk is notorious for promising ambitious ideas that dont get delivered on schedule.His response?Better to do something good and be late than badeanstalt and be early.If this sounds like your motto, then take Musk as your guide to doing business. You may not get to Mars, but by applying his approach to scientific problems, you can build a better idea that can at least get off the ground.This is how Elon Musk makes big decisionsElon Musk, the man who has started four four-billion dollar companies - PayPal, Solar City, SpaceX, and Tesla - is an engineer, a prophet of the upcoming war between humans and machines, and inventor who has continued to re define the limit of whats feasible to build in his quest to have self-driving trucks and rockets to outer space go mainstream in our lifetime.To be a visionary, you have to build immunity to inevitable failures and naysayers calling your ideas crazy. Selling your idea to the masses starts with anticipating concerns and foolproofing the cracks and holes in your plan.FollowLadders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard coveringHappiness,Productivity,Job Satisfaction,Neuroscience, andmoreIn his recent sprawling profile in Rolling Stone, Musk shares the scientific method he applies to his businesses, so that he can catch problems before they become problems1. Ask a question.2. Gather as much evidence as possible about it.3. Develop axioms based on the evidence, and try to assign a probability of truth to each one.4.Draw a conclusion based on cogency in order to determine Are these axioms correct, are they relevant, do they necessarily lead to this conclusion, and with what pr obability?5. Attempt to disprove the conclusion. Seek refutation from others to further help break your conclusion.6. If nobody can invalidate your conclusion, then youre probably right, but youre not certainly right.The Musk approachUnder this approach, nothing can be assumed or taken for granted, which is necessary when youre inventing products without precedent. Yes, Musks idea for self-driving trucks needs to follow the laws of physics, but everything else can and will be negotiated and interrogated.Musk said that most of us dont apply this method to our own ideas, too tied to our own biases and assumption. Musk said we think Its true because I said its true, but that method is very unscientific.Harvard Business Review would call Musk a change-approach leader a CEO who is focused on reinventing tomorrow, even if this focus on the process comes at the expense of a specific point of arrival, to the lament of anxious employees, and disgruntled stakeholders and customers.Better late than earlyTake Musks answer to Rolling Stone when discussing why Teslas Model 3 the car with a nearly half-a-million-person-long waiting list - is behind schedule.Musk is notorious for promising ambitious ideas that dont get delivered on schedule.His response?Better to do something good and be late than bad and be early.If this sounds like your motto, then take Musk as your guide to doing business. You may not get to Mars, but by applying his approach to scientific problems, you can build a better idea that can at least get off the ground.