Lesson #5: Tap Into Today’s Top Talent

“I think it is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done,” says Musk. “Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer (two people who don't know something are no better than one), will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive.”

Musk’s third company, Space X, is located in Southern California, right in the midst of one of the world’s most concentrated regions of defense and aerospace companies. But before he even began thinking about moving to the area, Musk decided to see what resources he would have available to him.

First, Musk began by cold-calling some of the top experts in the field. He wanted to get their opinions not only on his idea for a company and the challenges that lay therein, but also to see who was available to join his team.

“My approach is simply to seek out very talented people, ensure that the environment at SpaceX is as motivating and enjoyable as possible and establish clear and measurable objectives,” says Musk.

He began luring the likes of Tom Mueller to his team. Mueller, who currently serves as the company’s vice president of propulsion, was snatched up by Musk from his previous job as head of liquid rocket propulsion development at TRW Space & Electronics. Musk wanted to get on his team the top talent, people who had experience building rockets before.

“Rocket engineering is not like ditch digging,” he says. “With ditch digging you can get 100 people and dig a ditch, and you will dig it a hundred times as faster if you get 100 people versus one. With rockets, you have to solve the problem of a particular level of difficulty; one person who can solve the problem is worth an infinite number of people who can’t.”

But it was not just about luring the brightest minds to his company. Musk wanted to make sure he was getting the people with the most appropriate qualifications and skills. For instance, many who came before him made the mistake of bringing on board top aerospace senior managers. While undoubtedly qualified, Musk thought they were unable to do some of the hard core engineering tasks that he wanted. “I think that is a mistake and results in cloudy judgment on important technical issues,” he says. “They can't tell if something is really good or not, so they just do what everyone else does, assuming it to be the safe bet.”

And, no matter how qualified any of his team members were, Musk also made sure that no stone was left unturned, no chance left up to human error. “We're adding a triple sign-off for all work done on the launch pad, on flight components, and flight critical GSE,” he says. “You have a technician, a responsible engineer, and then quality assurance will sign the final, record all information, and take photographs of all the work that was done, and then make sure that all information is put into our quality assurance database, which is reviewed prior to launch.”

Musk understands that the major driving force behind any company is its people. By bringing on the best, and giving them the freedom and motivation to accomplish their responsibilities, Musk made sure he had people working alongside him who were as talented and driven as he.

“Although I am new in the business, my team is not,” says Musk. “I would say that, person for person, there has never been a better rocket company in existence, in history. I don’t think there has ever been a group this talented in one place, in one company, developing a rocket – ever.”



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