Elon Musk’s career advice for young people: 'Don’t try to be a leader...'
Elon Musk said that his intention, as a leader in multiple companies, is to be useful, just like young people should aim to be.
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As the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk did not attribute his leadership positions to his love for the spotlight.
Before Elon Musk was surrounded by luxury yachts in Greece and massive lawsuits filed by Twitter for backing away from the $44 billion deal, the tech billionaire had in December last year shared some career advice for young people.
In an episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast, Musk recommended that young people should never choose a career depending on if it could make them famous. "Rather, focus on something much simpler," Musk said. "Find a job that you’d be good at, and matches the skillset you’ve built over time."
Read more: Elon Musk-Twitter takeover dispute trial set for October as judge refuses to delay date
Elon Musk also said that young people should focus on the job in front of them and trust that overperforming in that role would help them climb up the career ladder. "A desire to be in the spotlight won’t necessarily help... Try to find something where there’s an overlap of your talents and what you’re interested in,” he added.
But as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk did not attribute his leadership positions to his love for the spotlight. Rather, he told Ashlee Vance, the author of his biography, that his intention is to be useful, just like young people should aim to be.
Read more: Elon Musk clicked vacationing in Greece after being sued by Twitter. Pics go viral
Storyboard18 | Bookstrapping: The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings
Geoff Dyer’s category-defying piece of writing cannot sit in biography or self-help and yet has elements of both. Dyer focuses on the accomplishments of uncouth geniuses who wrote their own rules when their beautiful youths were over, writes @OfficialReetaRG Bookstrapping Rating: 3.5 stars
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Geoff Dyer’s canvas, of course, is beyond just Roger Federer; he touches upon jazz, Bob Dylan, movies, drugs, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig van Beethoven (above). (Illustration: Perrant via Wikimedia Commons 3.0)
Time seems vast at first, when we begin our journey. And then, it shortens. Champions age. There is no guarantee of longevity at the start of one’s career. And yet, the artists, sportspersons and influencers we appreciate the most, are defined by their longevity. The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings explores longevity in an entirely new way. The quandary Geoff Dyer has explored in this book, is whether you can see it coming and how you respond to it.
The premise of the book by itself is challenging - Dyer has set out to write a book about famous endings. But what he is truly drawn to is endlessness, to the way that one thing leads to another. At its core, The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings is an exploration of mortality. The prose sparkles with rich insights and the author suggests that a life well-lived is worth the most unkind of endings.
Dyer’s canvas, of course, is beyond just Federer; he touches upon jazz, Dylan, movies, drugs, Nietzsche, Beethoven. Five takeaways from the read -
What keeps you hooked to the book is Geoff Dyer’s unquenchable curiosity. He’s asking the questions you want to ask and comes up with a unique collection of thoughts, memories, analyses in his essays - shall we call them that?
Dyer candidly admits to putting down a book if it's not working for him, walking out of a movie, just quitting when he hits the realisation that life is too damn short to waste. I bet you can relate to this. Spend every minute like it matters is a big message in the book.
Dyer has the uncanny knack of making the reader feel smart. Trust me, this is a very selfless approach. The author surrenders himself at the altar of the reader. The capturing of information is treated as teamwork and delivered with light hearted amusement. One is reminded of Malcolm Gladwell, who has mastered this art.
You feel bad when the book ends and you wonder why the author left out your favourite celebrity - for instance, I wanted to know if the author had a point of view on the endlessness of Lata Mangeshkar. At some level, the marginalisation of achievements by those who are not from Europe or America is only amplified by such books. The world has become a global canvas now and each and every part of the world deserves to be represented by a witty, insightful author such as Dyer.
The certainty of ageing and finality of death occupies a share of our minds, especially as we encounter late middle age. As we hold on to what defines us, we modify our experiences, when an ending is within sight. This philosophy emerges strongly from the book.
If you've picked up this book because it's written by Geoff Dyer, that’s completely understandable. After all, Dyer’s books have been translated into 24 languages. The man has set standards in prose writing in the English language. And if you haven't read any of his nine non-fiction books, this is as good a beginning as any other. Because this category-defying piece of writing cannot sit in biography or self-help and yet has elements of both.
What is compelling is that Dyer focuses on the accomplishments of uncouth geniuses who wrote their own rules when their beautiful youths were over. How much of that resonates with his own life? Maybe this is beyond Nietschze after all!
Industry leaders hold digital transformation key to the CPG sector's breakthrough growth
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Accenture organised “Masters of Change”, a digital transformation symposium, in association with Network18 and MoneyControl on the topic “Ready for Breakthrough Growth? Grow away from the core”, to discuss the trends and developments in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) sector and the establishment of a recovery roadmap for the sector. The roundtable discussion featured esteemed panellists, including Ms Annie Mathew, CIO, Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt. Ltd.; Mr Vineet Sharma, VP – Marketing, South Asia, AB InBev; Mr Harishankar Krishnan, VP – Digital Core Transformation DTS, Kimberly Clark; Mr Gautam Garg, CIO, PepsiCo India; Mr Manish Gupta, MD and Lead – Products, Accenture in India; and Mr Anurag Gupta, MD and Lead - Strategy and Consulting, Accenture in India.
Using technology to address supply chain challenges and dynamic customer preferences
According to Manish, one has to rethink traditional business models through compressed digital transformation that impacts the entire organisation, instead of siloed, sequential steps. Annie held that Mother Dairy uses an array of technology solutions at each stage of the supply chain. She noted, “Automation in daily pouring, cattle fit sales, ration balancing, animal health interventions, entire consignment visibility of fruits and vegetables are some of the ways technology has helped Mother Dairy in establishing a robust and agile supply chain”.
Harishankar emphasised that realising the purpose of an enterprise's existence and alignment of the business ecosystem towards that purpose is essential. Leveraging customer insights through targeted consumer databases and connecting with consumers directly according to their customised preferences is also becoming a mainstream approach to grow businesses in a customer-centric manner. Digital technology aligns the business, product portfolio and communications strategies.
Leveraging digital technology to explore new avenues and markets
Vineet further explained how data is at the core of MarTech for creating meaningful communications and understanding consumers' pulse, saying, "We have used performance data to make decisions on campaigns, consumer sentiment analysis, especially in the times of COVID-19. We have gained a lot from social listening to spot mega-trends and curated our marketing campaigns and product innovations”.
Speaking about how PepsiCo is leveraging technology to facilitate omnichannel service capability, demand sensing, improved warehouse operations, and greater market penetration to build agile and resilient supply chain, Gautam said, "The traditional marketing days are gone, we are investing in new digital marketing capabilities where we listen to the voice of the consumer”. He emphasised that changing the operating mindset with a bi-modal strategy – focusing on both offline and online business streams- is the way forward.
Also, noting how important data insights are for demand sensing, Harishankar emphasised, "Digital manufacturing is a true opportunity to effectively address the twin challenges arising from volatile consumer demand and asset-intensiveness”.
Finding the right partners and strategies to drive innovation
For Manish, the definition of partner is dramatically evolving with changing times. According to him, “Partnerships bring in a large set of capabilities – industry expertise, best practices, upskilling the workforce, in addition to the use of technology to implement digital transformation”.
Anurag held that efficient, agile, and resilient supply chains are a post-pandemic necessity. He shared, "In today’s fast paced world, the variability in supply chain could come from any source, and any part of the industry.”
Addressing skill gaps
Today’s dynamic supply chains require organisations to train their workforce with unique capabilities. The panel noted that having a change agent within the organisation who can challenge the status quo can also help.
The panel signed off the insightful discussion by emphasising that a two-pronged strategy by CPG companies - building a holistic transformation mindset and digitalisation of internal processes and external touchpoints - is indispensable to derive long-lasting benefits from digital transformation.
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