During his 2013 SXSW appearance, Elon Musk offered a revealing admission about leadership that went beyond his typical discussions of rockets and electric cars. When asked about his biggest personal mistake, the tech entrepreneur didn’t hesitate to identify a fundamental error in judgment he had repeated multiple times.
“The biggest mistake in general that I’ve made and I’m trying to correct for that is to put too much of a waiting on somebody’s talent and not enough on their personality,” Musk said.
He acknowledged this wasn’t a one-time error but a pattern he struggled to break. “I’ve made that mistake several times. In fact, I would say I’m not going to make that mistake again then I would make it again.”
This confession came near the end of a previous conversation where Musk discussed SpaceX’s recent Dragon spacecraft emergency, Tesla’s production challenges, and his vision for Mars colonization.
The admission gained additional weight when Musk emphasized what truly matters in building teams. “I think it actually matters whether some somebody has a good heart. It really does and and I’ve made mistake if thinking that sometimes it’s just about the brain,” he said.
This statement stood in stark contrast to Silicon Valley’s typical obsession with recruiting the smartest people in the room, regardless of their interpersonal qualities.
Musk’s mistake becomes more understandable given the extreme technical challenges his companies face. SpaceX builds reusable rockets, Tesla pioneered mass-market electric vehicles, and SolarCity (where he served as chairman) worked to revolutionize solar energy adoption. These ventures demand exceptional technical expertise, making it tempting to overlook character flaws in brilliant individuals.
In 2013, Musk was navigating intense pressure across all his ventures. He described the previous year as one of “great achievement” but admitted “I didn’t have that much fun it sucked I didn’t have that much fun.”
