Contemporary Business Leader Elon Musk is a very bright and successful business leader across many industries. It is no secret that he possesses many positive traits and that has lead him to be as successful as he has become. He has inspired millions of future business leaders and innovators throughout his career and will likely continue to. Through examining his accomplishments, challenges, answers to those challenges, leadership style, and his competition it will become more clear what has worked for him and why throughout his career. Contemporary Business Leader Elon Musk is a global leader in electric rechargeable car technology, private space exploration and created and sold the world’s leading internet payment app PayPal. The electric rechargeable vehicle company he co-owns and is CEO of Tesla which was founded in 2003 and has been with the company ever since (www.Tesla.com, Elon Musk, 2020). Elon is the lead designer for Space-X which just recently completed the first private astronaut launch ever. He co-founded the company in 2002 and has been an active leader through the present. Elon Musk also started-up and sold Zip2 in 1995 and PayPal in 1999, which gave him the money to begin the aforementioned companies (www.biography.com, Elon Musk, 2020). Leadership Approach Elon Musk exhibits classic traits of a transformational leader. A transformational leadership is one where the leader has an inspirational relationships with their followers and both are positively transformed through the relationship (Uhl-Bien, Schermerhorn, & Osborn, 2014). Musk often gives very powerful and charismatic speeches that are not arrogant or self-righteous, rather imploring the importance of the work being done for the future of mankind. He knows things like space exploration and cleaner fuels need to be happening and he is building a team that he works with to make them happen. After the successful launch of two American astronauts in Musk’s Space-X private space ship were launched, you could see how he leapt for joy with his team. They were all happy together and felt that they all participated in achieving this goal and it showed on national television. Greatest Achievement Elon Musk has sold start-up companies for hundreds of millions of dollars and has started an electric revolution with his cars. He is considered an engineering genius and a business mastermind for these feats, yet none of them come close to what he achieved on May 31st, 2020. His company, Space-X was the first private space exploration company to ever launch astronauts into orbit (www.biography.com, Elon Musk, 2020). This is one of the most major milestones for space exploration that America has had in about a decade. It is also a pivotal step towards Elon’s ultimate goal of sending astronauts to Mars on one of Space-X’s rockets. Handling a Challenge In November of 2017, Elon Musk and his company, Space-X, received a large setback in plans when a new engines exploded while being tested in their warehouses. This was the very engine that was set to be place in the Falcon 9 rockets that were carrying two American astronauts to the International Space Station (www.biography.com, Elon Musk, 2020). Luckily Musk was able to report that no one was hurt and he was adamant that this would not hamper or alter the plans for the Falcon 9 rockets. He handled this challenge as a leader by reassuring his employees and the public that though mistakes had been made and an accident had happened, there was no need for panic or fear. He dealt with potential fallout by being a leader in the public eye instead of reverting back to his managerial engineer side and working on the fixes himself with his team. Power Base It would be wrong to say that Elon Musk was perfect and that he does not exploit somethings that are not always the most savory to see. He did use his referent power base to solve the challenge of the explosion in his company. A referent power base is when a leader has power from their simple perceived attractiveness and right to respect from others (Uhl-Bien, Schermerhorn, & Osborn, 2014). This means that he knows that people perceive him as a very smart and down to Earth person so he used that image to get in front of a bad narrative and remind people that a likeable and respectful person is working to fix the problem. People in the media, around the world, and in his company trusted him because of his referent power base and that is what he used to help solve this challenge. Leadership Comparison Richard Branson is a competitor of Elon Musk’s Space-X company. Branson owns many companies such as Virgin Records, Virgin Voyages, Virgin Hotels, and Virgin Galactic The latter. Virgin Galactic, is a private space exploration/tourism company that has been competition with Space-X to get the first mannedrocket into space. Richard Branson is much more of an adaptive leader in that he is always looking for another profitable venture to invest in and repurposes some of his companies as they falter in profits. An adaptive leader is one that can operate in between the administrative and entrepreneurial systems and always puts the company at the position for growth and emergence (Uhl-Bien, Schermerhorn, & Osborn, 2014). While Branson is a billionaire the same as Elon Musk, they are very different in their leadership styles. Elon has gained his renown and respect as an expert in the fields he owns his companies in while Branson is heralded for his business acumen. They both are very public business-heads though which has lead to them being role models for millions of entrepreneurs and innovators. Attributes Elon Musk is very well known for his confidence and his outspoken nature. A leader can never have too much confidence and should strive to be confident in everything they do for their teams. Confidence is just the feeling of being sure that what you are doing is the right thing. Elon Musk has always been confident, even when he has missed deadlines and had some mistakes with his products which has helped his companies image in the public eye. As far as him being outspoken, that may be a problematic attribute for a leader to have. For example, Elon has been speaking out against the closure of businesses across the country due to COVID-19 citing that the death toll does not warrant that response. Whether or not he is right about that fact, him being outspoken against it hurt his and his companies’ images in the public eye needlessly. This is a trait that he would probably be better off not having. Conclusion Elon Musk is a powerful leader, with many eyes on him at all times. What has just been examined is a culmination of his business achievements and challenges with the leadership style and attributes that allowed him to accomplish and solve all that he has. His competition is not much different from him though they have vastly different backgrounds and educations. He is not necessarily a prototype of the perfect leader, but there is no denying of what he has accomplished.