UNIVERSITY OF ST.

GAL LEN
School of Management, Economics, Law, Social Sciences and International Affairs

Exploring the impact of Elon Musk and Sam Walton

specific personality characteristics on their
companies’ aim and profitability

Term Paper

University of St.Gallen

Introduction to Academic Writing

16 November 2016

Tom Eberle

Linsebühlstrasse 12

9000, St.Gallen

tom.eberle@student.unisg.ch

Matriculation number: 16-607-418

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to compare specific personality traits of Elon Musk, the founder of
numerous firms such as Tesla, Paypal or SpaceX and Sam Walton, the founder of the retailing
chain Wal-Mart, and the impact of these traits on their companies’ aim and profitability. In
order to analyse their personalities, Bass’s (1985) transformational leadership theory will be
used. At first, personalities will be analysed with the help of biographies, newspaper articles
and published interviews. Then, the company profitability and aim will be assessed on the
basis of the annual reports of Tesla Motors, SolarCity and Wal-Mart. The analysis of these
components shows the impact of the founder’s personalities on the companies they have
created: Elon Musk’s eccentricity leads to disruptive innovation while Sam Walton’s more
conventional systematic approach has allowed the emergence of a mighty market leader that
has been highly profitable over decades. There is also a link between profitability and
personality: Elon Musk’s alleged negative net income is doubtless the result of high risks
taking combined with a futuristic approach while Sam Walton’s more prudent approach
towards risks and his long term vision have led to continuous positive net income.

TOM EBERLE 2
 Table of content

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................... 3
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 4
2. DRAWING SPECIFIC PERSONALITIES CHARACTERISTICS ......................................................... 5
2.1 ELON MUSK ......................................................................................................................................5
2.2 SAM WALTON ...................................................................................................................................6
2.3 TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP .........................................................................................................6
2.4 COMPARISON OF SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM AND APPLICATION OF TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP THEORY .................................................................................................................................7

3. ANALYZING THEIR COMPANIES’ AIM AND PROFITABILITY ..................................................... 9

3.1 ELON MUSK COMPANIES .....................................................................................................................9
3.2 SAM WALTON COMPANY ................................................................................................................. 10
3.3 COMPARISON OF THE TWO LEADERS’ AIM AND NET INCOME ................................................................... 11
4. ASSUMPTION ON THE INFLUENCE OF LEADER’S PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS ON
COMPANIES’ AIM AND PROFITABILITY........................................................................................ 12
5. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 13
BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................... 14

List of tables

Figure 1: Specific personalities similarities between Elon Musk and Sam Walton according to
the previous analyse .......................................................................................................... 8
Figure 2: Specific personalities differences between Elon Musk and Sam Walton according to
the previous analyse .......................................................................................................... 8
Figure 3: Net income of Tesla and SolarCity between 2010 and 2015 (SolarCity, 2010-2015b)
(Tesla Motors, 2010-2015) ...............................................................................................10
Figure 4: Net income of Wal-Mart between 1968 and 1974 (Wal-Mart Stores, 1968-1974) .11

TOM EBERLE 3
 1. Introduction

“The world is not enough” (Economist, 2016). This was the title of an article in the economic
magazine talking about Elon Musk’s ambitions. Until recently, space exploration was
exclusively controlled by nations, chiefly because of the important costs. Elon Musk however
appears to plan for a human colony on Mars before the end of the century using SpaceX’s
rockets. This sounds like an unrealistic dream. However, the Economist says that this
businessman has thought about it twice, and that his project is tangible. Elon Musk excels
with technical knowledge on physics and economic principles. SpaceX is not the first success
for Mr. Musk. His first company X.com set up in 1998 later became PayPal and was sold for
$1.5 billions in 2002. He created Tesla Motors in 2003 and invested $130 millions. Today the
company is worth $35 billions (Vance, 2015a). One may suspect a man with a large ego and
overweening self-confidence. However, his mother describes him as an introverted person
(Leahey, 2013). One may wonder what makes this man so efficient in business. There could
be numerous answers, but an important part is undoubtedly linked to his extraordinary
personality.

Another businessman from a different century may also raise similar questions: Sam Walton,
the founder of Walmart. Sam Walton began with a single franchise store of the Butler
Brothers (retailer and wholesale supplier) chain that he bought $25,000. He then
systematically expanded the company. In 1985, at the height of his career, he was the
wealthiest citizen of America. When he died, Walmart was the biggest distribution chain in
the USA (Walton, 1992). S. Walton’s was “notabl[e] […] hunger for learning” and his
personality was described as “singularly charismatic” (Fortune, 2013).

The aim of this paper is to analyse the specific personality characteristics of these two leaders
and their impact on their companies’ aim and profitability, and then analyse the influence of
personality on company growth. Personality is defined as the “individual differences in
characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving” (APA.org, 2016). Behaviour analysis
is the purpose of leadership styles theories. Bass (1985), created the transformational
leadership theory which is known as a “new leadership approach” (Flynn, 2015). Hence, this
theory will be used to compare E. Musk and S. Walton personalities. This document will
answer the following research question: “What are the differences between the specific
personality characteristics of Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, SpaceX or PayPal and Sam
Walton, the founder of Walmart, and how do these specificities influence the aim and
profitability of the companies?”. This essay will draw the specific personality characteristics
of the two business tycoons and compare them using leadership theories. In a second step,
this essay will analyse and compare the aim and profitability of their companies. Lastly, this
essay will develop assumptions on the influence of personality on company growth.

TOM EBERLE 4
 2. Drawing specific personalities characteristics

2.1 Elon Musk

In an interview for the magazine Fortune 500, Musk’s mother said that during childhood Elon
“introversion led […] to believe for some time that he might be deaf” (Leahey, 2013). Also, his
brother said in his biography that “’it was not unusual for him to read ten hours a day’”
(Vance, 2015a, p. 33). As a child Elon seemed to be introverted, withdrawn in books, but also
smart and thus cultivated. He learned almost everything from books (Vance, 2015a). In fact,
he was a sort of genius (Vance, 2015a). These strong knowledge and intelligence gives Elon a
charismatic personality.

When we observe some interviews and conferences that he gave during the past years (Every
Elon Musk Video, 2015), it is clear that E. Musk has a specific way of speaking. When he talks,
he makes abrupt stops and then re-starts again. He seems to think before formulating each
sentences. It appears that this hesitant approach to speaking and his introversion that still
persist through the years. Despite of this shortcomings, Elon Musk is capable of giving a
multitude of interviews, conferences, presentations and keynotes each years.
However, this jerky talk also might be explained by his longing for scientific precision: “like
many engineer or physicist, Musk will pause while fishing around for exact phrasing” (Vance,
2015a, p. 8). This shows his perfectionism: he desires to be precise about everything he
expresses. But more than being perfectionism, Elon is sometimes characterised as a maniac
(Vance, 2015a, p. 218).

Furthermore, Elon is a visionary disruptive innovator, proposing cheap space rocket through
SpaceX, the first electronic payment system through PayPal, low cost solar panels with Solar
City and high quality electric sedans with Tesla Motors (Vance, 2015a). He has an excessive
appetite for risk: “’he’s willing to take insane an insane amount of personal risk’” (Vance,
2015a, p. 89). Also, if rules do not follow his ideas, he contests them (Vance, 2015a, p. 242).

His wife characterised him in an article of the magazine Marie Claire as “[not] afraid of
responsibility” (Greenfield, 2010). In an interview for Elon Musk’s biography written by A.
Vance, a collaborator described him as eccentric and unpretentious (Vance, 2015a, p. 182).
Even though Musk publicly displayed his wealth after the sale of PayPal by buying a one
million dollars McLaren F1 sports car and a small aircraft (Vance, 2015a, p. 142). That confirm
his eccentricity and contrasts his unpretentious personality.

On the other hand, “Musk is not easy to work with” (Vance, 2012). Some of his former co-
workers have portrayed the business tycoon as “autocratic and blunt to the point of
offensive” (Vance, 2012). In an interview of E. Musk biographer (Ashlee Vance) in Talks at
Google, Ashlee told that even employees who work with Elon for a long time don’t consider

TOM EBERLE 5
Elon as a friend and conversely: “Elon still the boss” (Vance, 2015b). Thus, Elon seems to have
a lack of sympathy for his employees, and an authoritarian personality.

2.2 Sam Walton

In a study on business leaders by Alberto Silva, Sam Walton was characterised as a “tenacious
entrepreneur, always focusing on the customers” (Silva, 2014, p. 54). He was “obsessed with
cost reduction” (Silva, 2014, p. 54) and “helping the community” (Silva, 2014, p. 54). Thus, S.
Walton was engaged in his business and dedicated to customers’ and employees’ welfare.

Alberto Silva’s paper (2014, p. 54) also indicates that Sam was a smart person but not a genius,
even though, he had the bravery of his belief (as cited in Tedlow, 2001). It appears that Walton
was well aware of the rules and did not hesitate to challenge them when he thought it is
necessary. He was “confident in him-self”, respectful towards people and “striving for
excellence” (as cited in Bergdahl, 2006).

S. Walton was a “charismatic leader” (Bergdahl, 2006, p. 11) with the talent to build
employees self-confidence considering everyone as partners (Bergdahl, 2006). Hence, he had
sympathy for the people he worked with.

Moreover, A. Silva (2014) demonstrates that Sam Walton was determined to accomplish his
goals, with a strong commitment to reach objectives. He also had an appetite for risk: he was
“not afraid to make mistakes”. In addition, this is depicted in his biography when he narrated
stories about his adolescence. He always wanted to be the best and accomplishing exploits.
For instance, he rescued a kid from drowning when he was a scouts or “sell[ed] more
[newspapers] than everybody else” when he worked during his studies (Walton, 1992, p. 13
& 15). Thus, he was driven by a strong ambition.

Finally, Sam Walton had a special relationship with money. In an interview of David Glass for
Walton’s biography he was described as living as if “he was broke” (Walton, 1992, p. 12). He
never bought extravagant goods such as sports car or yacht. In 1987, when Wal-Mart stocks
dropped down making him lose half a billion dollars, he said “’It’s only paper’” (Walton, 1992,
p. 9). This illustration the fact that Sam Walton was unpretentious and not obsessed with
money.

2.3 Transformational leadership

Transformational and transactional leadership theories were designed by Burns (1978) and
used by Bass (1985) in his work. As stated by Flynn (2015), transactional leadership is seen as
“a traditional approach to leadership studies” whereas transformational leadership is

TOM EBERLE 6
perceived as “new leadership approach”. Therefore, we will use transformational leadership
theory to compare the two businessmen.

Transformational leadership, leaders are characterised by the following behaviours:

“attributed charisma, idealized influence, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and
individualized consideration” (Flynn, 2015).

Attributed charisma refers to a leader's self-confidence and assertiveness in inspiring trust

and respect in their subordinates.
Idealized influence refers to a respected leader's effort to promote his beliefs and influence
subordinates.
Inspiration refers to a leader's effort to convey belief in and high expectations of subordinates.
Intellectual stimulation refers to leader's effort to encourage creative and proactive problem-
solving approaches.
Individualized consideration refers to a leader's efforts to promote interpersonal connection
with each individual subordinate. (Flynn, 2015)

These behaviours will be used as points of comparison in the next part to determine if they
are or not transformational leaders.

2.4 Comparison of similarities and differences between them and application

of transformational leadership theory

Elon Musk Sam Walton

Similarities Charismatic Charismatic

Innovator Innovator
Creative Creative
Visionary Visionary
Rules breaker Rules breaker
Ambitious Ambitious
Genius Smart
Perfectionist/maniac Perfectionist/seeking excellence
Unpretentious Unpretentious
Very high appetite for risks Not afraid of taking risks
Not afraid of responsibilities Not afraid of responsibilities

TOM EBERLE 7
 Figure 1: Specific personalities similarities between Elon Musk and Sam Walton according to the previous
analyse

First of all, both men have a charismatic personality. Elon’s charisma is characterised by his
introversion, singular way of thinking and strong knowledge whereas Sam charisma was
ground in social skills and strong beliefs.
They are innovator, creative and visionary. Sam Walton’s innovation capacity was focused on
retailing and business management while Elon is disrupting numerous industries such as cars,
space rockets, solar panels and trains with his engineering innovations. Hence, Mr. Musk is a
sort of geeky genius whereas Mr. Walton was a smart person talented with business.
Perfectionism is also part of their personalities.
Moreover, Musk and Walton are unpretentious, working alongside people in factory or
stores. And they are not afraid of risks and responsibilities. In spite of this, Elon Musk’s
appetite for risk appears to be much bigger than Sam Walton’s.

Elon Musk Sam Walton

Differences Eccentric Normal – not eccentric
Lack of sympathy Lot of sympathy
Spendthrift Not spendthrift / conservative
Introverted Extraverted

Figure 2: Specific personalities differences between Elon Musk and Sam Walton according to the previous
analyse

The first difference between E. Musk and S. Walton is that Elon has an eccentric personality
where Wal-Mart’s founder appeared to be an ordinary American citizen: not far from
America’s cliché. Sam Walton lived in a residential area even when he became billionaire,
drove a pick-up, had a family, went to church every Sundays and travelled in America during
holidays (Walton, 1992). Elon has numerus properties, divorced twice in the public lime light,
wants to colonise Mars and went to work with a McLaren F1 (Vance, 2015a). From there,
another difference is that Elon Musk is spendthrift whereas Sam Walton appears to manage
his finances in a conservative manner.
Some employees at Elon Musk’s companies denounce a lack of empathy towards them. At
the opposite, the vast majority of people who knew and worked with S. Walton illustrate a
man with a lot of empathy and easy to work with.
Finally, Elon has an introverted personality where Sam had an extraverted personality.

According to the theory of transformational leadership (Bass, 1985) we may differentiate

their way of behaving for their companies on the following characteristics:

TOM EBERLE 8
  Attributed charisma: both leaders are self-confident and inspiring trust. Even
though, Elon self-confidence and reassuring words come from his massive
knowledge while Sam used his social skills.
 On the characteristic of idealized influence, they are also similar. They promote
their beliefs and influence subordinates.
 They are dissimilar on inspiration. Sam Walton transferred his beliefs in and
shaped high expectation of his employees concerning their task in Wal-Mart while
Elon Musk wants his employees to do what he wants to: he his autocratic.
 They are disparate on intellectual stimulation. Sam tried to involved and promote
decision taking of his employees whereas Elon always wants better his employees
does.
 They are also divergent on individual consideration. S. Walton always tried to be
interactive with his employees, he often travelled between different stores to
meet employees, even during his family’s holidays. E. Musk does not appear to
have interpersonal connections with his employees: he tends to have a lack of
deeper interest in the people he worked with.

In sum, Sam Walton appears as much more of a transformational leader than Elon Musk.

3. Analyzing their companies’ aim and profitability

On the following analysis, net income has been chosen because it is the result of revenue
minus depreciation, interest, taxes and other expenses. Thus, it will be easier to see the
impact of risks taken by the company such as loans.

3.1 Elon Musk companies

Elon Musk has created five companies and still leads four of them: Tesla Motors, SpaceX,
SolarCity and Hyperloop. Tesla is a car company with the goal to create a mass production of
electric cars in order to advent sustainable transports (The Mission of Tesla, 2013). SpaceX is
a spacecraft company aiming to “revolutionize space technology” and enable people to live
on other planets (SpaceX, 2016). SolarCity company is a solar panel producer intending to
expand the use of clean energy for everyone (SolarCity, SolarCity Corp. Website, 2016b). And
Hyperloop is a transport company planning to modernise the transport of cargo and
passengers (Hyperloop, 2016). These companies are designed to change the world, and to
reach goals that are seemingly unreachable. Also, all of Musk’s companies are disruptive and
challenge established industries.

TOM EBERLE 9
 NET INCOME OF TESLA AND
SOLARCITY BETWEEN 2010 AND 2015
200
y = -8.9143x - 14.133
Net income (in millions $)

-200

-400

-600
y = -99.229x + 3.8
-800

-1000
2010 (TSLA 2012 (SCTY
2011 2013 2014 2015
IPO) IPO)
Tesla Motors -154 -254 -396 -74 -294 -889
SolarCity -47 44 -99 -56 -56 -58

Tesla Motors SolarCity Tesla's trend line SolarCity's trend line

Figure 3: Net income of Tesla and SolarCity between 2010 and 2015 (SolarCity, 2010-2015a) (Tesla Motors,
2010-2015)

Even if Musk’s companies’ ambitions are great, they are not all generating profit for the
moment. In fact, Tesla Motors was created in 2003 but still have negative income twelve years
later (Tesla Motors, 2010-2015).The trend line of Tesla’s income since its initial public offer
(IPO) demonstrates that the tendency of the business is to have increasing losses every year
(-99 coefficient on the Figure 3). In the same way, SolarCity’s trend line is decreasing (-8.9
coefficient on the Figure 3) exhibiting the fact that SolarCity occurred growing losses since
2012. Additionally, Hyperloop One requires important investment before it will become
profitable. Indeed, it will require a lot of research before producing a viable new train system.
SpaceX is the unique profitable company of E. Musk today since it is mainly financed by a $1.6
billion contract with NASA to supply the ISS (Vance, 2015a, p. 413).

3.2 Sam Walton company

Sam Walton had created only one company: Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a retailing company
created in 1962 with the following mission statement: “We save people money so they can
leave better” (Walmart, 2016). The company always aimed to obtain the lowest price in the
market. Even though, according to Sam Walton biography (1992), the company always acted
to make their employees more concerned and able to lead their own part of the business. In
general, the aim of Wal-Mart is to better people’s every day’s lives with low prices and
involvement in the retailing process. Thus, Wal-Mart is a progressive company pursuing more
mundane goals. However, it undeniably has an immediate and direct impact on a huge part
of the American citizen.

TOM EBERLE 10
 NET INCOME OF WAL-MART BETWEEN
1968 AND 1974
8

7
y = 0.2933e0.4468x
Net income (in millions $)

0
1968 1969 (IPO) 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
Wal-Mart 0.5 0.6 1.2 1.7 2.9 4.6 6.2

Wal-Mart Wal-Mart's trend line

Figure 4: Net income of Wal-Mart between 1968 and 1974 (Wal-Mart Stores, 1968-1974)

In order to compare Tesla and SolarCity to Wal-Mart a reference must be set. On this graph,
the years 1974 have been taken as limit for Wal-Mart incomes analysis because it corresponds
to the twelfth anniversary of the company as Tesla was twelve years old in 2015.

Wal-Mart always had a positive income between 1968 and 1974 (unavailable data about 1962
to 1967 incomes on Wal-Mart website’s). Twelve years after its creation, the firm had bigger
profit than the past years. The computed incomes trend line is exponentially growing (see
equation on the Figure 4). It illustrates the important evolution in incomes generated by Wal-
Mart. Hence, Wal-Mart had succeeded continuously growing profit between 1968 and 1974.

3.3 Comparison of the two leaders’ aim and net income

The companies created by the two business leaders are different on numerous points. Based
on the previous analysis of their firms, the following distinctions may be outlined:
 The companies’ ambitions are similar: enhanced peoples’ lives and assure
company success with innovations. However, their scope is drastically different.
Wal-Mart seeks to have lower prices on a wide consumer goods whereas Tesla
effort is focusing on cutting the price of electric cars, SolarCity attempt to design
accessible solar installation and SpaceX work to colonise another planet.
 The visions of these companies are different. Sam Walton company’s is designed
to impact people’s lives in the short to medium term with low prices politics. Elon

TOM EBERLE 11
 Musk companies’ try to impact people life on medium to long term with high
technology permitting the expansion of sustainable energy and space exploration.
 Wal-Mart profitability is much better than the profitability of Elon Musk’s
companies. Wal-Mart incomes has grown exponentially between its IPO (1969)
and 1974. While Tesla and SolarCity occurred linear growing losses since 2010 and
SpaceX is profitable only because a governmental contract (Vance, 2015a).

4. Assumption on the influence of leader’s personality characteristics on

companies’ aim and profitability

Referring to the previous analysis of Elon Musk and Sam Walton personalities’ and companies’
we can develop the following assumptions concerning the influence of personality
characteristics on companies aim and income:
 Elon Musk’s eccentricity leads to companies with extraordinary and risky goals
such as space exploration and attempting to disrupt established industries. Sam
Walton’s more conventional personality conduct his highly profitable firm to more
mundane goals, exploiting markets that are not under monopoly.
 It is not surprising that Elon Musk’s firms are high-tech. This is probably linked to
his engineering interests, his genius, strong scientific and technical knowledge as
well as introversion. The smartness, social skills and individual consideration of
Sam Walton potentially lead to a firm with the aim of adding value to the
community.
 The huge and fast growth of Elon Musk’s companies despite their losses might be
explained by the fact that he sells visions to investors who believe him. Where Sam
Walton sells cheap and quality consumer goods to the American masses.
 The high risk and responsibility taking as well as Elon’s long term vision influence
the fact that majority of his firms has a negative net income due to loans and over
expansion. And, on the contrary, a less important amount of risk and responsibility
endorsed by the firm might lead to positive net incomes.

TOM EBERLE 12
 5. Conclusion

Elon Musk and Sam Walton have different personalities. On one hand, the analysis of their
personalities showed that Elon is a genius focused on engineering, introverted, eccentric,
taking high risks and responsibilities. Moreover, he does not totally fit with the
transformational leadership style. While Sam Walton is smart, extraverted, not eccentric,
taking medium risks as well as responsibilities, and well described with the transformational
leadership style. On the other hand, the analysis of their companies demonstrate the fact that
most of Elon Musk’s companies are disruptive and not profitable, aiming to impact people’s
life at best in the medium to long term. Sam Walton company is progressive, profitable with
the aim of enhance people’s life in short term. The assumptions that can be developed from
these two analysis is that the eccentricity of Elon Musk and the conventionality of Sam Walton
may lead to respectively disruptive or mundane company goals. Additionally, Elon Musk’s
geniuses might be linked with the companies technological and technical skills while Wal-
Mart’s aim to help the community might be related to Sam Walton social skills. Moreover,
Elon Musk sells his visions to investors, while Sam Walton sells cheap quality consumer goods
to the American masses. Finally, the differences in personalities concerning risks and
responsibilities taking as well as vision between the two business men might explain the
positive net income of Wal-Mart and the losses of Musk’s companies. A more precise
investigation of these companies’ characteristics such as growth rate, employments rates or
hiring rate could give more precise assumptions on how their personalities impact their
companies.

TOM EBERLE 13
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TOM EBERLE 15
Declaration of authorship

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expulsion from the University or my being stripped of my degree.”

Tom Eberle

NUMBER OF CHARACTERS
20’915 (with spaces, excluding figures)

TOM EBERLE 16