End of the Beginning 341
some may see them as crazy, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to
think they can change the world, are the ones
who do.So someone like Elon has to endure more criticism
because his ideas are changing the world. But if you care
enough about your ideas then it doesn’t matter what the
rest of the world thinks. “For me it was never about money,
but solving problems for the future of humanity,” Elon said.
“If I was purely trying to optimize my net worth, I wouldn’t
have picked these as ventures. I’d be in real estate or finance
or, frankly, in the oil business. There’s nothing wrong with
making money, provided it’s done in an ethical and legal
manner, which it mostly is. The things we read about in
the newspapers are the exception, not the norm. But we
need to consider what it’s all about. What is the meaning of
life? Are we doing things that extend the scope of collective
human knowledge and understanding? We should do the
things that lead us there. I’m not trying to paint myself
as some sort of saint. I’m just making the point that the
success of the company doesn’t change my life. These are
the problems that I think are important and need to be
solved, and I’m trying to help solve them.”22,50,69