Vishen Lakhiani explains how Elon Musk frames SpaceX's mission to attract talent: not as a vertical trucking company, but as humanity's backup plan against a 1-in-30,000 extinction risk and Mars colonization within ten years. The visionary narrative, not the literal one, is what moves people.
Questions this video answers
1 in 30,000 chance of human extinction in our lifetime.
Within 10 years (as stated by Musk).
At least 19 other companies.
A "vertical trucking company" (moving parts to the International Space Station).
Moon Express (literal moonshot, mining the moon) and Viome (aims to "make illness a choice").
Chapters
I was once on the board of the XPRIZE foundation and we got to go to SpaceX, we got to actually sit down with Musk, ask him a couple of questions. And it is amazing how big this guy thinks. Now this is what I noticed about Musk, right? He said when we asked him, so what's the grand vision here for SpaceX? Now think about this. SpaceX is nothing more than a vertical trucking company. Horizontal trucks move Goods this way, SpaceX moves goods this way. It's basically taking parts to the International Space station. There are 19 other companies, at least, that do the same thing. But in a survey of employees in Silicon Valley, the number one place for engineers to work is SpaceX. Because Elon Musk doesn't talk about it like it's a trucking company. He talks about it 10 years in the future. I remember that day right here meeting Musk. This was around five years ago. He described how all his companies connected from SpaceX to Tesla to SolarCity. And he spoke about this. He said, look at SpaceX. We're looking to back up the human race. Because think about it, when you have important things on your hard drive, you back up your hard drive. The human species is important, but a single asteroid could wipe us out. There's a 1 in 30,000 chance we will be wiped out in our lifetime. 1 in 30,000 isn't big, but that chance still exists. And what Elon said he wants to do is within 10 years colonize Mars. He has no idea how to get there, but it doesn't matter. He said, look, I don't know how I'm going to get there. And I'm aiming And I think 10 years is about right. But I'm known to be over optimistic on these targets. And so when he speaks about the vision, about the role he's playing in the world, he's not a guy who runs a vertical trucking company. That's for the other 19 space companies to describe themselves. He's saving the human race. And that's the first key idea about vision. And I noticed this when I spoke to many great minds in Silicon Valley. They would not describe what their companies do now. They always think 10 years ahead and speak as if it's happening now. When I started speaking about mindvalley in the same way, we started growing, we started being able to attract great talent. Now I was listening to this guy, Naveen Jain.
Naveen Jain.
The great Naveen Jain. Naveen Jain are the founder of multiple tech companies, including Literal Moonshot Moon Express, which ultimately intends to colonize the moon.
With his new company, Viome. He wants to make illness a choice.
When people ask me, what is it that you are doing? I say, I'm going to be mining the moon. And you know what they tell me? You're fucking crazy. And you say, well, that means I'm thinking the right thing.
Naveen had a really interesting quote that I want to read out to you. When you do something audacious, it actually becomes easier because you get the best people to join you. The problem you are solving is worth solving. You have the magnets now and you get the money because the investors call and then you tell them you don't need the money now. Like a bull, you, they charge, so sell the benefit to humanity. Notice that's what Elon was doing. Cult leaders say loyalty lies with me. Entrepreneurs say loyalty lies with the cause. What Naveen was saying was essentially this. When you dream big, your problems become small. So bold missions are actually the ultimate business advantage. But so many of us play small. So many of us think that we have to be realistic. That in our business plans we have to write down what is practical, what is real, what's executable. Realism is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of pessimism. The people with the most consistent track records of success don't think in terms of what is. They think in terms of what could be. When you talk about your vision as if it's 10 years ahead, it almost becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The investors want to start talking to you. Talent wants to work with you. Because smart people don't want to waste their lives on jobs. They want to make an impact.
