I recall those desperate days of Tesla, the not-so-distant days when its share price was around $180, and the big investment-bank analysts were forecasting a $10-tesla shares. As far as I can remember, it was in one of those days that Elon Musk appeared in a podcast and burst into tears while describing what he was going through in keeping the company afloat.
It was so impressed by his dedication and commitment to the success of his company that I decided to do my part by buying a few Tesla shares just to support such an amazing soul and his ambitions. I have never been so careless with my hard-earned money, but once I saw how steadfast on his conviction he was, and how hard he worked to achieve what he aimed for, I just decided to disregard all the analysts’ forecasts and buy a few shares. I was totally convinced that even if the investment turned sour, I would always be proud of losing the money on a noble, ambitious, and worthwhile cause. [Of course, as you might know, Musk, as always, did not disappoint and I got paid back manyfold.]
I am a lawyer, and the supermajority of lawyers are conservative or become so through time. This should come as no surprise as spending so much time within the conservative legal institutions naturally breeds conservatism. Having this in mind, I – similar to many other legal professionals and scholars - should have naturally held a very pessimistic view of the cowboy-like methods of the likes of Elon Musk and their enterprise.
Perhaps for a lawyer, being conservative is a virtue, but our deeply ingrained conservatism should not blind us to the fact that we live in a multi-dimensional world that needs all sorts of people with various attitudes, aptitudes, and risk calibers to make the world go round.
This is why, despite my usual legal conservatism, the people whom I admire most (in private) are those who – defying all the odds - take a risk with their own skin in the game to better their lives and those of others by trying to stubbornly solve difficult problems of our age, or those who are just after financial gains and in the meantime make the world a better place to live.
In the case of Mr. Musk, I was happy to see that the US justice system - despite the fines imposed on him on certain occasions - has been flexible and gave him some leeway and room for maneuver. I believe if the likes of Elon Musk were in a different jurisdiction and made the same mistakes, the outcome of the legal proceedings would have been different.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I am honored and feel privileged to be living in the same era, breathing the same air, and walking on the same planet as those of the great gentlemen like Mr. Musk. I raise my chapeau to their success and wish them all the best for the coming year and decade, which I hope would be remembered in the history books as the roaring 20s of the 21st century.
Many of us, as well as our posterity, will be grateful for all the pioneering and entrepreneurial spirits of such great gentlemen.
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