Be in Service, Not Business, Or The Way Of Elon Musk

Be in service, not.in business. What do I mean by that?  To make sense of this, we need to look at the bigger picture for a minute - of life and of business, and to  notice that things are not just happening randomly on earth, that there is something...greater...than business, but that moves through business. In fact, there is something very great that moves through all life on earth.

And let's call that mysterious thing love. But we could also call it intelligence. Or maybe, "the evolutionary principle". Because this force I'm talking about has a quality of power and direction to it, and great intelligence. This "Love" runs like a thread through time and all events and forms, continually evolving all things into their next, kinder expression.

So we don't have dinosaurs anymore: big bodies with little brains. instead we have humans: upright bodies with big brains, and opposable thumbs! And we don't just have telephones - we have personal digital assistants. And while we began with horse and buggy, we'll soon have vehicles on the road that drive themselves. So clearly something is going on here. Something is steering the ship, and whatever it is, it's moving things in the direction of increasing kindness. Let's just call it kindness. Because it is steadily making life better, kinder.

So this evolutionary quality must run through business, too. From past to future.

So at some point we will have a choice: we can do things as they've always been done...which is on it's way out...or we can embrace the future just as soon as possible, because that's what's coming in. And I suggest that what's coming in is a business world that is increasingly kind, generous, and in service completely, which means the triple priorities of environment, people, and profit.


Business-as-usual is evolving into Service-as-unusual.
I almost want to say that our world is slowly evolving into a gifting economy, or even a wisdom culture.


Which brings me to Elon Musk.

If you don't know about Elon, he's only one of the most successful, world-changing entrepreneurs on the planet. He created Pay-pal, Solar City, Tesla, and SpaceX. All revolutionary in what they brought to the world, and all very successful companies.

But let's focus for a minute on Tesla. Here Elon did what was considered very unlikely, and very expensive, and yet it worked. Tesla created The Model X, the first luxury four-door fully electric vehicle, and the most award-winning car in history. But didnt just work, it redefined cars. (It's as fast as a McLaren F1, yet you can put your family in it, and it's super comfy.) And its totally green.

Nobody saw this coming.

So what was going through Elon's head? What makes a guy risk all his 20 million dollar fortune on a long shot? Even Elon himself has said many times, "I didn't expect it to work. I expected to fail."

Elon has clearly said what was going through his head. He asked himself "What are the areas of society that would make the biggest difference if we could make a change to it?" And the answer he got was: ending our dependance on fossil fuels. So he applied his mind to the problem and he realized that to release fossil fuels, the world needed to see that an electric car CAN work, and that it can even be sexy.

And he did it. Elon/Tesla pulled it off, in spades. Today they have released another electric car (and SUV) and are planning a third, which will be affordable for the average person.

Elon never asked, "How can I make a million bucks?". Instead he asked, 'What will make the biggest difference? What's needed?'. And then he risked everything to get it done. And he succeeded.

Because the evolution principle was behind him, and it was time, time for humanity to finally and firmly begin having quality electric vehicles.

Elon is in service, not business.


Authors note: congruent with service and not business, Tesla has released all their patents to be used for free by other car companies.