> With SpaceX and Telsa mostly his value-add has been looking at things and saying "This isn't elegantly designed enough" sort of like Steve Jobs but for internals. And he seems to be right often enough to be successful.
That wasn't his value add for either case. In both situations he brought together teams of extremely passionate and talented individuals and gave them a greenlight to employ a "move fast and break things" mindset that they otherwise couldn't in extremely conservative industries. Elon didn't send people back to the drawing board because he had some vision of a more elegant solution, they went back to the drawing board after the most recent iteration exploded.
That wasn't his value add for either case. In both situations he brought together teams of extremely passionate and talented individuals and gave them a greenlight to employ a "move fast and break things" mindset that they otherwise couldn't in extremely conservative industries. Elon didn't send people back to the drawing board because he had some vision of a more elegant solution, they went back to the drawing board after the most recent iteration exploded.