No doubt you were among the millions of people in Thailand and all over the world who followed the amazing story of the rescue of the 12 young footballers and their coach from the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai.
The news spread fast, and the cries for help from families and the nation were heard beyond borders, bringing much-needed assistance from many experts from different countries. Among those moved by the plight of the Wild Boars and keen to help was Elon Musk, the American business magnate and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla.
Many media outlets have dubbed Elon Musk a “real-life Iron Man”, a reference to the hero-inventor of Marvel comics fame. Like Iron Man, he responded to the crisis swiftly. He brought his team of engineers as well as a mini-submarine that he had tested back in California in hopes that it could be used to extract the boys and their coach.
And although the submarine was not used in the end, we can still learn a lot from his attitude and quick response to the crisis. I believe Elon Musk can teach us three things in particular:
First, he has shown a positive mindset towards trying to solve a crisis. The many tweets he shared on Twitter made clear that he was empathetic and supportive of rescuing the boys and their coach.
Elon Musk displayed what the Arbinger Institute calls the “outward mindset”. This describes the practice of seeing people as people, placing yourself in their shoes, and truly understanding what moves and motivates them.
He displayed this quality by going out of his way, communicating constantly with the rescue team and finally even visiting them in person. He wanted to better understand them and the problem they were facing. It is only when you adjust your mindset in this way that you will be able to bring out the potential of your leadership and innovation efforts.
Second, he has shown great leadership. From taking charge and communicating with the rescue team in Thailand, Elon Musk first and foremost did the one thing great leaders must be able to do -- assess the situation, clarify the goals and communicate them back to his team.
Additionally, when news broke out that Elon Musk was sending a team of engineers to Thailand to help, no one ever predicted that he would join them. I think that when you are a leader, it is so important to be part of the team you are handling and to get out there with them. It was admirable for him to show up and observe the cave and the rescue teams at work.
As Ken Blanchard, the American author and management expert, once said: “The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people.”
Third, he displayed quick, innovative thinking as he prototyped and tested a proposed human submarine to help get the boys out of the flooded cave. I am reminded of the design thinking model for innovation designed by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (Stanford d.school).
In the design thinking model, the stages include empathising with customers, defining the problem, ideating solutions, prototyping a particular idea and then testing that idea in the real market. Though seemingly linear, it is more of a cycle or journey as you most likely have to return to certain stages during the process.
Given the severe time constraints the rescue team was facing, Elon Musk had to quickly observe events based on news reports, communicate with the team in Thailand, understand the problem and propose a solution. That’s when he came up with the human submarine. Then his team prototyped and tested the idea in a swimming pool.
When they were ready, he flew to Thailand with his team of engineers to assist. This allowed him to empathise on a more fundamental level with the rescue team and understand even further what they were going through.
Beyond the outward mindset, leadership and innovative thinking, the most important thing we can learn from Elon Musk is to be human. And to be human is to be compassionate to others and to show passion when it comes to helping people. As business leaders, you can only do so much. But with the right mindset, you can push beyond limitations and make a positive impact in our world.
Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer and Managing Director at SEAC (formerly APMGroup) Southeast Asia’s leading Executive, Leadership and Innovation Capability Development Center. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa
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