Walter Isaacson

Yeah, I think I have the talent to observe people really closely.

to write about it in a straight, but I hope interesting narrative style.

That's a power.

It's totally different from running an organization.

It took me until three years of running CNN that I realized I'm not cut to be an executive in a really high intense role.

Elon Musk is cut to be an executive in highly intense situations, so much so that when things get less intense, when they actually are making enough cars and rockets are going up and landing, he thinks of something else so he can surge and have more intensity.

He's addicted to intensity.

And that's his superpower, which is a lot greater than the superpower of being a good observer.

It's an empathy towards humanity more than the empathy towards the three or four humans who might be sitting in the conference room with you.

And that's a big deal.

You see that in a lot of people.

You see it, Bill Gates, Larry Summers, Elon Musk.

They always have...

empathy for these great goals of humanity, and at times they can be clueless about the emotions of the people in front of them, or callous sometimes.

Musk, as you said, is driven by mission more than any person I've ever seen.

And it's not only mission, it's like cosmic missions.

meaning he's got three really big missions.

One is to make humans a space-faring civilization, make us multi-planetary, or get us to Mars.

Number two is to bring us into the era of sustainable energy, to bring us into the era of electric vehicles and solar roofs and battery packs.

And third is to make sure that artificial intelligence is safe and is aligned with human values.