This is a bit of a pet-peeve of mine, but I really dislike it when people focus on the aesthetic or the presentation style of Musk or Jobs.
Musk gives great presentations, but the reason he is widely respected is because he was actually able to deliver what he presented. In the most recent Musk biography, they discuss how he spent time at parties reading obscure russian textbooks on rocket physics while everyone else was having fun. He stresses the importance of estimating things from first principles, instead of relying on existing market estimates. However - these things are hard, take a lot of work, and are not as glamorous as making a fancy presentation.
Being able to communicate your ideas clearly and in a compelling way is a very important skill, especially for a leader. But I think it's very important to stress that it's a very small part of the reason certain people are highly successful - it just happens to be very glamourous, and kinda fun, so people like to focus on that.
Zuckerberg, Page, etc are all incredibly successful, yet they were not known (at least initially!) for their brilliant public speaking skills.
I don't think it's glamour though, is it? I mean, Musk is not the best public speaker, and yet his presentations are amazing in spite of this. And they're amazing because they're real: backed by logical thinking, real engineering, and an appeal to first principles. Anyone can make a flashy presentation, but I don't think that's what we're celebrating here.
Musk gives great presentations, but the reason he is widely respected is because he was actually able to deliver what he presented. In the most recent Musk biography, they discuss how he spent time at parties reading obscure russian textbooks on rocket physics while everyone else was having fun. He stresses the importance of estimating things from first principles, instead of relying on existing market estimates. However - these things are hard, take a lot of work, and are not as glamorous as making a fancy presentation.
Being able to communicate your ideas clearly and in a compelling way is a very important skill, especially for a leader. But I think it's very important to stress that it's a very small part of the reason certain people are highly successful - it just happens to be very glamourous, and kinda fun, so people like to focus on that.
Zuckerberg, Page, etc are all incredibly successful, yet they were not known (at least initially!) for their brilliant public speaking skills.