- January 3, 2025
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Yep. “Elon” as in Musk.
That name, that word, should be emblazoned on billboards throughout the U.S. interstate highway system. That name, that guy, is the metaphoric emblem of what we Americans should be all about.
Go back to and renew our national pioneering, optimistic, can-do, reach-for-the-stars, kick-ass roots and go for it. Dream — Big. Try. Fail. Adjust. Try again … and again. Keep going. Never give up.
That is the formula for everyone.
Elon.
That is our Word to live by in 2025; to keep in mind every day; and to be a reminder to strive to be the best version of ourselves every day.
Longtime readers know this routine. In the first edition each year, we have a tradition of publishing a word, the Word — one word to live by, to guide our direction and actions in the new year, to inspire us year-round, to serve as a guidepost for what we do and want to accomplish in the new year.
The challenge is to think of a symbolic word that captures the mood of Americans, and make it a word that inspires us to go forward and do better in the New Year.
How does “Elon” capture the mood of Americans?
OK, no doubt there are plenty who will sneer or recoil at the mention of Elon Musk. Especially after he has gone all-in with President-elect Donald Trump.
And those who have followed Musk’s flamboyant career know that some of his behavioral traits would never qualify him as a model Vatican altar boy or as an icon of personal virtue. Uh, three wives, 10 children?
He is nowhere close to the model CEO for whom you would like to have as a boss, especially if you prefer a work life of consistency and modest amounts of work drama.
That certainly is crystal clear in author Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk. Isaacson autopsied Musk’s complex personality after two years of shadowing Musk’s every move. After reading Isaacson’s 615-page opus, to conclude that Musk as a person is complex and mercurial is a gaping understatement.
Early in the book, Isaacson wrote that Musk “didn’t have the emotional receptors that produce everyday kindness and warmth and a desire to be liked. He was not hardwired to have empathy. Or, to put it in less technical terms, he could be an asshole.”
Since his childhood with an unlikable father, Musk “developed a siege mentality that included an attraction, sometimes a craving for storm and drama, both at work and in the romantic relationships he struggled and failed to maintain.
“When he faced tortuous challenges, the strain would often keep him awake at night and make him vomit,” wrote Isaacson. He quoted Musk’s brother, Kimbal: “He is a drama magnet. That’s his compulsion, the theme of his life.”
Perhaps one of Isaacson’s best summaries of Musk is at the end when he recounts the launch of Space X’s Starship in April 2023 (see sidebar).
“The explosion of Starship was emblematic of Musk, a fitting metaphor for his compulsion to aim high, act impulsively, take wild risks and accomplish amazing things — but to also blow things up and leave smoldering debris in his wake while cackling maniacally.
“His life had long been an admixture of historically transforming achievements along with wild flameouts, broken promises and arrogant impulses. Both his accomplishments and his failures were epic.”
How then, could “Elon” — a word symbolizing someone with flaws that most of us would want to avoid possibly capture the mood of Americans, or be the symbol for Americans to aspire?
Hey, we are all flawed. And throughout history we see that with every hero and icon — be it record-breaking athletes, business leaders, inventors, scientists, musicians, artists. Tiger Woods. Donald Trump. Alexander Graham Bell. Albert Einstein. Elvis Presley. Salvador Dali. The list is endless. Their personal lives are messy.
Focus on the good.
You can make the case that the word “Elon” is emblematic of the mood of Americans. Based on the national election results in November, Americans said: “No more.” We want what Musk wants. We want “DOGE.” We want to go to Mars.
At least head in that direction again.
We want to blow up the ossified government Leviathan and clean up the debris of the past four years. Americans want us to act again the way we did for 200 years when Americans made this republic the world’s beacon of pioneering, risk-taking achievers. Orville and Wilbur Wright. Henry Ford. Amelia Earhart. And on and on.
Before Musk’s Space X Starship launch in April 2023, Isaacson described a pep talk Musk gave to his team: “It’s worth keeping in mind as you go through all the tribulations that the thing you’re working on is the coolest [expletive] thing on Earth. By a lot …”
Isaacson: “The talk then turned to the topic of risk. The dozen or so regulatory agencies that had to approve the flight test did not share Musk’s love of it. The engineers briefed him on all the safety reviews and requirements they had endured.” One of the engineers described obtaining the license as “existentially soul-sucking.”
Musk, holding his head, responded: “My [expletive] brain is hurting. I’m trying to figure out how we get humanity to Mars with all this B.S.”
Musk continued: “This is how civilizations decline. They quit taking risks. And when they quit taking risks, their arteries harden. Every year there are more referees and fewer doers.”
That’s what the United States has become — a massive blob of soul-sucking regulations and regulators. But now “Elon” and his partner, Vivek Ramaswamy are determined to flip that narrative — to far more doers and far, far fewer referees.
For once in the history of this republic, almost all non-federal government employed Americans would love to see that federal, ossified bureaucratic monster choked and deflated, if not slain altogether.
It’s a monumental task, to be sure, like “trying to get humanity to Mars.” But at least, for the first time in our lifetimes, it appears that three people — Musk, Ramaswamy and Trump — against all odds, are going to try. Which is more than anyone else has ever done.
The word “Elon” symbolizes the idea that we can and will do better. To reach higher. To shoot for Mars.
When you see or say the word “Elon,” think of achieving or of accomplishing more or doing better. “Elon” can be the reminder telling us not to accept the status quo and to take the steps in 2025 to be better, to be the best versions of ourselves.
In our own shop at the Observer Media Group, we don’t talk about going to Mars. But we have a similar vision that we frequently repeat as a reminder of where we want to go. It is borrowed from the British Royal Air Force. Its motto: “Per ardua ad astra” — “By struggle to the stars.”
In spite of what Iasaacson described as Musk’s swings through “light and dark, intense and goofy, detached and emotional, with occasional plunges to what those around him dreaded as ‘demon mode,’” Elon Musk is what he is because he believes wholeheartedly that he and all of us can be better and can make ourselves better than what we are.
That’s what the Word “Elon” means for 2025.
If the word “Elon” is symbolic of reaching for Mars or doing better in 2025, it’s another thing to actually do it. How do you make yourself be the best version of yourself, to go for it with the passion of Elon Musk?
In mid-December, the monthly breakfast of the Gulf Coast CEO Forum featured Alan Stein Jr., an acclaimed basketball performance coach and speaker who has worked with such NBA luminaries Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. He also is the author of “Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best.”
His message to the attending CEOs focused on how they could improve their performance and impact as leaders. His message and formula, however, could apply to everyone and fits with “Elon,” our Word for 2025 (see above).
Stein ingrained in the CEOs the simple concept of the importance of constantly working on “the basics.”
He told of being invited to work with the late Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant. Arriving around 5 a.m. at the gym where Bryant conducted his daily workout routines, Stein said when he arrived, he learned that Bryant already had been at the gym since 3:30 a.m. — working on the fundamentals of basketball.
“The basics work,” Stein said. “They always have and always will.”
Stein says start your week hyping the fundamentals that you need to muster to become the best version of yourself.
Stein’s tips to get there:
Do that with everyone you meet, he says. You’re not the center of attention, the person in front of you is. “When you shift from what you want from people to what you want for people, you will become the most magnetic person in the room,” Stein said.
“If what you say is not in alignment with what you believe, then take a pause and course correct,” Stein says. “If you say something that doesn’t align with your values, you immediately destroy your credibility.”
Stein recommends drawing a vertical line down the middle of a notebook paper. On the left side list “the things that you love doing and that warm your heart.” On the right side, write how you spend the bookends of your day — the first and last hour of each day.
Then ask yourself: “Are you doing what you know you need to do?” Are the items on the left side showing up in your day?
Do you have a performance gap — “what we know we should do on the left side of the page and what we know we’re not doing on the right side. Sprinkle the items on the left side of paper into the right side.”
Stein recommends waking up each day and reminding yourself “to do the best you can with what you have wherever you are.
“If you do that, you automatically eliminate a trilogy of behaviors: blaming, complaining and making excuses.”
