Steve Jobs Or Elon Musk— Which Legendary Executive Actually Achieved More?
Steve Jobs was one of the world’s greatest visionaries and CEOs. He introduced us to iPods, iPads, iPhones, iTunes and more.
Two years ago today, Jobs passed away. Since then, people have asked, “Who will be the next Steve Jobs?”
Elon Musk is a common answer. Some even think he’s surpassed Steve Jobs. Musk helped create PayPal, a widely-used consumer product that changed the way people pay for things online. He also founded electric car company Tesla and rocket company SpaceX.
Dolly Singh has worked with Musk for more than five years. She joined him as Head of Talent Acquisition at SpaceX and calls Musk “brilliant, dynamic, charismatic” and “an exceptional freak of nature” on Quora.
She also says this:
“In my humble opinion, Mr. Jobs in all his greatness has nothing on Elon. Elon is Wernher von Braun, Howard Hughes, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and every other badass all rolled into one.”
1,500 people upvoted her response.
Another answer with more than 3,800 up-votes on Quora lists all the ways Musk is not Steve Jobs (such as, “Steve Jobs patented everything; Musk hates patents”) and concludes:
“Elon Musk isn’t the next Steve Jobs. He is far beyond and better than Steve Jobs ever was.”
Comparing Jobs and Musk is apples and oranges. Both are/were legendary leaders of different kinds.
But if you’re going to argue one way or another, behold: Business Insider’s Mike Nudelman put together an infographic comparing Musk and Jobs’ life achievements. Take your pick.
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