Does Elon Musk deserve a $46 billion pay package? Tesla shareholders will answer this question on June 13. Yet regardless of the outcome, the debate should cause people to remember a fundamental truth about America’s success: Risk-taking is the engine that moves our country forward.
Elon Musk embodies this truth, perhaps more than anyone else in modern America. While he has alternately been hated by both the left and the right for his business decisions, his willingness to take risks is undeniable. Musk has found great financial reward precisely because he’s charted new territory, especially in industries that were well-trod.
How many people in the past two decades have started a new auto manufacturing company? Elon Musk did so with Tesla, even though many people thought it would fail. His risk paid off, with Tesla dominating the electric vehicle industry to this day and forcing other auto manufacturers to react. While the EV revolution has a long way to go, it’s only come this far because Musk risked doing something profoundly different and difficult.
The same goes for spaceflight. It’s one of the riskiest industries in the world, for the simple reason that it’s focused beyond our world. Building a new kind of rocket takes billions of dollars and enormous technological expertise. But Elon Musk jumped right in with SpaceX, and from the start, he showed a tremendous tolerance for risk.
He didn’t focus on building the perfect rocket. He built rocket after rocket, and as each one failed in what SpaceX humorously calls a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” he learned what went wrong and built a better version. This risky approach has now revolutionized space travel. SpaceX has built the first-ever reusable rockets, and in 2024 alone, it’s on track to launch 144 into space. SpaceX is now more reliable than longtime launch companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and its Starship rocket—the biggest rocket ever made—completed its first full test flight on June 6th. Clearly, the risk has paid off.
In touting this record, I’m not trying to puff up Elon Musk, nor am I trying to justify his potential pay package. But Americans should wonder why his achievements get so much attention. The reason isn’t exactly heartening. As a society, we’re fixated on people like Musk in part because such risk-taking is increasingly rare.
This sad reality is all around. When it comes to finances, about 75% of adults say they’d rather reduce risk than strive for better returns. While small business formation had a mini-boom in the pandemic, it’s falling again, and the number of new businesses created each year has fallen over the past half decade. Why? About 40% of 25-to-34-year-olds say they’re afraid of starting something that fails. And surveys show that Gen Z—the generation that will shape America for decades to come—is the most fearful about the future.
Where fear reigns, risk-taking fades. Yet risk-taking has always been the key to America’s progress. From the Wright Brothers to Charles Lindbergh to the crew of Apollo—from the automobile to the internet—our nation has gone furthest and uplifted the most people when our citizens have dared to do something wholly new. And while there’s no doubt that risk-taking can end in tragedy (see Amelia Earhart and the crew of Apollo 1), it’s still possible to take risks in a prudent way, instead of surrendering to caution.
Our greatest fear shouldn’t be failure. It should be never having tried at all. Not everyone can start an auto manufacturer. But anyone can start a side hustle and see if it blossoms into a full-blown business. And some of the biggest success stories in American history come from people who tinkered with tools or computers in their parents’ garage. Risk-taking takes many forms, but it always starts with individual people challenging the status quo and pushing the bounds of what’s possible.
America must recapture its risk-taking spirit. It’s essential to our country’s continued success—not just economically but socially and in our communities, too. And who knows: If you take risks, you may very well find yourself in contention for a $46 billion pay package someday.
