The secret sauce for organizational success: Managing and producing star performers

Abstract

Elon Musk, chief executive officer (CEO) and chief technology officer (CTO) of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla Motors, has produced monumental achievements. Starting with the creation of the online purchasing service PayPal, he has been driven to create companies and products with an immense and worldwide impact. Driven by his desire to protect the earth and provide a sustainable future for humankind, Musk has been at the forefront of several industries, ranging from electric cars produced by Tesla to privatized space exploration with SpaceX. While Musk has proven to be a very successful leader and entrepreneur, he does not stand alone as an example of star performance. Indeed, looking across industries, we find numerous people who have produced outstanding results. For example, Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, helped his company grow tremendously despite the struggling U.S. economy. Starbucks now stands as the largest coffeehouse company in the entire world. On the popular internet video site YouTube, there are numerous examples of individuals becoming millionaires due to the high volume of Internet traffic they bring in to their channels. They have been able to separate themselves from other video uploaders and accumulate a significant amount of personal wealth. How about sports? Quarterback Peyton Manning stands as a visible example of the influence that stars can have on an organization. In the 2013 National Football League season, Manning led an explosive offense to the Super Bowl and set numerous individual records along the way, including most passing touchdowns in a season, most passing yards in a season, and most games in a season with at least four touchdown passes. Manning’s influence on American football is so great that he has been voted the league’s most valuable player a record-setting five times.