I’m a big fan of anyone who wants to build. Anyone who wants to make more than they take has my respect. — Elon Musk

I’m a big fan of anyone who wants to build. Anyone who wants to make more than they take has my respect.

Author: Elon Musk

Insight: There's something almost countercultural about valuing builders—people who are genuinely trying to make something that didn't exist before, or make it better. We spend so much time watching people optimize their personal brand, cut corners for profit, or extract value from systems. A builder is doing something different: putting in work to create something the world arguably doesn't yet have, with no guarantee anyone will want it. The phrase "make more than they take" hits differently when you sit with it. It's not about hoarding wealth or being selfless—it's about a simple economic logic that most of us intuitively understand. Take a plumber who fixes your sink better than anyone else, a teacher who actually helps students think differently, someone starting a business that solves a real problem. They're all making the world slightly larger than it was. That's different from the countless ways people make their living by shuffling things around or convincing others they need what already exists. What makes this tricky is that it rewards ambition and vision, but also risk-taking and failure. Most builders fail repeatedly before they succeed. So respecting builders means respecting people who are willing to look foolish, lose money, or waste years on something that might never work. That's a harder ask than it sounds.

Source: Tesla: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, 2019