And he does not shy away from any challenge; he runs straight at them. Musk is a dyed-in-the-wool trailblazer and rule breaker. With a powerful leader like Musk at the helm, what else do we need to do? What could possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot it turns out. Musk has behaved so erratically in the past few years that many have questioned his ability to lead. Tesla shares slumped after a bizarre earnings call during which Mr. Musk cut off an analyst saying, "boring bonehead questions are not cool". Then came his attempted involvement in the rescue of the 12 boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. Later he flummoxed investors and sent the share price on a rollercoaster ride with a tweet about taking the company private. As a result, the SEC bristled, leveled a fine and called for changes in the board.