Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, discussed his thoughts on author Walter Isaacson’s biography “Elon Musk” on Monday’s edition of his radio show. He explained how Musk is a unique American icon due to his lifelong work to “advance the cause of humanity” through his business ventures.
On Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Leahy said he read Isaacson’s biography on Musk over the Thanksgiving holiday, which increased his admiration for the richest man in the world since the billionaire began publicly supporting Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election.
“I highly recommend this book…Go buy the book, and you’ll learn about how Elon Musk got rich and how he looks at risks,” Leahy said, further complimenting Isaacson’s “terrific” writing in the “well documented, well-sourced” book.
Leahy said the book begins with Musk’s early life. The now-billionaire was born in South Africa to his mother and abusive father, who ended up divorcing. Musk moved out of South Africa at 18 to attend college in Canada and the University of Pennsylvania.
Further explaining how the book went on to examine Musk’s post-college life – which saw Musk having trouble finding employment, which led him to write code and create a company that can be compared to an early version of MapQuest and another company called X.com, which eventually merged with the popular finance app, PayPal – Leahy said the pattern with Musk is that the billionaire is a “rapid iteration risk seeker.”
“His idea about everything is to try something and it’s going to fail, but you’ll learn something about failure and then rapidly do something else. That’s been his pattern his whole life. He is a risk seeker,” Leahy said.
When discussing the book’s examination of Musk’s work with SpaceX and Tesla, Leahy further described Musk as “a visionary guy who looks at the world in terms of what is possible.”
“This is the reason I like him so much…There’s a difference between Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs. I would say Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were basically mean, tough, and focused on creating what they wanted. The overarching theme of Elon Musk is not just what he wants, but what it is important to advance the cause of humanity. That’s a big difference, and that’s one of the reasons why I find Elon so fascinating,” Leahy said.
Noting Musk’s recent involvement in unleashing free speech through his acquisition of Twitter, now X, and his work with President-elect Donald Trump to identify and cut government waste, Leahy said Musk’s past is a glimpse into what is to come in 2025 and beyond.
“We are spinning a vision of the future – 2025 and beyond. I am very excited about where we’re going,” Leahy said.
Watch the full segment:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Elon Musk” by Team Trump.
