Elon likes to talk about "First principles", which means AFAICT means don't look at anything anyone else has done in the field and go with your gut then post ho

Elon likes to talk about "First principles", which means AFAICT means don't look at anything anyone else has done in the field and go with your gut then post hoc rationalize why that was the superior choice. It works great if your underlings are good at figuring out how to gently correct your ideas with prior knowledge and make you think it was all you.