He was able to find or buy people and companies smart and capable enough to deliver this for him, and he was often, but not always smart enough to listen to the

He was able to find or buy people and companies smart and capable enough to deliver this for him, and he was often, but not always smart enough to listen to them (ie tesla autopilot fiasco - example of an ego playing with him). He was so successful with spacex because nobody really dared/bothered to enter that space and existing companies had 0 pressure to deliver better but that's more of government fail. He personally didn't come up with any of those impressive feats like electric cars of vertical rocket landings, thats a ridiculous proposition when all he is is a competent manager. Now he is slowly rolling back some of those hard won achievements, and competition catching up and/or overtaking in many others.