Look at your phone. Check the car idling at the red light next to you. Glance at the news about a rocket landing upright on a barge in the middle of the ocean. It is almost impossible to move through a single day without bumping into the footprint of one specific, polarizing human being.
When Time Magazine Elon Musk was named the 2021 Person of the Year, it felt like the internet actually broke for a second. People were furious. People were ecstatic. Most people were just exhausted.
Edward Felsenthal, who was the Editor-in-Chief of Time at the time, basically described Musk as a "player in the most giant leaps of our society." That is a very polite way of saying the man is everywhere and into everything. You can't talk about the shift to electric vehicles without him. You can't talk about private space flight without him. And honestly, you can't talk about the chaotic, screeching halt of modern social media discourse without mentioning his name either.
The selection wasn't meant to be an endorsement. Time has always been pretty clear that "Person of the Year" is about influence—for better or worse. Think about it. They’ve picked everyone from the Pope to Hitler. It’s about who shaped the 365 days of that specific year the most. In 2021, Musk was a "clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman," as the magazine put it.
The Moment the World Shifted to Musk-Time
2021 was a weird year. We were all coming out of the haze of the pandemic, and suddenly, Tesla was worth over a trillion dollars. A trillion. That’s a number that doesn't even feel real. It made Musk the richest person on the planet, at least on paper. While most of us were figuring out how to go back into an office, he was launching the first all-civilian mission to orbit with Inspiration4.
But it wasn't just about the rockets or the cars. It was the way he moved.
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He could move markets with a single tweet about Dogecoin. He was hosting Saturday Night Live. He was living in a tiny foldable house in Texas while selling off his massive real estate portfolio. It was this bizarre mix of high-stakes engineering and low-brow internet trolling that forced Time's hand.
Critics hated the choice. They pointed to his stance on unions, his tax record, and his tendency to downplay the pandemic. But Time’s argument was that influence isn't a popularity contest. It’s about who is pulling the strings of the zeitgeist.
Space, Cars, and the Brain-Machine Mess
If you look at the Time Magazine Elon Musk cover story, it really digs into the duality of his companies. SpaceX basically saved the American space program. Before they came along, NASA was hitching rides on Russian rockets to get to the ISS. Now? SpaceX is the primary bus driver for low-Earth orbit. That is a massive geopolitical shift that happened because of one guy's stubbornness.
Then you have Tesla. Before the Model S, electric cars were basically golf carts that nobody wanted to be seen in. Musk changed the "cool factor" of sustainability. You don't have to like him to admit that he forced every other major automaker on the planet—Ford, GM, VW—to pivot their entire business models toward EVs.
But then there's the other stuff. Neuralink. The Boring Company. The constant promises of full self-driving that always seem to be "next year."
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Expert analysts like those at Bloomberg or the Financial Times have often noted that Musk’s greatest product isn't actually a car or a rocket; it’s hope. Or maybe it’s hype. It depends on which side of the fence you sit on. He sells a future where humanity is multi-planetary and we don't destroy the climate. That’s a powerful drug. It’s why his fans are so fiercely loyal, even when he says things that make PR departments scream.
The Controversy That Won't Die
Why does this specific Person of the Year selection still come up in 2026?
Because the "Musk-ification" of the world only accelerated after that magazine hit the stands. His acquisition of Twitter (now X) turned him from a tech mogul into a central figure in the global fight over free speech and misinformation. He didn't just stay the "Space and Car Guy." He became the "Everything Guy."
Some people look at the Time cover and see a visionary who is dragging humanity into the future by its collar. Others see a billionaire with too much power and not enough accountability. There isn’t much middle ground.
Interestingly, Time's profile mentioned his "lack of a permanent home" and his "mercurial" nature. They caught him at a moment when he was transitionary. He was moving from the guy who builds things to the guy who breaks things.
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What You Should Take Away From the Musk Era
If you’re trying to understand the business world today, you have to look at the "Musk Playbook." It’s built on high-velocity risk and a total disregard for traditional marketing. Tesla famously spends basically zero dollars on traditional advertising. Why would they? Musk’s Twitter account is a more powerful marketing tool than a Super Bowl ad.
- Risk Tolerance: Most CEOs are terrified of failing. Musk leans into it. He literally posts videos of his rockets exploding. This "fail fast" mentality is now the standard in Silicon Valley, for better or worse.
- Vertical Integration: SpaceX and Tesla try to build everything in-house. In a world where supply chains are falling apart, this was a genius move.
- The Cult of Personality: In 2026, the brand is the person. Whether it's Musk, Taylor Swift, or MrBeast, the individual often carries more weight than the corporation.
The Time Magazine Elon Musk issue wasn't just a profile of a man; it was a snapshot of a turning point in history. It marked the moment where private individuals began to have more influence over the future of the human race than many small nations.
Whether that's a good thing is still up for debate.
If you want to understand how he operates, don't just read his tweets. Look at the engineering constraints his teams face. Read the biographies by Walter Isaacson or Ashlee Vance. They show a man who is obsessed with "the first principles" of physics but often ignores the "first principles" of human empathy.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Study the Engineering: If you're in business, look into "First Principles Thinking." It’s Musk’s core framework—breaking a problem down to its basic physics and rebuilding from there. It’s why SpaceX rockets are so much cheaper than the competition.
- Analyze the Branding: Look at how Musk uses "unfiltered" communication to build a base. Even if you don't agree with his politics, the mechanics of his audience engagement are worth studying for any brand builder.
- Diversify Your Information: Because Musk is so polarizing, the "news" about him is often skewed. Follow technical space journals for SpaceX news and financial analysts for Tesla, rather than just relying on social media snippets.
- Watch the Regulatory Shift: Keep an eye on how governments are reacting to private power. The 2021 Time selection was a catalyst for more conversations about billionaire wealth and the responsibility that comes with it.