Robyn Denholm (61 years old) is the Chairwoman of Tesla, the American electric car giant. “I believe in this company, I believe in its mission, and I look forward to helping Tesla achieve sustainable profitability and drive long-term shareholder value,” she said when she became Chairwoman of Tesla.
Prior to joining Tesla, Denholm was CEO of Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications company. She spent nine years at networking equipment maker Juniper Networks, where she is credited with driving Juniper’s revenue growth. From 1996 to 2007, she held various roles at software company Sun Microsystems.
Denholm is widely regarded as a quiet, reserved man who occasionally takes calculated risks. As CFO of Juniper Networks, for example, Denholm resisted Wall Street pressure to cut costs and lay off employees, defending the company’s decision to invest in research and development. According to some analysts, the strategy was successful.
Recalling his journey to join Tesla, Denholm said that in 2014, Tesla had 9,000 employees, all cars were manufactured in Fremont, California (USA) and only produced about 30,000 cars. In 2023, Tesla produced nearly 1 million cars and had more than 110,000 employees, with factories operating online on 3 continents.
She admits that her career trajectory has deviated from her original vision. In her 20s, she envisioned herself retiring at 45 to enjoy a leisurely life, traveling . However, when she turned 30, she realized that this dream was unlikely to come true and continued to build her career.
Lessons on failure and courage
Denholm made a major career move in 2018 when she left a high-paying job at Telstra to become Tesla’s chairwoman, despite scepticism from friends who questioned her decision to leave a leadership role at a leading Australian company to join a controversial and unprofitable company.
In a speech, Denholm spoke about the risks she has taken in her career, emphasizing her own alignment with Elon Musk's mindset, characterized by a willingness to take bold steps even at the risk of failure.
For Denholm, fostering a culture of learning from failure is essential. She explains that by acknowledging failure, individuals feel empowered to take risks and explore new ideas without fear. Denholm says that incremental innovation is an effective way to innovate within a company, but taking big risks is often more valuable.
"The real leaps happen when you push the envelope. So if you don't expect, don't embrace failure, to me that doesn't create the right mindset in the company to move things forward," she said. Denholm's favorite message is "try, regardless of your own limitations or outside opinions."
When it comes to courage, Denholm says it’s not about jumping out of a plane, going to the moon, or swimming with sharks. For her, it’s about the unseen moments of doing the right thing, standing up for others, changing your mind, and being a contrarian. “For me, it’s about having the courage to take risks, knowing you might fail, but learning from the experience,” the Tesla CEO said.
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