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My colleague Randy Ottinger follows leaders with exceptional potential. Yesterday, he followed Elon Musk's announcement of an idea for a new form of transportation, and here he calls out the strategic acts of leadership that may cause this idea to change the way we think about transportation.

It wasn't enough to invent PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla, Elon Musk is now reinventing public transportation. He recently revealed Hyperloop, a travel system that would allow passengers to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 30 minutes. (That's roughly 800 miles an hour.)

The immediate question that comes to mind is, "How does he keep coming up with these ideas?" And right behind that question is, "How does he keep creating billion-dollar companies based on these ideas?" Musk is an inventor and builder wrapped in one, kind of like a combination of Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs, on steroids.

Whether he is tackling online payments, electric cars, or space travel, Musk is a unique combination of innovator and leader. Here are four leadership lessons to be learned from his new Hyperloop announcement:

Big opportunities come from overcoming big problems. Big leaps forward are difficult because most people cannot see beyond what they know. Clearly California thought they were revolutionary when they announced a high speed train between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Their vision, however, was just evolutionary, only partially overcoming one transportation problem - speed. Musk was inspired to design a better solution. As he said in his announcement:

"When the California 'high speed' rail was approved, I was quite disappointed... If we are to make a massive investment in a new transportation system, then the return should by rights be equally massive. Compared to the alternatives, it [the California rail system] should ideally be:

Leaders understand that opportunities come from overcoming problems. The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity.

World-changing innovation can come from anywhere. "We believe that solutions can come from anyone, anywhere, and that some of the greatest minds of our time remain untapped, ready to be engaged and unleashed on a world that is in desperate need of help." No, this is not a quote from Elon Musk, but from the founders of the XPrize, an open competition that aims to identify and solve some of the world's most difficult problems. By crowd-sourcing - and incentivizing - problem solving, XPrize winners have dealt with oil recovery cleanup, energy-efficient cars, and the private space industry. Musk's Hyperloop idea is the by-product of having two companies with a vision, not just to produce cars or space-ships, but to change the way we view transportation. Musk has offered it up to the public as an "open source" idea, amplifying the truism that leaders find ways to involve and enlist larger groups in solving problems.

Ideas are only as good as their execution. An idea that is not executed well remains just an idea; an idea that is implemented exceptionally well can become a great business. Effective leaders not only harness the power of innovative minds, they create fundamentally sound business models that lead to strong financial results as well. Leaders today must be able to innovate AND execute well. They also need to know their limitations, when to step out of the way, and when to allow others with the available capacity to lead. Today, the Hyperloop is just an idea. Given Musk's other priorities it will be left (and has been offered) to others to execute.

Integrity matters. Musk borrowed money from the government to start Tesla. Recently, he repaid his over $400 million taxpayer-supported loan saying, "I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that worked hard to create the ATVM program, and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate." Leaders can make money walking on the backs of others. They leave legacies by lifting others up.

Thank you Elon Musk!

Randy Ottinger is an Executive Vice President at Kotter International, a firm that helps leaders accelerate strategy implementation in their organizations. Follow Kotter International on Twitter @KotterIntl, on Facebook, or on LinkedIn. Sign up for the Kotter International Newsletter.