I've historically been a huge fan and occasional defender of Elon Musk, but I've been harsh on him lately because I believe his statements of late risk making him a liability to Tesla. Elon has done or said dumb things before that have gotten him into trouble -- his seemingly unfounded "pedo" comment, his tweets that got him into trouble with the SEC, etc. -- but his recent statements and associations regarding COVID-19 and seemingly cozing up to Trump risk lasting damage to the company. He needs to reassess and correct sooner rather than later.
His problems are two-fold, and I'll adress them separately. My hope in posting this is that it will make sense to Musk or some folks close to Musk who can help him revise his positioning on these matters.
1) Reckless tweets regarding COVID-19.
COVID-19 is a sensitive topic, and any discussion of treatments, economic impacts, control measures, and relief packages requires diligent review, deep context, and detailed discussion. This can't be done in a tweet. If Elon wants to make arguments for keeping his businesses open or how COVID-19 should be handled in America, Twitter is not the place to do it. The Hyperloop was kind of a wacky idea that he wasn't going to pursue himself, but Elon had an entire engineering team draft a huge technical paper on it. Any discussions on handling COVID-19 need similar expertise and backing, especially when your position runs against the direction of a large segment of society. I'm not saying Elon is wrong, I'm saying he is making himself look like an idiot by doing it via tweet.
He has also recently sided with not doing further COVID-19 relief. He is positioning himself to be another billionaire against helping regular Americans. Not a good look. I worked for a company that had to furlough employees, including myself. These are not just entry-level teenagers; they are middle class Americans in the heartland of America working professional jobs and they are still out of work. Arguably at least partially due to government mismanagement, COVID-19 hasn't been brought under control, and furlough is still in effect. I took a proactive approach and began looking for a new job immediately despite being a 10+ year professional at my company who liked his job, and I just barely got into a new job before the end of the initial CARESAct unemployment period. Many are not that lucky, and are still waiting to go back to work, or looking for work, and are out of a job through no fault of their own. What goes into any relief package is debatable; the CARESAct was arguably flawed and too simplistic. But again, being a billionaire bluntly being against further relief via tweet is a terrible idea.
2) Seemingly cozying up to Trump.
Whether Musk loves or hates Trump, as the head of an important business, it is a terrible idea to be associated with Trump in any way. With the aggravated divisions in this country, partially due to Trumps intent to divide, any association with Trump, for or against, unnecessarily politicizes the company and alienates half of the customer base. Even worse, Musk seems to be chumming up to Trump, likely due to their similar disdain for the mere existence of COVID-19. The problem with Trump isn't policy related. It's ethics related. Donald Trump routinely violates every business ethics rule in existence: conflicts of interest, harassment, retaliation, misuse of resources. As a business leader, chumming up to the poster child for business ethics violations damages your reputation and the reputation of the company.
These issues are more serious than past blunders and risk making Elon Musk a liability to the company. This needs to change.
Remediation:
Happily, the solution is decidedly simple. Don't tweet about this stuff on Twitter. Don't respond to Trump. Doesn't matter if Trump is saying great or terrible things about you or the company; simply do not respond. Do not politicize the company or make any association that could bring your business ethics into question. And if you want to make arguments about COVID-19 or other matters that are not mainstream, make it a lengthy paper, blog post, or some other medium that can include deep context and backing. Certainly don't do it on Twitter, unless it's just a link to where the real discussion is.
I hope Elon can take this to heart and edit his behavior a bit. Tesla is an important company with an important mission, and Tesla has done a phenomenal job not just succeeding in the mission, but doing it in a way that is exciting and inclusive. It has often represented the best of us and what we can achieve together. Elon has been a vital part of it all. COVID-19 has been an unusual challenge in unusual times. Stay strong, stay professional, and don't let any of it unravel due to frustrations with these challenges. Don't damage any reputations; there is nothing harder to fix. Keep us united and looking to the future with hope and excitement.
His problems are two-fold, and I'll adress them separately. My hope in posting this is that it will make sense to Musk or some folks close to Musk who can help him revise his positioning on these matters.
1) Reckless tweets regarding COVID-19.
COVID-19 is a sensitive topic, and any discussion of treatments, economic impacts, control measures, and relief packages requires diligent review, deep context, and detailed discussion. This can't be done in a tweet. If Elon wants to make arguments for keeping his businesses open or how COVID-19 should be handled in America, Twitter is not the place to do it. The Hyperloop was kind of a wacky idea that he wasn't going to pursue himself, but Elon had an entire engineering team draft a huge technical paper on it. Any discussions on handling COVID-19 need similar expertise and backing, especially when your position runs against the direction of a large segment of society. I'm not saying Elon is wrong, I'm saying he is making himself look like an idiot by doing it via tweet.
He has also recently sided with not doing further COVID-19 relief. He is positioning himself to be another billionaire against helping regular Americans. Not a good look. I worked for a company that had to furlough employees, including myself. These are not just entry-level teenagers; they are middle class Americans in the heartland of America working professional jobs and they are still out of work. Arguably at least partially due to government mismanagement, COVID-19 hasn't been brought under control, and furlough is still in effect. I took a proactive approach and began looking for a new job immediately despite being a 10+ year professional at my company who liked his job, and I just barely got into a new job before the end of the initial CARESAct unemployment period. Many are not that lucky, and are still waiting to go back to work, or looking for work, and are out of a job through no fault of their own. What goes into any relief package is debatable; the CARESAct was arguably flawed and too simplistic. But again, being a billionaire bluntly being against further relief via tweet is a terrible idea.
2) Seemingly cozying up to Trump.
Whether Musk loves or hates Trump, as the head of an important business, it is a terrible idea to be associated with Trump in any way. With the aggravated divisions in this country, partially due to Trumps intent to divide, any association with Trump, for or against, unnecessarily politicizes the company and alienates half of the customer base. Even worse, Musk seems to be chumming up to Trump, likely due to their similar disdain for the mere existence of COVID-19. The problem with Trump isn't policy related. It's ethics related. Donald Trump routinely violates every business ethics rule in existence: conflicts of interest, harassment, retaliation, misuse of resources. As a business leader, chumming up to the poster child for business ethics violations damages your reputation and the reputation of the company.
These issues are more serious than past blunders and risk making Elon Musk a liability to the company. This needs to change.
Remediation:
Happily, the solution is decidedly simple. Don't tweet about this stuff on Twitter. Don't respond to Trump. Doesn't matter if Trump is saying great or terrible things about you or the company; simply do not respond. Do not politicize the company or make any association that could bring your business ethics into question. And if you want to make arguments about COVID-19 or other matters that are not mainstream, make it a lengthy paper, blog post, or some other medium that can include deep context and backing. Certainly don't do it on Twitter, unless it's just a link to where the real discussion is.
I hope Elon can take this to heart and edit his behavior a bit. Tesla is an important company with an important mission, and Tesla has done a phenomenal job not just succeeding in the mission, but doing it in a way that is exciting and inclusive. It has often represented the best of us and what we can achieve together. Elon has been a vital part of it all. COVID-19 has been an unusual challenge in unusual times. Stay strong, stay professional, and don't let any of it unravel due to frustrations with these challenges. Don't damage any reputations; there is nothing harder to fix. Keep us united and looking to the future with hope and excitement.
