I happen to know very senior people at Tesla and I have been in the EV industry for 10 plus years and one of my businesses does consulting work for Tesla so I would not consider myself a troll. I have also posted info on the M3 before it was public and have access to information others do not. I also hold a substantial position in Tesla shares for now. I don't recall saying Elon can't run the company either but he lacks leadership in some key areas for sure and you are already seeing symptoms of that now. I hope they survive as I have multiple layers of interest here both financial and otherwise but they have ethics and CS issues to resolve or it will get ugly fast. The SEC is not the only party with issues here.
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SEC pursuing a contempt charge for tweet
- Thread starter dww12
- Start date
I happen to know very senior people at Tesla and I have been in the EV industry for 10 plus years and one of my businesses does consulting work for Tesla so I would not consider myself a troll. I have also posted info on the M3 before it was public and have access to information others do not. I also hold a substantial position in Tesla shares for now. I don't recall saying Elon can't run the company either but he lacks leadership in some key areas for sure and you are already seeing symptoms of that now. I hope they survive as I have multiple layers of interest here both financial and otherwise but they have ethics and CS issues to resolve or it will get ugly fast. The SEC is not the only party with issues here.
Not the point at all. Plenty of people start companies and demolish them. They are not placing the right leaders and skills in the proper places. Elon is an engineer not a marketing, CS and sales guy other than an awkward ambassador. American Express has a core competency that Tesla does not and vice versa, Amex knows when to outsource tech or hire the right people. Tesla seems to think sales and marketing is a a balance sheet or dart board. There are textbook rookie mistakes being made at high levels. So even though some think Elon is a god or whatever he does not manage every aspect of the business in detail other than his pet projects like flame throwers and he does not always value some basic core competencies this far down the road. In the early days he gets a pass but now I hope they clean house. If he thinks modeling CS after Paypal operations is a good practice then he or his management is clueless. The issues they have are not just growth they are gross incompetence in some cases. It is very easy to mitigate many of these issues but they don't seem to understand, value or care about the outcome. I sincerely hope someone there pushes back or they have identified the issues and will address them with proper solutions.
TheTalkingMule
Distributed Energy Enthusiast
Sales and middle management are the answer? Let me write that down. You sound like a perfect fit for Amex.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
Yeah, if Amex is your comparison I'm not sure you understand this company that well. Remember there were other CEO's of Tesla before Elon took over, and the company has flourished under his leadership. His "twitter marketing" has been brilliant, disruptive, and effective. The only reason TSLA isn't at a higher valuation is because of outside corrupt forces working against it. That's not Elon's fault.
gnuarm
Model X 100 with 72 amp chargers
I won't go so far as to characterize Musk as having no abilities in the area of management. I honestly don't know just how good or bad he is in most ways of running such a company. My points are that he has a problem with doing what is best for the company rather than what his ego wants him to do. Clearly there is no need to public name calling and goading the SEC. That is just stupid!
As to his running of the company, he may still be the right guy for the moment. He is good at managing crises and I think Tesla is still in a state of crisis. It will be for the foreseeable future. But then Musk may be one of the causes of the continual crises.
All I know is the fan bois seem to ignore logic and show little understanding of the company or the stock. They keep talking about how bad things have been in the past and Musk has always pulled the rabbit from his hat. That is the problem. Pulling rabbits from hats is not the way to run a multi-billion dollar company with thousands of employees. He keeps hiring and laying off employees. At what point will he no longer be able to hire new people? That is what happened with the beltway bandits around DC. They would hire for projects then lay off everyone when the project was over. Sooner or later the good employees found stable jobs and the bandits could only hire the chaff.
Musk understands this and all the other issues. The problem is Tesla is still struggling for survival and must continue to be run as a startup for some time to come. Musk has a very narrow path to walk. Pissing off the SEC is nothing but a distraction from his real job.
Then there is the public marijuana thing. He is going to loose his clearance for that unless he can convince them he was smoking corn silk. The DoD has no leeway to give him slack. He can get his clearance back after a year or so and he has to truly toe the line and be repentant, etc. Can he do that? It won't impact Tesla directly, but it will impact Space X and Tesla by inference.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
Not how it works. They have to present some sort of proof before they can accuse him. They have no evidence to suggest he smoked anything illegal. This is not an issue.
gnuarm
Model X 100 with 72 amp chargers
Uh, the host said it was weed, Musk asked if it was legal. All DoD has to do is to interview Musk and ask him if he smoked weed. If he says "yes" he is busted for smoking weed. If he says "no" he is busted for lying.
This is not a court of law. You have very few rights. You don't have a presumption of innocence. I have friends who went through this exact same thing. At this point it is a no win for Musk. It is very unlikely he won't lose his clearance for 6 months to a year and he will have to be contrite to get it back.
Of course there is irony. While it is legal under many state laws and the Feds don't prosecute, it is still illegal at the Federal level and is definitely grounds for being denied a clearance. End of story until Congress gets off their chicken asses and legalize it at the Federal level.
I guess there is some room for Musk to slip out. If they ask him if he smoked weed and he says "I don't know" and can pass a polygraph with that answer, he might get away with it.
Krugerrand
Meow
It's an analogy about core competencies I know the company well, at many levels. Of course I am very aware of why the stock is low that's not my point. I have access to all sorts of insider information, some at the executive level. Some of Musks twitter has been brilliant and much more has been juvenile and destructive as proven. Yes many of the issues are his fault including his failure to fix his CS issues which are impacting the brand. People here keep saying things I have never mentioned, few people here have any idea what goes on at the company unless they are vendors or work there, or have been around Elon. I have done most of these. The issue with some Tesla owners is they become blinded by the mission or whatever they love about Tesla isn't realizing the long-term impact of poor management, specifically middle management. We all know the company get repeatedly treated unfairly but they also bring problems on themselves from arrogance and immaturity. This always trickles from the top down. Let's see how the new changes pan out, I already have my predictions and I'm cautiously awaiting changes that need to come ASAP, the last couple weeks were not a good start.
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JRP3
Hyperactive Member
He could also honestly say "I don't know" since I doubt he had it analyzed for content. He also did not appear to inhale so even if it was weed he did not ingest it. If I take a shot of liquor and then spit it out I did not drink alcohol and it will not be in my system. This is beyond a nothing burger and your desperation to turn it into something speaks volumes.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
I have no doubt there are areas of poor management at Tesla, communication being the main one. I think most of us realize there are real issues which need to be addressed.
That's good, I wonder how long Tesla will take to do this because they sure seem to be acting like a startup in one way and a big blind corporation in another. Too many large shareholders that were Paypal investors, UGH.
They better because I was at one of the biggest Tesla stores the other day and there were some very angry customers there being denied their referral swag for no good reason. What kind of company does that? Let's hope it's a reorg issue.
gnuarm
Model X 100 with 72 amp chargers
LOL! Nothing burger... indeed. But the Feds take this very seriously because that is what they do. I keep pointing out to you that the SEC, the courts and especially the DoD security office do not operate by the rules we run our everyday lives. They all have strict rules that are well known and anyone who deliberately breaks them will pay the price.
Sorry, to you and I it is a nothing burger, but to the Feds Musk is up to his eyeballs.
I have been complaining about Tesla's lack of secretaries, internal communications, customer service, skilled middle management, etc. for a long time, so I agree with you on *that*.
Not how clearances work. I've heard from people who've dealt with the process repeatedly. Basically just wrong.
Low-level clearances (and this is the lowest) are mostly about "blackmailability", and you can't blackmail someone over something super public.
Favorite quote from Elon Musk response:
“
The SEC’s heavy reliance on this interview in its motion for contempt smacks of retaliation and censorship.
As an initial matter, and as the SEC admits, Tesla had not yet implemented the Policy at the time of the interview. Musk thus did not make (and could not have made) any statement during the interview regarding the Policy or his efforts to comply with it.”
“
The SEC’s heavy reliance on this interview in its motion for contempt smacks of retaliation and censorship.
As an initial matter, and as the SEC admits, Tesla had not yet implemented the Policy at the time of the interview. Musk thus did not make (and could not have made) any statement during the interview regarding the Policy or his efforts to comply with it.”
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