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Pretty sure Cosmaself is aware of the value of a visionary leader given his previous profession. But over the lifespan of any long enduring company, different leadership traits & leaders may best serve the company at specific times and maximize the cumulative return to shareholders. Dunno if a different CEO for Tesla would be optimal now, 5 years, or 15 years from now but at some point it will be--just as Apple may have inadvertently benefitted by having a manager-type CEO in Tim Cook at the reigns after the vision and key strategic directions/decisions/products were set by Steve Jobs. The key is timing and finding the right person when the time comes. Moreover, I suspect that over the next 2-5 years as some of the outstanding challenges which Tesla still has on its plate are overcome, Elon's going to naturally shift his focus in other directions, perhaps especially towards SpaceX and Neuralink as they both seem primed to enter exponential phases.
That was an awesome example of what I call; Make Stuff Up Until You’ve Convinced Yourself Your Opinion Is Factual

The whole premise of inserting hypotheticals if that then this to show how much better an outcome would have been is a human concept I have never understood. But I understand this; be careful what you wish for.
 
Its just that at some point, companies need different talents at the helm.
Says who? You? Because that’s the way it’s always happened?
Given Elon's penchant to distract himself with side projects when things get too complacent, I'm not sure running Tesla is in our best interests now. That company has so many things going on, I am truly worried about "boss paralysis", in that nothing moves forward unless the boss says so. Now Elon makes quick decisions (not always the right ones), but in a company the size of Tesla the sheer volume of decisions needed to not get slowed down keep on increasing.
Not convinced you’ve proven anything to support your conclusion. Unless you’re in the room, you’ve got no idea what’s going on. A couple of books doesn’t suddenly make us all knowing, particularly when we can point out blatant falsehoods in those books. A couple of interviews of past employees years later isn’t any more helpful either as each has their own reality of what happened. It’s like asking three people at the scene of an accident what happened.
 
And no, I’m not saying Elon hasn’t made mistakes. He has, he’s admitted them, he moved on. Maybe you and others could move on too and take the money he’s made you and go buy yourself an ice cream cone.

Elon’s biggest and only important mistake was thinking humanity deserved to be saved.
OT, way OT
May I suggest "Love Boat Ice Cream" off San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Florida (survived hurricanes Irma and Ian!!!) (Ian almost direct hit )

get the large, double dipped chocolate waffle cone (rolled in various nuts) with the butter pecan 2 scoops & chill for a hour whilst marveling at the intense destruction hurricanes can do
 
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I don't think I/you can blame Elon for that. Did Elon come up with the tabless design? The 4680 form factor? I think all that was his engineering team. The structural battery? Elon or team? Regardless, I think these are good innovations and was worth trying to do them. Elon and his team did stress that these projects could get delayed. Just like Elon stressed the Cybertruck could get delayed. I don't consider these failures.


I was criticizing based on investment/strategic performance.

But it didn't.


You're reaching! Even now, it can't be anything other than a drain on company profitability.


It matters when you make big decisions based on unrealistic timelines, like he did recently deciding not to pursue the $25K car.


Solarcity is still is a disaster financially, not late. Deleting the $25K was almost a disaster.


Fair point.


Me too. I'm not selling. Doesn't mean Elon is the right guy going forwards, especially at his 30% attention rate to Tesla (which may be why some of his decisions are off lately).


I do agree Elon is a great leader.


That's nice, but didn't help my Tesla stock. At all.


I'm skeptical.


True. Good thing we got saved by events. If it were left totally up to Elon, we'd be cashed out at $420 pre split.


Hey I agree about the successes. Oh, I forgot another Elon mistake - his edict in the Model 3 ramp to automate everything. Even I knew that was a mistake when I first heard that. That almost bankrupted the company. Yes, his incredible leadership and hard work pulled Tesla's bacon from the fire, but another leader wouldn't have ended up in that mess in the first place.


This. On the whole Elon has been a massive positive for Tesla. Its just that at some point, companies need different talents at the helm. Given Elon's penchant to distract himself with side projects when things get too complacent, I'm not sure running Tesla is in our best interests now. That company has so many things going on, I am truly worried about "boss paralysis", in that nothing moves forward unless the boss says so. Now Elon makes quick decisions (not always the right ones), but in a company the size of Tesla the sheer volume of decisions needed to not get slowed down keep on increasing.

That's all well and good, but isn't it meaningless without proposing who would be better for the job?

Maybe Mary Barra, I think she'll be looking for work in a year or two? It has been said that she can lead...

J.B. Straubel is already running another business, so he's out, particularly if running multiple businesses is a disqualifier.

What's-his-name over at Loosid Mutters may be available soon.

If having the CEO hogtied is a plus, tossing the reigns to Trevor Milton after the sentencing date could be an option.

Any other viable candidates? 🤷‍♂️
 
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That's all well and good, but isn't it meaningless without proposing who would be better for the job?

Maybe Mary Barra, I think she'll be looking for work in a year or two? It has been said that she can lead...

J.B. Straubel is already running another business, so he's out, particularly if running multiple businesses is a disqualifier.

What's-his-name over at Loosid Mutters may be available soon.

If having the CEO hogtied is a plus, tossing the reigns to Trevor Milton after the sentencing date could be an option.

Any other viable candidates? 🤷‍♂️
AOC?
 
Fixed.

Everyone complains, regardless of where they are from. There are like 10 post here complaining about the S/X no longer making a RHD variant for the UK despite almost never selling there.

It's human nature. Living all over the world, I don't know that I've witnessed any culture that complains more or less than others. The complaints just vary based on the view/issues in the culture.
Be happy you're not a Mariners fan my friend!
 
I thought they could not be that stupid, looked up the original press release in French, and indeed something got lost in translation.

What they are saying is that when the car gets damaged, the repairs will likely involve the replacement of larger parts, which is wasteful and more expensive (which remains debatable). They were not talking about the production at all.
Still very debatable. A large part is much more likely to be recycled than a bunch of small ones. Also a large part will be more resistant to corrosion.
 
I actually kinda wish he doesn't, and steps down as CEO of Tesla. I've been thinking this for a long time now actually.

His Solarcity acquisition was a giant strategic mistake. There is no other way to look at it as a bailout of a company he was chair of. It didn't do too much damage to Tesla, but there was nothing positive it brought.

And after he bought Solarcity, he gutted its offerings and pivoted to a solar roof, which is still very, very problematic and may never actually work from a business point of view.

He pushed for the Cybertruck - that appears to be a strategic win, but the jury is still out. It isn't clear whether Tesla would have done just as well with a traditional truck - it probably would have been shipping by now, for example.

Elon was almost successful in nixing the $25K car. He wanted it robotaxi only, no steering wheel, etc. It took his mgmt team quite a while to convince him otherwise. That was a needless delay.

He has been consistently wrong, for like 7 years, on Autopilot/FSD advancement. Has he been starving the FSD team of resources because he thinks success is just around the corner ... for seven years? 200 core developers is kinda small for such an important effort.

It will be very interesting to see where Teslabot lands. Its success is 100% dependent on advanced AI, specifically how to teach it to do novel tasks. So, dependent on something that Elon has been wrong about for seven years. THIS time, he's got it figured out, right? THIS time their AI team will have the goods to make it a success ... soon? Right?

In the end, Tesla is now being run by very good people, a stellar culture has been imbued, Elon's contributions could actually be hurting on balance.
He who does nothing, does nothing wrong.

Elon takes on a lot of difficult challenges, yes he makes some mistakes.

I agree that he makes mistakes (in conjunction with others), but from your list I only agree the steering wheel for the 25K car and the solar roof.

The idea that Elon doesn't make mistakes, and that Tesla Bulls should jump on anyone who suggests he does, is very wrong.

Top of my list is "production hell" that is the one big mistake which nearly ended badly. Elon wasn't alone in deciding to go down that route.

If the Solar Roof and FSD were easy to solve problems, someone else would have solved them. While the Tesla solutions are taking longer than we would like, they are both ahead of what the competition is doing.

Elon is always open to being less wrong and IMO there are 3 groups helping Elon to become less wrong.

1) On X a group of posters I respect are trying to steer Elon in the direction of being "less wrong" on social issues. They are all doing a great job and making great points. Like them, I suspect Elon was merely poorly informed and some individuals have steered Elon in the wrong direction. Often when correctly informed Elon walks back or clarifies his position. This highlights another issue in that Elon's original posts can be very easy to misinterpret, or Elon doesn't understand the full context when repeating statements made by others.. Overall I think there is some prospect that Elon will eventually become significantly "less wrong" in this area. Those that are helping him are the right people, anyone with strong emotional feelings should stay out of the debate.

2) As shown by the steering wheel debate, senior engineers have the ability and the responsibility to push back against bad decisions. Elon can be stubborn, so this can take some persistence. By now the team has earned our respect, Tesla is not a one man show,

3) The board including Kimbal are apparently pushing back against Elon fairly regularly. Again this is simply the board doing their job, Elon can be stubborn and prone to making impulsive decisions about what to post on social media. There are a long list of examples of Elon being wrong in this area. We need to board to do their job, and they should be accountable for that.

At this stage, I'm still holding out hope that Elon can become "less wrong" and can declare "mission accomplished" at Tesla before moving on to other things.
 
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That's all well and good, but isn't it meaningless without proposing who would be better for the job?

Maybe Mary Barra, I think she'll be looking for work in a year or two? It has been said that she can lead...

J.B. Straubel is already running another business, so he's out, particularly if running multiple businesses is a disqualifier.

What's-his-name over at Loosid Mutters may be available soon.

If having the CEO hogtied is a plus, tossing the reigns to Trevor Milton after the sentencing date could be an option.

Any other viable candidates? 🤷‍♂️

Internal promotion.
 
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I actually kinda wish he doesn't, and steps down as CEO of Tesla. I've been thinking this for a long time now actually.

His Solarcity acquisition was a giant strategic mistake. There is no other way to look at it as a bailout of a company he was chair of. It didn't do too much damage to Tesla, but there was nothing positive it brought.

And after he bought Solarcity, he gutted its offerings and pivoted to a solar roof, which is still very, very problematic and may never actually work from a business point of view.

He pushed for the Cybertruck - that appears to be a strategic win, but the jury is still out. It isn't clear whether Tesla would have done just as well with a traditional truck - it probably would have been shipping by now, for example.

Elon was almost successful in nixing the $25K car. He wanted it robotaxi only, no steering wheel, etc. It took his mgmt team quite a while to convince him otherwise. That was a needless delay.

He has been consistently wrong, for like 7 years, on Autopilot/FSD advancement. Has he been starving the FSD team of resources because he thinks success is just around the corner ... for seven years? 200 core developers is kinda small for such an important effort.

It will be very interesting to see where Teslabot lands. Its success is 100% dependent on advanced AI, specifically how to teach it to do novel tasks. So, dependent on something that Elon has been wrong about for seven years. THIS time, he's got it figured out, right? THIS time their AI team will have the goods to make it a success ... soon? Right?

In the end, Tesla is now being run by very good people, a stellar culture has been imbued, Elon's contributions could actually be hurting on balance.
Do note that Elon does not come up with most innovations from Tesla, however his culture breeds innovation. This is his superpower in which he sticks to first principles in almost an annoying way because there are always way to make something cheaper, or as cheap as the raw material itself. This is what he pushes which the result ends up being all the innovations we see at Tesla.

Another thing Elon bring is clout. Top engineers want to work with him and most great leaders of the world respect him. He can go to a country and pretty much ask for whatever he wants within reason and it's granted. Mr. Nobody CEO who doesn't tweet crap online but can count beans to ensure Tesla will make money like an auto company doesn't have any of this. The valuation of Tesla reflects this as a lot of it is not based on cash flow or EPS, but their competitive advantage with the best engineers in the world being pushed hardcore by Elon because he has gained the respect that a few people in the world(or history) has from such engineers.
 
That's all well and good, but isn't it meaningless without proposing who would be better for the job?

Maybe Mary Barra, I think she'll be looking for work in a year or two? It has been said that she can lead...

J.B. Straubel is already running another business, so he's out, particularly if running multiple businesses is a disqualifier.

What's-his-name over at Loosid Mutters may be available soon.

If having the CEO hogtied is a plus, tossing the reigns to Trevor Milton after the sentencing date could be an option.

Any other viable candidates? 🤷‍♂️
How about the guy who was smuggled out of a country in a suitcase? (No, not the Saudi journalist... 😞... but Rawlinson should be nervous). I'm thinking about the guy who allegedly committed fraud before he permanently scuttled Nissan? That guy! He'd be perfect! :p

Back on topic: Tesla lithium production next year!
 
That's all well and good, but isn't it meaningless without proposing who would be better for the job?

Maybe Mary Barra, I think she'll be looking for work in a year or two? It has been said that she can lead...

J.B. Straubel is already running another business, so he's out, particularly if running multiple businesses is a disqualifier.

What's-his-name over at Loosid Mutters may be available soon.

If having the CEO hogtied is a plus, tossing the reigns to Trevor Milton after the sentencing date could be an option.

Any other viable candidates? 🤷‍♂️
I’ll volunteer!






How much does it pay?
 
Wow when Elon makes fun of you 😅 :

1696551818812.png



I kind of feel bad for Ken because he is going to be made fun off by the world and you can't tell there is something off with him IMO.