Tesla & Musk — Tied on the Hip, and the Mouth

Final Up to date on: 14th June 2025, 04:16 pm

The next is an extended reader remark revealed this week in response to an article about Elon Musk’s political actions and expectations. It consists of good insights and deserves further consideration right here as a standalone “letter to the editor.” Take pleasure in.

By eveee

Tesla management isn’t just about political naïveté. Elon Musk gravitated in the direction of conservative libertarianism way back. That acquired him getting into that course. That’s the supply of his feedback like ‘free speech absolutism’.

Like many libertarians, the definition of issues like that is utilized to them personally, as a result of the emphasis is on people and egos. This Ayn Rand model of let anybody do what they need has roots in American historical past, the pioneers, and so on. It’s not all dangerous, however something pushed too far turns into its personal worst enemy, no exception right here.

Let’s check out a few of its manifestations we could? As a person, he runs his firm prefer it was three individuals and he owns it. On high of that, there’s an excessive paranoia about anybody else taking energy or credit score away from him, and his response to any problem is commonly swift, brutal, and unyielding. It’s an ‘I personal the whole lot, the heck with you’ philosophy. So different individuals, human values, worker rights, are topic to his whim and discretion, whereas he has been constantly and compulsively dismissive of authority and regulation, to place it politely.

Check out this within the perspective of European gross sales. Proper now, with all of the concentrate on his latest political actions, the attitude of how his character affected outcomes is buried. That is unlucky, as a result of it hides how his total character has affected the corporate nicely earlier than that occurred.

Through the early phases of his public persona, most individuals had scant notions of who he was and what he was like personally. For many, his quirky persona was simply icing on a cake of environmental advantages of electrical autos and applied sciences which may take care of international warming one other points. The concept that his character would overshadow all of that was not on the forefront, as a result of the expectation of corporations is that the CEOs could also be spokespersons maybe, however the expertise speaks for itself. Likewise, few would have foreseen that an organization could be so deeply recognized with its founder that they have been inseparable within the public thoughts.

Now, the state of affairs is reversed. The expertise doesn’t lead the corporate within the public thoughts. That makes it tougher for the corporate to guide itself ahead with tech solely. Worse, the founder remains to be behaving like a founder, not within the now massive firm, and distracted by speculative objectives for the long run. The corporate ought to have switched to a extra seasoned massive firm veteran way back, however now the disadvantages of a founder in a mature firm are exhibiting.

However again to personalities. Earlier than an a consciousness of his political flaws confirmed, Tesla was failing in Sweden, as a result of Elon had no use for unions, or a notion of Sweden’s cultural tie to collective bargaining. He did not see simply how deep this went. Sweden is a rustic with extra collective social networking than the US. It’s not only a pattern, it’s inherent within the society. Consequently, public perceptions of Tesla soured badly when Elon confirmed a company response, with an perspective that he would merely run them over. The end result was that method earlier than Germany, France, and the UK rebelled in opposition to Elon’s fascist salutes and AfD help. Sweden had already gotten a dose of a company anti-cultural message and Tesla gross sales tanked.

The Sweden expertise presaged later occasions and confirmed that the Tesla CEO’s reference to Tesla shaped public opinion, which turned in opposition to each him and the corporate. Now, Tesla and Elon can not be separated within the public eye. His tarnishing of Tesla’s picture will stay after he leaves for a while. That is the worth of connecting a character with an organization and the explanation most corporations don’t do that. To run an organization and promote merchandise, you need blandness. It’s like promoting a home. Everybody loves to take a look at higher houses and backyard shiny footage of good hued homes with ornamental interiors — that’s look, not purchase. In relation to shopping for, individuals need white or beige partitions in muted colours, and a home that presents itself in an inoffensive method that they will modify to their very own tastes. The penalty of a uniquely adorned home is that solely a small fraction of the purchasers shall be drawn to that distinctive fashion. To get essentially the most clients, make the product customizable to the widest vary of shoppers, and/or make it enchantment to the most individuals. That doesn’t essentially imply it bodily has to have the traits they need. Extra usually it implies that no matter slogans or picture the product has within the public thoughts is adaptable to suit no matter they imagine. If EVs imply independence to them, nicely completed. If EVs imply effectivity, good, these will promote. If EVs imply environmental stewardship, that works.

But when the corporate is related to extremes, and values contradictory to the society it serves … good luck with that. We have already got seen what occurs in Sweden. The CEO already eschewed a PR division, and runs HR like he heads it, to not point out engineering, regardless of having no potential to take action. Now it wants an HR division. It wanted one way back. Now it’s too late. The general public notion is now everlasting.