I have made mistakes in my life. I have done very silly things for even sillier reasons, wrapped myself in very stupid justifications, and then executed again and again on a campaign of sheer idiocy. By the time I have been done making bad decisions, each one inspiring and enhancing the next, I have looked back and said “never again.” And then I have made another bad decision just for good measure, to ensure I am done.
I led a team building trip for some senior executives at my company and the ones that are convinced only their talent and skill has landed them where they are are (while dismissing the idea that luck and good timing played ANY part) are all assholes.
I have to admit I didn't think he had it in him to go this hard so steadily since your Kobayashi Maru post. I thought he was going to settle down and do a regular old boring job of fucking Twitter up, but instead it's been pure fireworks for nearly three weeks.
I've been saying for weeks that Musk doesn't have a plan, or a clue about how to run Twitter or any other company. He has no business talent or managerial skills; it's all PR for his fragile ego.
I’ve been a Musk anti-fan for a long time. I thought his puffery for Tesla was driving the market (but not any cars). He actually converted that mess to a functioning car company. Then I thought that SpaceX was dumb. Where were his revenues going to come from? I was wrong on that. Then I thought, excellent, Musk is buying Twitter and he’ll destroy it. I’ll take a 1/3 record, because I really think that the way Twitter makes people engage damages every society where it is widely adopted. I’m not for governments shutting such things down, but if some fool wants to burn a fortune to wreck it, that’s OK with me.
Also, I suspect that Musk doesn’t know how to run a company where he’s not effectively the founder. It looks to me like he needs a cult of personality to make his companies work. That’s not great.
... and trying your hand at 'journalism' is clearly one of them. This article is just one long bitch that displays no insight or originality at all. Musk may be many things, but 'deeply boring isn't one of them'. Are you sure you're not just projecting? A good rule when you have nothing interesting to say is to say nothing.
This is a great analysis but it is omitting the political project behind his purchase of Twitter. This project is to continue to undermine civil society and democracy and replace it with a world run by people like himself and Peter Thiel.
I hope the people who have left/been sacked from Twitter create a new version called Bitter, and instead of a bird it’s a picture of Elon crying for the logo.
It also looks to me like Musk doesn't really know how Software Engineering works and only knows a few buzz words like commits or the names of programming languages. Asking for Screenshots while everything is available in digital form in a code repository is quite the tell.
I think he's also noticing for the first time what it's like to work with a lot of people who don't really want to work for him or are indifferent. I'm sure this is quite different at his other companies that are more likely to be staffed with true believers.
His plans for Twitter also becoming a bank and payment provider also sound extremely weird - I'm not sure people want a direct link between their speech to their bank account, considering especially how Paypal wanted to change their ToS to charge users for "misinformation". WeChat in China is not an example to follow more than a cautionary tale what happens when everything is concentrated in a single app.
I led a team building trip for some senior executives at my company and the ones that are convinced only their talent and skill has landed them where they are are (while dismissing the idea that luck and good timing played ANY part) are all assholes.
Going to be an absolutely amazing weekend.
I have to admit I didn't think he had it in him to go this hard so steadily since your Kobayashi Maru post. I thought he was going to settle down and do a regular old boring job of fucking Twitter up, but instead it's been pure fireworks for nearly three weeks.
I've been saying for weeks that Musk doesn't have a plan, or a clue about how to run Twitter or any other company. He has no business talent or managerial skills; it's all PR for his fragile ego.
This whole process reminds me of the episode of a the Office when Dwight is promoted and then fired a gun, but scaled WAY up.
“You’re pre-fired.”
This is the best fit of the puzzle pieces so far. Thanks.
And we all thought SBF was good at losing billions.
Honestly he could've just burned a colossal pile of cash like the Joker and had a laugh instead of this extremely weird attempt to own the libs.
Don't you have like, nine kids, bro? Go to a park or something.
Awesome work. Really enjoyed reading this! Thank you
A very enjoyable read and summary of all the chaos Musk has unleashed so far. That Mount Olympus line was pure gold.
You put together a nice compilation of all of his worst traits so well here. Great writing.
I’ve been a Musk anti-fan for a long time. I thought his puffery for Tesla was driving the market (but not any cars). He actually converted that mess to a functioning car company. Then I thought that SpaceX was dumb. Where were his revenues going to come from? I was wrong on that. Then I thought, excellent, Musk is buying Twitter and he’ll destroy it. I’ll take a 1/3 record, because I really think that the way Twitter makes people engage damages every society where it is widely adopted. I’m not for governments shutting such things down, but if some fool wants to burn a fortune to wreck it, that’s OK with me.
Also, I suspect that Musk doesn’t know how to run a company where he’s not effectively the founder. It looks to me like he needs a cult of personality to make his companies work. That’s not great.
"I have made mistakes in my life."
... and trying your hand at 'journalism' is clearly one of them. This article is just one long bitch that displays no insight or originality at all. Musk may be many things, but 'deeply boring isn't one of them'. Are you sure you're not just projecting? A good rule when you have nothing interesting to say is to say nothing.
This is a great analysis but it is omitting the political project behind his purchase of Twitter. This project is to continue to undermine civil society and democracy and replace it with a world run by people like himself and Peter Thiel.
I hope the people who have left/been sacked from Twitter create a new version called Bitter, and instead of a bird it’s a picture of Elon crying for the logo.
It also looks to me like Musk doesn't really know how Software Engineering works and only knows a few buzz words like commits or the names of programming languages. Asking for Screenshots while everything is available in digital form in a code repository is quite the tell.
I think he's also noticing for the first time what it's like to work with a lot of people who don't really want to work for him or are indifferent. I'm sure this is quite different at his other companies that are more likely to be staffed with true believers.
His plans for Twitter also becoming a bank and payment provider also sound extremely weird - I'm not sure people want a direct link between their speech to their bank account, considering especially how Paypal wanted to change their ToS to charge users for "misinformation". WeChat in China is not an example to follow more than a cautionary tale what happens when everything is concentrated in a single app.
I also am just delighted that an expert analysis of Musk is just ‘well, he is A Huge Idiot’. Even Trump rarely got such a blunt appraisal.
This was both incredibly comprehensive and very, very funny. Skills. Thanks for laying it all out so neatly.