I don't think your sarcasm and over reading into ckastner's post is justified, at least not based on that post at all. I remain very appreciative of Elon Musk,

I don't think your sarcasm and over reading into ckastner's post is justified, at least not based on that post at all. I remain very appreciative of Elon Musk, and unlike what seems to be the current common thinking I've come to think it's not actually possible to separate out the daring and visionary part of people like him from the "less desirable" parts, though they can be moderated. I think it all tends to go together, and furthermore that the results do in fact largely justify the means. However, the settlement doesn't sound like a "Kick Out" so much as a 2-year semi-hiatus. I see no reason why it couldn't be agreed ahead of time that he'd be right back in the saddle afterwards, he's remain a major shareholder, and could give his views known even if he had no actual executive power. Two years isn't nothing but it's also frankly just not that long, Tesla at this point shouldn't implode without him for such a short period, in fact it shouldn't even mess up the vision thing either, they've got plenty of very good challenging long term gigantic market stuff to execute on for a few years, hell for five years. It's only longer term that the innovation would become more of an issue. If anything I really think a forced few years of stepping back from the day-to-day hustle might really do him so genuine good, and it'd have to be forced because that personality type can never stop on their own. Steve Jobs, with a much longer forced outing for real, came back and vastly stronger leader, still with plenty of drive and acerbicness but some of the most impulsive rough edges sanded down a bit as well. From the sound of it under the settlement Elon would merely be on a 2 year break freed from the daily stress and could have a guaranteed return, so free to really work on the vision and plans to bring back with him. Or just go hike and travel a bit and destress a little? That could help too. He's not an old man obviously, he has lots of time, and with no formal legal admission of guilt the long term consequences should be minimal. Plenty of people recognize his accomplishments and wouldn't mind writing off a lot of his current behavior after a brief time. Maybe doubling down here is itself also an unavoidable part of his personality, and anyone who has dealt with startups much has probably seen plenty of maverick founders who are incredible founders but can't transition as well to different life-stages of a business. It doesn't make them bad, it's just another set of strengths and weaknesses. But I think it's also a genuine blunder which is kind of sad. The SEC is a scary opponent, and here it looks like they really didn't want to bring down the hammer, they offered a disciplining for a genuine fuckup on his part that CEOs just cannot do, never have. And the potential penalties for actual conviction are severe, including not just prison but possibly lifetime bans from C-positions in the related area of business, and Elon would not be able to just wave that away.