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In a world where people work less and less and participate in culture more and more it only makes sense that CEOs become essentially influencers, self-promoters

In a world where people work less and less and participate in culture more and more it only makes sense that CEOs become essentially influencers, self-promoters and politicians. The stock price isn't seen as a KPI anymore, back in the days businessmen would make sure the company would sell quality products and services in the real world and then the stock price going up was just a mere consequence of that. Nowdays it's all about transforming the company into a mission, a political movement or an outright cult. The stock is seen as a something to sell and if you can do so without any product sold in the real world then it's so much better because as a CEO you managed to efficiently skip a very labor-intensive and capital-intensive process to get to what you really want: Market Cap glory. It used to be that corporate America had a certain arrogance of being superior to politics, religion and cults. People who resorted to that were singled out as desperate and it was the hint that their company was about to go under. Nowadays it's the opposite: CEOs and companies which don't shitpost, don't talk politics and don't try to recruit people in their cults are left behind. It's "fake it till' you make it" on an unprecedented level out there. And the worst offender is the one is worshipped the most on here, irony because game should recognize game. I think if we coldly examine the moves like in a chess game, he's doing all the right things to be successful in this environment. As I said when the population consumes culture at an unprecedented rate, you gotta become culture to be relevant. Hate the game, not the player.

germinalphrase 4y ago
“Nowadays it's the opposite: CEOs who don't shitpost, don't talk politics and don't try to recruit people in their cults are left behind” Having recently read one of those “Top 2021 CEO Compensation” reports for my metro, I think they’re doing just fine.
josh_carterPDX 4y ago
I completely disagree. I think WeWork and Theranos are causing a ripple effect in all stages of VC right now. No one wants to be the investor of the next catastrophic failure. Investors are looking under the hood to ensure the company is real, has something that can scale, and that the team can legit do the work. Anything else is a dated view of how to grow a business. If a CEO wants to be an influencer then run the marketing department and let a real CEO run the company.
- spfzero 4y ago
  I found it pretty remarkable that Theranos was not even mentioned, at least in comparison. Theranos makes the author's case far better than Tesla, though not better than We Work.
kjksf 4y ago
Zuckerberg wrote the initial code for Facebook. Jeff Bezos used to send packages in the early days of Amazon. Musk is working like a dog, splitting his time between SpaceX and Tesla. But sure, they are just influencers, self-promoters and politicians.
- throwaway98797 4y ago
  hatters gonna hate hate hate folks just can’t cope with others doing well it sucks to not live up to one’s own dreams but that’s the human condition
  - paulryanrogers 4y ago
    Sometimes critics are motivated by legit grievances. Without skeptics grifters will fleece the rich and poor alike.
- McLaren_Ferrari 4y ago
  > Musk is working like a dog, splitting his time between SpaceX and Tesla. For a guy who is working like a dog , he has plenty of time to tweet nonsense to the masses. And now he owns the asylum. But I think he's doing all the right things to be successful in this environment. As I said when the population consumes culture at an unprecedented rate, you gotta become culture to be relevant. Hate the game, not the player. Paraphrasing Tony Montana: "In America first you get the attention, then you get the power, then you get the money, then you get the women"
blowski 4y ago
It might feel like that, but I'm not sure it is in reality. "Good To Great" (Jim Collins) was published in 2001, and commented how publicity-seeking CEOs seemed to do better when the reality was quite different. I wouldn't be especially surprised to see Elon Musk bankrupt by the end of the decade.
- McLaren_Ferrari 4y ago
  > Good To Great" (Jim Collins) was published in 2001 It was completely different social landscape, people participate in culture at a much higher rate today. The time people devote to catch up with latest social trends, celebrity news, rivalries etc. is unprecedented. Say if a culture icon like the Beatles were in their prime today they'd have something like 1.2B instagram followers.
phoehne 4y ago
There's a saying that the stock market is a voting machine in the short term and a weighing machine in the long term. I think tech is especially vulnerable to big booms. Most of the stuff in the physical world doesn't pay off as well or with the same margins and multiples. So we get a kind of "get rich quick" mentality that attracts money and grifters. That being said, I would be surprised if anyone knew the name of the CEO of Walmart which makes about 4.5x the revenue of Amazon. (They are different businesses with different models - so it's an apples to cement blocks comparison). I do think there are totally dodgy CEOs out there that do nothing for a company's stock price except soak up money that should go to shareholders. But they're more managerial nothings that keep the ship afloat. But to look at a-holes like Bezos, Musk, etc. and think that P&G, Walmart, Target, Boeing, Ford, General Motors, Union Pacific, or any of the S&P500 CEOs are falling over themselves to shitpost is ludicrous. At the end of the day the CEO is supposed to do three things, publicly. The first is cheerlead for the company - meaning to put the best spin on the news to protect the interests of shareholders. Second is to be the top sales person and go gaga over the company's products. Finally, to make sure that everyone believes the company is run by sane, sober, and focused people who want to make sustainable and real gains in profitability.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  It's arguable that Musk is doing the first two things you mentioned with his social media antics, just in an incredibly gonzo way. And perhaps he's achieving the third as well, by cultivating a cult of personality. A CEO doesn't have to make everyone believe that, just enough people.
  - McLaren_Ferrari 4y ago
    He'd not be able to do it in say 1985. It's the unprecendented amount of time that Americans devote to following pop-culture and Musk wants to become pop-culture squared. China is approaching this thing differently, they make it very clear if you want to become a pop-culture icon you should sing or act. It's not allowing businessmen to become influencers or politicians, nor to put their nose into public health or education. According to them the roles should be clearly separated, so his style and twitter purchase won't work there (or would work there for different reasons such as China using it as a trojan horse in the AMerican society)

germinalphrase 4y ago

“Nowadays it's the opposite: CEOs who don't shitpost, don't talk politics and don't try to recruit people in their cults are left behind” Having recently read one of those “Top 2021 CEO Compensation” reports for my metro, I think they’re doing just fine.

josh_carterPDX 4y ago

I completely disagree. I think WeWork and Theranos are causing a ripple effect in all stages of VC right now. No one wants to be the investor of the next catastrophic failure. Investors are looking under the hood to ensure the company is real, has something that can scale, and that the team can legit do the work. Anything else is a dated view of how to grow a business. If a CEO wants to be an influencer then run the marketing department and let a real CEO run the company.

spfzero 4y ago
I found it pretty remarkable that Theranos was not even mentioned, at least in comparison. Theranos makes the author's case far better than Tesla, though not better than We Work.

kjksf 4y ago

Zuckerberg wrote the initial code for Facebook. Jeff Bezos used to send packages in the early days of Amazon. Musk is working like a dog, splitting his time between SpaceX and Tesla. But sure, they are just influencers, self-promoters and politicians.

throwaway98797 4y ago
hatters gonna hate hate hate folks just can’t cope with others doing well it sucks to not live up to one’s own dreams but that’s the human condition
- paulryanrogers 4y ago
  Sometimes critics are motivated by legit grievances. Without skeptics grifters will fleece the rich and poor alike.
McLaren_Ferrari 4y ago
> Musk is working like a dog, splitting his time between SpaceX and Tesla. For a guy who is working like a dog , he has plenty of time to tweet nonsense to the masses. And now he owns the asylum. But I think he's doing all the right things to be successful in this environment. As I said when the population consumes culture at an unprecedented rate, you gotta become culture to be relevant. Hate the game, not the player. Paraphrasing Tony Montana: "In America first you get the attention, then you get the power, then you get the money, then you get the women"

blowski 4y ago

It might feel like that, but I'm not sure it is in reality. "Good To Great" (Jim Collins) was published in 2001, and commented how publicity-seeking CEOs seemed to do better when the reality was quite different. I wouldn't be especially surprised to see Elon Musk bankrupt by the end of the decade.

McLaren_Ferrari 4y ago
> Good To Great" (Jim Collins) was published in 2001 It was completely different social landscape, people participate in culture at a much higher rate today. The time people devote to catch up with latest social trends, celebrity news, rivalries etc. is unprecedented. Say if a culture icon like the Beatles were in their prime today they'd have something like 1.2B instagram followers.

phoehne 4y ago

There's a saying that the stock market is a voting machine in the short term and a weighing machine in the long term. I think tech is especially vulnerable to big booms. Most of the stuff in the physical world doesn't pay off as well or with the same margins and multiples. So we get a kind of "get rich quick" mentality that attracts money and grifters. That being said, I would be surprised if anyone knew the name of the CEO of Walmart which makes about 4.5x the revenue of Amazon. (They are different businesses with different models - so it's an apples to cement blocks comparison). I do think there are totally dodgy CEOs out there that do nothing for a company's stock price except soak up money that should go to shareholders. But they're more managerial nothings that keep the ship afloat. But to look at a-holes like Bezos, Musk, etc. and think that P&G, Walmart, Target, Boeing, Ford, General Motors, Union Pacific, or any of the S&P500 CEOs are falling over themselves to shitpost is ludicrous. At the end of the day the CEO is supposed to do three things, publicly. The first is cheerlead for the company - meaning to put the best spin on the news to protect the interests of shareholders. Second is to be the top sales person and go gaga over the company's products. Finally, to make sure that everyone believes the company is run by sane, sober, and focused people who want to make sustainable and real gains in profitability.

Apocryphon 4y ago
It's arguable that Musk is doing the first two things you mentioned with his social media antics, just in an incredibly gonzo way. And perhaps he's achieving the third as well, by cultivating a cult of personality. A CEO doesn't have to make everyone believe that, just enough people.
- McLaren_Ferrari 4y ago
  He'd not be able to do it in say 1985. It's the unprecendented amount of time that Americans devote to following pop-culture and Musk wants to become pop-culture squared. China is approaching this thing differently, they make it very clear if you want to become a pop-culture icon you should sing or act. It's not allowing businessmen to become influencers or politicians, nor to put their nose into public health or education. According to them the roles should be clearly separated, so his style and twitter purchase won't work there (or would work there for different reasons such as China using it as a trojan horse in the AMerican society)