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> Worst thing? His influencing is central to his success. Musk has been more unhinged in his online activities than ever in the past six months or so, coincidi

> Worst thing? His influencing is central to his success. Musk has been more unhinged in his online activities than ever in the past six months or so, coinciding with a 45% slide in TSLA share price. Hypothesizing that his social media addiction is central to his 'success' would be pretty easy to test by simply comparing TSLA's performance to another auto manufacturer, e.g. Ford or GM. Doing that, TSLA is not showing any advantage - all three have suffered about the same amount of share price decrease. So just looking at the numbers, it's clear Musk could just focus entirely on productive work, skip the 'influencing' and wanton reputational damage to the businesses he manages, and it wouldn't make a bit of difference. TSLA and the others would arguably be in the same place if the average person had no idea who Elon Musk was.

riazrizvi 4y ago
Not according to BusinessInsider [1] that notes that he lashes out in the media to cover particularly bad moments for Tesla. We saw this tactic being used over and over again during the previous Presidency. It works so well because there is only so much room ‘above the fold’. So as long as you fill it with a sensational nothingburger, then damage is controlled. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-lashing-out-recession-work-from-home-tesla-twitter-2022-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-lashing-out-recess...
rland 4y ago
Tesla wouldn't have been capitalized in the first place without Musk (and, by extension) without Musk's twitter. If anything, Musk should focus entirely on the influencing and stop making decisions about product (see [1]) -- that is what he is good at! [1] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15347233/musk-attributes-falcon-wing-door-debacle-to-hubris-says-software-will-fix-it/ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15347233/musk-attributes-...
- mullingitover 4y ago
  You make a good case that his real contribution is merely writing checks to smart people. I would argue, however, that this doesn't need to come along with his baggage in terms of his distracting social media activities. It's pure self indulgence on his part, and likely making a lot of smart people not interested in his money regardless of how big the checks are.

riazrizvi 4y ago

Not according to BusinessInsider [1] that notes that he lashes out in the media to cover particularly bad moments for Tesla. We saw this tactic being used over and over again during the previous Presidency. It works so well because there is only so much room ‘above the fold’. So as long as you fill it with a sensational nothingburger, then damage is controlled. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-lashing-out-recession-work-from-home-tesla-twitter-2022-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-lashing-out-recess...

rland 4y ago

Tesla wouldn't have been capitalized in the first place without Musk (and, by extension) without Musk's twitter. If anything, Musk should focus entirely on the influencing and stop making decisions about product (see [1]) -- that is what he is good at! [1] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15347233/musk-attributes-falcon-wing-door-debacle-to-hubris-says-software-will-fix-it/ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15347233/musk-attributes-...

mullingitover 4y ago
You make a good case that his real contribution is merely writing checks to smart people. I would argue, however, that this doesn't need to come along with his baggage in terms of his distracting social media activities. It's pure self indulgence on his part, and likely making a lot of smart people not interested in his money regardless of how big the checks are.