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This article completely ignores the announncement from when the new CEO was announced, that: Musk was going to step away from client engagement and operating d

This article completely ignores the announncement from when the new CEO was announced, that: Musk was going to step away from client engagement and operating decisions, but stay at the helm guiding product and vision as chairman and CTO [1] From the article: >>>>Parts of the all-hands read more as Yaccarino interviewing Musk about his vision for an everything app than as a CEO discussing their own. X is a tech company. Musk is the CTO and the chairman. This is not the CEO's app. How is this article sincere in light of this information? [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65574826 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65574826

waihtis 3y ago
Elon is in the same bucket as Trump for news organizations, in that anything goes and it's OK to print complete BS about him. Likely retaliatory given that Musk is seeking to increase citizen journalism and further make legacy press obsolete
- HumblyTossed 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - waihtis 3y ago
    this is not reddit. try commenting something productive
addicted 3y ago
There is no other company you’d say that about. Steve Jobs and Tim Cook was/is Apple’s CEOs. No one praises or criticizes the chairman of Apple or its CTO for the company’s direction or vision. Most people wouldn’t even be able to name that person. Satya Nadella is MSFT’s CEO. He’s the one people talk about changing MSFT’s direction and vision. Not the chairman or CTO. Heck, when Musk himself bought Twitter he made himself the CEO? Were you claiming that the person driving the decisions and providing vision for the company for the first few months Musk bought Twitter was the chairman or the CTO?
- danpalmer 3y ago
  Exactly, the "tech" in "tech company", and the "technology" in "chief technology officer" are two completely different things. "Tech companies" are arguably just product and service companies with a particular pattern of how the products work or sometimes how the business models work. From that perspective, it makes sense that many of the people running them came out of the product side, or the commercial side.
- IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago
  No. The CEO serves at the pleasure of the board and its chairman. They oversee the CEO. The chairmain is Musk. He's also the board. He makes the rules for the CEO. There's a clear agreement between the chairman and the CEO that the CEO's duties are operations and revenue. In this case, the CEO must sell the product(s) that the CTO creates. That is unusual for a CEO (mostly salesperson with OPS role), but not unexpected since she has no background leading a product or even creating one. In all the cases you cited, none of the CEO's reported to 1 single individual that owned any material piece of the company themselves. Therefore you are comparing apples and oranges, Which is why this article is insincere. Its a joke to think that the CEO of X would be like the CEO of every public company out there, when the CEOs role for X has already been stated publicly to be very different.
oldtownroad 3y ago
Twitter is not a tech company: their commercial output is not technology, technology is just a tool, Twitter is a social platform. Musk is not acting as a CTO, a CTO doesn’t set product direction. A CTO delivers for other stakeholders using technology. Every company uses technology now, it’s not a differentiator. Even if a company is a technology company, the CTO role doesn’t change, a technology company still has a CEO. The CFO at a finance company doesn’t set product direction.
- danpalmer 3y ago
  I see what you mean, but I don't think this is how it always works in practice. In these jobs the lines are often blurred. Some companies don't have all of them, and, say, the COO might do what would be a CFO role in another company. In a strongly tech-focused product (like a PaaS or something), the CTO could be effectively doing a CPO role. In many places the CTO may be the CISO as well. In a company that depends significantly on "financial engineering" the CFO might have quite a deep say in the product direction. You're right that Musk is not a textbook CTO, but I think he has been quoted as saying he's also CPO, and that fits a lot better.

waihtis 3y ago

Elon is in the same bucket as Trump for news organizations, in that anything goes and it's OK to print complete BS about him. Likely retaliatory given that Musk is seeking to increase citizen journalism and further make legacy press obsolete

HumblyTossed 3y ago
[flagged]
- waihtis 3y ago
  this is not reddit. try commenting something productive

addicted 3y ago

There is no other company you’d say that about. Steve Jobs and Tim Cook was/is Apple’s CEOs. No one praises or criticizes the chairman of Apple or its CTO for the company’s direction or vision. Most people wouldn’t even be able to name that person. Satya Nadella is MSFT’s CEO. He’s the one people talk about changing MSFT’s direction and vision. Not the chairman or CTO. Heck, when Musk himself bought Twitter he made himself the CEO? Were you claiming that the person driving the decisions and providing vision for the company for the first few months Musk bought Twitter was the chairman or the CTO?

danpalmer 3y ago
Exactly, the "tech" in "tech company", and the "technology" in "chief technology officer" are two completely different things. "Tech companies" are arguably just product and service companies with a particular pattern of how the products work or sometimes how the business models work. From that perspective, it makes sense that many of the people running them came out of the product side, or the commercial side.
IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago
No. The CEO serves at the pleasure of the board and its chairman. They oversee the CEO. The chairmain is Musk. He's also the board. He makes the rules for the CEO. There's a clear agreement between the chairman and the CEO that the CEO's duties are operations and revenue. In this case, the CEO must sell the product(s) that the CTO creates. That is unusual for a CEO (mostly salesperson with OPS role), but not unexpected since she has no background leading a product or even creating one. In all the cases you cited, none of the CEO's reported to 1 single individual that owned any material piece of the company themselves. Therefore you are comparing apples and oranges, Which is why this article is insincere. Its a joke to think that the CEO of X would be like the CEO of every public company out there, when the CEOs role for X has already been stated publicly to be very different.

oldtownroad 3y ago

Twitter is not a tech company: their commercial output is not technology, technology is just a tool, Twitter is a social platform. Musk is not acting as a CTO, a CTO doesn’t set product direction. A CTO delivers for other stakeholders using technology. Every company uses technology now, it’s not a differentiator. Even if a company is a technology company, the CTO role doesn’t change, a technology company still has a CEO. The CFO at a finance company doesn’t set product direction.

danpalmer 3y ago
I see what you mean, but I don't think this is how it always works in practice. In these jobs the lines are often blurred. Some companies don't have all of them, and, say, the COO might do what would be a CFO role in another company. In a strongly tech-focused product (like a PaaS or something), the CTO could be effectively doing a CPO role. In many places the CTO may be the CISO as well. In a company that depends significantly on "financial engineering" the CFO might have quite a deep say in the product direction. You're right that Musk is not a textbook CTO, but I think he has been quoted as saying he's also CPO, and that fits a lot better.