Every Entrepreneur Needs a CEO and Elon is No Exception

The entrepreneurial spirit is that of the inventor, risk taker, go out and make the sale guy or gal, who thinks up a business and rolls the dice. The ones that fail we never hear about. It breaks my heart in my own small neighborhood to see a café, flower shop or dressmaker put everything they own into their dream, and then see the space empty again in a year’s time. That failed dream took all the money they had saved and lost it for them.

So, we’re talking about those who succeed

And who succeeds more publicly than Elon Musk, from time to time the world’s richest man? But Elon’s been having a bit of a rough go lately and none of it had to happen. He’s a widely renowned genius, but his failed management skills are beyond understanding, fueled by an ego that simply cannot forego expressing itself.

I think of Napolean, who once said, “The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.”

Cowardliness doesn’t seem to be the problem in Elon’s case, but he let it be known often and without doubt that to disagree with him is to find work elsewhere. In one case, a manager who refused to fire the 10% of her workforce he demanded, was immediately fired herself. Following that, he fired her entire 500-member supercharger team.

Ego satisfied, but no supercharger team, ‘guess that’ll show ‘em’

So, the so-called genius behind Tesla, SpaceX, the Boring Company and a failed Twitter takeover is trying to justify to his Tesla stockholders that he is worth a $56 billion annual compensation. Make that deal, suckers, or Elon will gather up his marbles and go home, to cast his entrepreneurial shadow in less cloudy endeavors.

Sounds more like a ransom note than a salary requirement, but we will see. He was paid $162 million in 2023, a substantial salary in most cases. But if shareholders don’t agree to award him 346 times that amount right now, he’ll hold his breath until he turns blue and skip out to sunnier climes.

His personal opinion of himself, his value and his ego know no bounds

That’s what we once called an enfant terrible in more ordinary times, before it became fashionable to kick out the footlights and moon the audience. Such erstwhile shenanigans could all have been avoided, along with tens of millions in lawsuits and billions in stockholder losses if Elon-the-genius had simply hired CEOs for his many organizations, obeyed their decisions, as any logical business owner would do, and sat on his ego when it jumped out to make an idiot of him from time to time.

Tesla needs superchargers more than a Cybertruck, X (formerly Twitter) needs advertisers, Space X needs to stop using Starlink as an on-again, off-again military tool and Elon needs to shut the hell up.

Geniuses are supposed to show a bit of modesty from time to time and not augment their creative abilities with drugs like ketamine

Reportedly, but not by this writer, Ketamine produces hallucinations. It distorts perceptions of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected and not in control. It’s touted as a better trip than LSD or PCP, because its hallucinatory effects are relatively short in duration, lasting approximately 30 to 60 minutes as opposed to several hours. Additionally, it has the potential for abuse, which may lead to high psychological dependence.

High psychological dependence and a runaway ego, augmented with a my way or the highway hiring and firing history. Anyone want to sign such a guy to a $56 billion annual payday? Realize before you vote that, as a stockholder, 98% of that amount will not be available for distribution. Someone will be holding the bag.

And we are about to find out who.

All of the above is presented as an opinion piece and is expected to be taken as such…