Elon Musk, hubris and a case study of shitty leadership
What the chaos at Twitter can teach us about leadership in today’s workplace
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Corporate dictator Elon Musk has proven this month that he would rather watch his $44 billion investment burn than ever admit he was in over his head to make it in the first place. He’s also exposing himself in a masterclass of shitty leadership.
I don’t remember any of my business school textbooks advising firing half of your company’s workforce within days of taking over. Was it Jack Welch who said that the best thing a CEO can do during a company crisis is publicly shitpost memes and deny anything is wrong? Can any organizational psychologists confirm if “extremely hardcore” is used to describe strong and sustainable cultures throughout history, or if giving your already depleted workforce an ultimatum has ever worked out?
Hubris
It’s worth talking about hubris, which describes an ego-driven overconfidence tied more to the need for dominance than to actual accomplishments. In her book Atlas of the Heart, researcher Brené Brown offers the following on hubris:
“To the person experiencing hubris, it feels good. They puff up and feel blustery and superior. Furthermore, the person experiencing hubris doesn’t really care what we think. Researchers found that hubris can increase levels of dominance, and, interestingly, dominance “does not require respect or social acceptance.” So when you watch someone do something out of sheer hubris and you think to yourself, Don’t they see how badly this is being received? — remember, it doesn’t need to be received well for them to feel good about it.”
Sound familiar? Musk clearly doesn’t care about the cost, whether to the people who keep Twitter running, to the users who rely on it as a platform of social change and accountability, to the advertisers who sustain 90% of it; it’s all about building fealty to him, his methods and his “vision”.
Bend the knee or get lost.
Leader Value Proposition
“Value proposition” is a Business 101 term to describe the benefits a company’s products and services will deliver to customers. Every CEO and CMO would argue that if you have not defined your company’s value proposition, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
I’d like to offer a corollary: the Leader Value Proposition. A statement outlining the benefits of working with you and for you. What do you bring to the table as a leader that will convince prospective employees and stakeholders to follow you, to believe in your strategy and, ultimately, to trust you to look out for them?
In Musk, nothing stands out to me as a worthwhile Leader Value Proposition. All I see is a person-in-a-position-of-authority masquerading as a visionary leader with no substance to back any vision up. I see someone who has existed in an echo chamber of yes-man cheerleaders who want so badly to ride his coattails that they never dare question him. And I see someone who, in the rare event someone does have the audacity to push back on his methods, will waste no time throwing a tantrum or plotting revenge.
What do you bring to the table as a leader that will convince prospective employees and stakeholders to follow you, to believe in your strategy and, ultimately, to trust you to look out for them?
Neither Disruptive nor Leader
Musk’s fanboy apologists love to call him innovative and call you shortsighted for “not getting” how his mind works. Newsflash: There is no master plan here. Find me any CEO tenure that started out as this big of a clusterfuck before turning into something wildly successful and I’ll happily retract my admonishment.
The central thesis of my philosophy is the Disruptive Leader, someone who exhibits self-trust, grounded confidence, courage and empathy in challenging the status quo to better serve their people and create a culture of trust and belonging. Elon Musk is none of that. And with today’s workforce not hesitating to vote with their legs in walking away from poor leaders and toxic cultures, I hope those who bear the Weight of Leadership in other organizations are closely watching what’s unfolding at Twitter as a case study of the consequences of leading with ego and hubris in today’s workplace.