{"id":314979,"date":"2023-08-21T10:50:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T14:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/?p=314979"},"modified":"2023-08-21T14:28:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:28:05","slug":"elon-musk-business-acumen-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musk-business-acumen-editorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Elon Musk actually good at business?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are a couple of society-busting, detrimental errors that mainstream media continues to perpetuate. They are hesitant <a data-lasso-id=\"427902\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/storeowner-shot-dead-dispute-lgbtq-pride-flag\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to call<\/a> attacks <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/intels-bleep-ai-monitors-hate-speech-but-lets-you-toggle-racism-and-lgbtg-hate-if-youd-like\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428213\">against the LGBTQ+ community<\/a> hate crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They mistake the sheer stupidity (via <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2020\/sep\/10\/donald-trump-bob-woodward-interviews\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2020\/sep\/10\/donald-trump-bob-woodward-interviews\" data-lasso-id=\"428214\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian<\/a><\/em>) of the former President for cleverness, and they <a data-lasso-id=\"427904\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/constancedierickx\/2023\/05\/15\/elon-musks-brilliant-choice-for-ceo-of-twitter\/?sh=32ce30016dca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">laud<\/a> tech billionaire and <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musk-absurd-quotes\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428215\">Mega-Chad Elon Musk<\/a> as some sort of Reverse Flash version of Steve Jobs or Charles Babbage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the success of Paypal and Tesla, the media propped Elon Musk up, even though he had nothing to little to do with the development of those products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure, he helped design the Roadster (and fired one into space), but that&#8217;s not an everyday occurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But being the public face of a successful company has its benefits. The main one is the perception of &#8220;good&#8221; leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Business 101<\/h2>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image314979_a2a770-6b .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}.kb-image314979_a2a770-6b img.kb-img, .kb-image314979_a2a770-6b .kb-img img{box-shadow:0px 0px 14px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);}<\/style><div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image314979_a2a770-6b\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musk-says-spacex-is-taking-people-to-mars-in-the-next-10-years\/\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elon-musk-on-mars-1600x900.webp\" alt=\"AI generated image of Elon Musk surveying the Martian landscape\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-315046\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elon-musk-on-mars-1600x900.webp 1600w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elon-musk-on-mars-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elon-musk-on-mars-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elon-musk-on-mars-1536x864.webp 1536w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elon-musk-on-mars.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Image: AI-generated<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>But there&#8217;s a lot more to running a successful business than the appearance of leadership, as Elon Musk has <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musk-twitter-definitive-timeline\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428216\">found out with Twitter<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or has he? It&#8217;s very possible that we mistake his intent to create a platform where he can prance around as a tiny king for wanting to better Twitter and <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musks-investment-in-twitter-is-almost-entirely-gone\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428217\">turn it profitable<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Musk applied his only useful skill to Twitter the moment he was forced to purchase it: <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musk-just-taught-the-world-a-lesson-about-the-value-of-coders\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428218\">laying off staff<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that right there is a massive failure of Business 101. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only firing support staff that kept the machine running but assuming that one person could be the funnel for all technical and practical decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If anything, Musk&#8217;s singular leadership of Twitter has proven that despite the successes of previous ventures, he had little to do with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He bought the public square because no one was listening to him, turned it into a public bathroom with no walls, and the only creatures who are enjoying it are the ones who squeee at the prospect of rolling in their own shit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And sure, this might all be wildly inaccurate conjecture. Musk could be a low-key genius with a grand plan that is at the beginning stages of fruition, but if that&#8217;s true, he&#8217;s hiding it well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No one is doubting his chaotic level of creativity and marketing brilliance, but it&#8217;s his business sense that needs a lot of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Elon Musk takes the ball, goes home<\/h2>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image314979_dde3ea-c1 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}.kb-image314979_dde3ea-c1 img.kb-img, .kb-image314979_dde3ea-c1 .kb-img img{box-shadow:0px 0px 14px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);}<\/style><div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image314979_dde3ea-c1\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flat-earth.jpg\" alt=\"tesla in space with earth in background\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-85818\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flat-earth.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flat-earth-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flat-earth-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flat-earth-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><figcaption>Image: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Just because one is a billionaire and makes the right investments, does not a good businessman make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rebranding a household name after nearly two decades? Doable, but unnecessary, especially considering how connected the world is to the bird. Elon Musk did that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And replacing it with something as uninspired as a <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/twitter-replaces-the-bird-logo-with-x\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428219\">distressed X<\/a>? That&#8217;s like when Arthur Andersen spent millions on an orange ball (via <em><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloombergtax.com\/financial-accounting\/twenty-years-after-enron-investors-still-vulnerable-to-fraud\" data-lasso-id=\"428220\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a><\/em>) while cooking the books for Enron on the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Putting up a giant, seizure-inducing sign in the middle of the night? Even small business owners know better. Elon Musk did that too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/twitter-x-ceo-linda-yaccarino-changes-username\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428221\">Hiring a CEO<\/a> then constantly undermining her marketing-speak with irrational, spur-of-the-moment decisions and directives? Bad business. Elon, again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Constantly <a data-lasso-id=\"427905\" href=\"https:\/\/thedesk.net\/2023\/08\/elon-musk-twitter-block-feature-x\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eroding<\/a> the fundamental functionalities of the platform, even to the point of <a data-lasso-id=\"427906\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/media\/elon-musk-mocks-users-who-want-keep-block-feature-how-does-medicine-taste\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pissing off<\/a> and mocking one&#8217;s own hardcore fanbois? Bad business for anyone else but Elon Musk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hype machinery<\/h2>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image314979_275088-93 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}.kb-image314979_275088-93 img.kb-img, .kb-image314979_275088-93 .kb-img img{box-shadow:0px 0px 14px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);}<\/style><div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image314979_275088-93\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musk-boring-company-tunnel-in-action\/\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"874\" src=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/boring-company-model-x-test-video-1600x874.jpg\" alt=\"tesla model x driving through the new boring company tunnel in los angeles\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-81942\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/boring-company-model-x-test-video-1600x874.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/boring-company-model-x-test-video-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/boring-company-model-x-test-video-768x420.jpg 768w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/boring-company-model-x-test-video-1536x839.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/boring-company-model-x-test-video.jpg 1647w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Image: Screenshot \/ Twitter<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>At one time, the Elon Musk hype seemed real. He was looking better than <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/zuckerberg-says-its-time-to-move-on-after-musk-pulls-the-coward-card\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428222\">mecha-Mark<\/a>. Perhaps he was a tech billionaire who was going to change things for the better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SpaceX and the Boring Company were going to change everything. But SpaceX has become a repository of <a data-lasso-id=\"427907\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/spacex-faces-reckoning-after-starships-messy-first-flight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explosions<\/a>, and the Boring Company has become a cascade of ghost tunnels and failures (via <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/elon-musk-boring-company-tunnel-traffic-11669658396\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/elon-musk-boring-company-tunnel-traffic-11669658396\" data-lasso-id=\"428223\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WSJ<\/a><strong>)<\/strong><\/em>. And Tesla cars <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/teslas-are-involved-in-a-majority-of-advanced-driver-assist-crashes\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/teslas-are-involved-in-a-majority-of-advanced-driver-assist-crashes\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428224\">keep crashing<\/a> by themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news for Musk is that he can absolve himself of any of that because we know damn well he wasn&#8217;t building cars, tunnels, or rockets. But as it pertains to business, it shows a track record of a lack of due diligence, trust, and unpredictable progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If nothing else, Musk at least gives a substantial amount of <a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musk-donate-5-7-billion-in-tesla-stock-to-undisclosed-charities-last-year\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428225\">money to charities<\/a>. Oh, our mistake. His own charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And perhaps that&#8217;s the silver lining here. No matter how shitty he appears to be at running a social media company, there&#8217;s still plenty of cash laying around to give to children&#8217;s hospitals and other altruistic ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have this weird expectation of billionaires that just because they have this volume of net worth, that equates to an equal amount of natural business sense and innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s just not true. How many times have tech billionaires sat in front of Congress to explain themselves (to an uneducated and ignorant bunch of fuddy duddies, mind you)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a sadness to it all, in that we believe billionaires are somehow better than us at everything and that they believe it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\"><em>Have any thoughts on this? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/knowtechie\" target=\"_blank\" data-lasso-id=\"428226\">Twitter<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/knowtechie\" target=\"_blank\" data-lasso-id=\"428227\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Editors\u2019 Recommendations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/kanye-west-twitter-reinstated\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428228\">Elon Musk\u2019s new regime reinstates Kanye West\u2019s Twitter account<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/elon-musks-new-company-xai-be-chatgpts-top-rival\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428229\"><strong>Will Elon Musk\u2019s new company xAI be ChatGPT\u2019s top rival?<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/how-to-keep-your-teen-safe-from-dangerous-social-media-challenges\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428230\"><strong>How to keep your teen safe from dangerous social media challenges<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/whatsapp-new-hd-photos-feature\/\" data-lasso-id=\"428231\">WhatsApp will finally let you send images in HD<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad business of business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9374,"featured_media":288976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-08-21T14:50:29Z","apple_news_api_id":"f7ee32a5-09cd-45c3-9cd6-15435456b3d2","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-08-21T14:50:29Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A9-4ypQnNRcOc1hVDVFaz0g","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[544],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg.webp",1600,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-300x169.webp",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-768x432.webp",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg.webp",1000,563,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-1536x864.webp",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg.webp",1600,900,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-1000x600.webp",1000,600,true],"mvp-post-thumb":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-1000x600.webp",1000,600,true],"mvp-mid-thumb":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-400x240.webp",400,240,true],"mvp-small-thumb":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-80x80.webp",80,80,true],"lets-review-360-240":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg-360x240.webp",360,240,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable":"<p>Elon Musk and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad business of business.<\/p>\n","category_list":"<a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/category\/social-media\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Social<\/a>","author_info":{"display_name":"Curtis Silver","author_link":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/author\/curtis-silver\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":16,"label":"Social"}],"post_tag":[{"value":544,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/elon-musk-technoking.jpg.webp",1000,563,false],"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":16,"name":"Social","slug":"social-media","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":16,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Social Media is no longer optional. From Instagram to Twitter, Snapchat to Facebook \u2013 KnowTechie offers you all the latest social media news and analysis.","parent":0,"count":1426,"filter":"raw","term_order":"29","cat_ID":16,"category_count":1426,"category_description":"Social Media is no longer optional. From Instagram to Twitter, Snapchat to Facebook \u2013 KnowTechie offers you all the latest social media news and analysis.","cat_name":"Social","category_nicename":"social-media","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":544,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":179,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":12611,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314979"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9374"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}