Elon can certainly operate in Fixer, Builder, and Strategist modes, but they are not his highest and best use. And he knows it. When asked about running the company day-to-day during a trial in 2021 to defend his decision to combine Tesla and Solar City, Elon responded: “I rather hate it and I would much prefer to spend my time on design and engineering, which is what intrinsically I like doing.” There was no question what Musk hated, and what he knew of his own nature — what he was drawn to. He knew himself. If you are wired as an Artist leader, you don’t need anyone to tell you this. Heck, you couldn’t stop even if you wanted to. Mozart said he wrote music the way cows pissed. It just came out. If Elon buys Twitter, given his Artist wiring, no doubt we can expect in the short term a burst of energy like matter and antimatter colliding — the explosive energy will be visible across theMilkyWay. For employees of Twitter wondering how Elon will change the company, it is both good and bad news. The bad news is that he won’t hesitate to cut projects and people he deems misdirected. The good news is that for the go-forward team, things are going to be more exciting than they’ve ever been. But in the medium term, trouble shows up for the Artist if complementary style leadership modes and people do not come into trusting partnership. That’s the difference between, for example, Tesla and SpaceX a few years ago. Tesla had many visible hiccups. SpaceX, despite many rockets blowing up early on — not as much drama. Why? Because at SpaceX Elon had Gwynne Shotwell as his trusted partner, a Builder-Strategist par excellence in the role of president. At Tesla in its first big growth spurt? Not so much of anyone around Elon like Gwynne. And the result was lots of staff changes and bumps in the road. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Jordan created Online Access, the first Internet-coverage magazine worldwide, landing on Inc’s 500 fastest-growing company list. After the sale of the magazine, he launched InterimExecs RED Team (Rapid Executive Deployment), matching rock star leadership with organisations, owners and investors seeking to achieve extraordinary results. Jordan is coauthor of Right Leader Right Time: Discover Your Leadership Style for a Winning Career and Company (G&DMedia, March 29, 2022), author of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America, and publishing partner for Start With No, Jim Camp’s bestseller on negotiation. A lifelong Chicagoan, husband & father, he shares an Instagramaccount with his dog Norman @Norman.clature. The issue at Twitter will be free speech versus safety, and on that vital issue, let’s hope Elon finds his next Gwynne. Without a comparable Gwynne, a Strategist leader to match Elon’s Artist, big troubles are coming for all of us if the world’s digital town hall falls into disarray. At a minimum, Elon’s first face-off would be with the European Union, which is not going to approve loosening the controls Twitter’s team has elaborately put in place over the past ten years. WhyWould Elon Buying Twitter? The big question here is why ElonMusk would buy Twitter? Let me share my thoughts based on my vast experience of having met him once — a 60-second conversation where I asked him how he landed a $1.7B NASA contract after he blew up four rockets on the launch pad? His wonderfully inarticulate answer matched an equally delightful speech at the Economic Club of Chicago. Elon loves first principles. Let’s do the math on his lifespan principles: What we already know: • Number of years Elon has taken to grow SpaceX: 20 (so far) • Number of years Elon has taken to grow Tesla: 19 (so far) • What Elon holds dear, he holds long. No giving up. What the future holds: 1. Elon’s prediction for the first crewed flight to Mars: 2029 2. My predictions, starting with: The year when Elon goes to Mars: 2039 (in time for his 70th birthday. People think he’s mercurial, but he’s not. He’s Marsupial.) 3. The first thing Elon will do when he lands on Mars: tweet. 4. His first tweet from Mars: NDOI (Not. Dead. On. Impact.) Conclusion Thinking like William Randolph Hearst, Elon knows he needs to control the media in order to control the conversation, even from 33.9 million miles out. When you already have 85 million followers, Earth is not enough. If he could own and hold Twitter for the next 17 years (granted, extremely unlikely), never mind world domination, it’ll be solar system domination. And the most momentous, most awaited tweet in history. THE DISRUPTORS THE DISRUPTORS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk3Mzkz