Tesla - Putting Oneself in a Corner
June 5, 2013 2 Comments
Elon Musk tweeted the following (posting here in order to revisit at some later point):
Forgot to say one thing at Tesla annual shareholders meeting: just as my money was the first in, it will be the last out.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2013
I respect and admire CEOs and other executives who eat their own cooking, and align their incentives with shareholders’ interests. They are to be applauded and encouraged. America needs more executives like this… as the majority seem to enrichment themselves, at the expense of shareholders (a tale for another time).
That said, I can’t help wonder if Musk is unnecessarily putting himself in a corner, and risking the appearance (or actuality) of uber-hubris. Why proclaim such to the world? Just do the right things, and people will notice.
just ask Bill Ackman what the appearance of hubris does, and what putting oneself in a corner looks like. People react. It’s one thing if Tesla or Elon Musk were in need of attention…which they don’t. In fact, I can’t think of a company as widely followed by fans and critics alike, as Tesla is. People will notice (and reward) good corporate governance and management integrity. Promotion, hubris, and hype… well, we shall see how people react to these things.
Few Additional Observations:
- “I’m not dating Cameron Diaz” - Elon Musk
- There was a Google Finance error which at one point displayed SolarCity (“SCTY”) having a trillion $ market cap. Musk tweeted about that, with (what appeared to be) gusto.
LOLOL with the margin loan his money is already out the door!
It is clearly a character flaw and this year it has reached a worrisome level quite a few times.
Is it his engineer personality that gets him caught up in these hard to back down from fact statements?
I wish someone close to him would tell him to keep his mouth shut more often.
Oh and anyone who compares him to Steve Jobs is obviously full of shit from the impressions given by public comments only. Jobs’ public relations was smooth… and never tiresome despite sticking to the lines ad nauseum.