Lessons from Elon Musk’s Leadership of Twitter
In the informal conversation circles of tech leadership, there’s a current topic that’s been just too juicy to resist. I can’t tell you how many times over the past few weeks and months I’ve been asked, “So, what do you think about Elon and Twitter?”
This whole situation is unfolding in real-time, so I don’t yet have the luxury of looking back and evaluating what worked and what didn’t. Therefore, my analysis is simply a set of current observations.
Before I begin, you should know that this isn’t my first article on Elon Musk. I wrote about him back in 2017 and rendered lessons from his leadership of PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla. Please check out that article here.
Musk and Twitter
I think there’s a common comparison trap we all fall into. We are far too liberal with comparing leaders and contexts as if they are all equal. We simply cannot watch what another leader does, attempt to replicate it and expect the same outcomes in a completely different context.
You are not Elon Musk. Neither am I. There are certain aspects of his leadership style that work for him because he is Elon.
Your IT department is not Twitter. Neither is mine. While I love to look to big tech for insights on trends, I realize there’s a huge difference.
Leaders start with why
Leaders are driven by purpose. Understanding, refining, and communicating our “why” statements are essential activities. Many wonder why Elon Musk, given his immense wealth, would bother with a social media platform. His purpose has been clear from the start.
Before offering to purchase Twitter, Elon tweeted this:
Free speech continues to drive everything Elon does with Twitter. It’s the filter through which all decisions pass.
Musk tweets about free speech nearly every day. As a leader, how often do you talk about your purpose? Speaking for myself, I know it’s not enough. I know I can do better. I can be clearer. I can be more consistent.
Truth and Transparency
Musk fully acquired Twitter on October 28, 2022. That line of demarcation separates “old Twitter” and “new Twitter.” Musk’s leadership actions are consistent with someone who steps in to clean up a mess following a scandal. He is ruthlessly bringing to light the lack of transparency that existed in old Twitter, while simultaneously promising transparency for all content moderation activities on new Twitter.
On the December 5th episode of The Crypto Roundtable Show, Musk said this: “Competition is a force for keeping companies honest. So, if there’s a competition for the truth, and Twitter wins the competition for the truth, then it will win over the readership and attention of the public, and everyone else will be forced to tell the truth too.”
This quest for truth and transparency so far has culminated in the release of the Twitter Files, exposing the secrets of old Twitter.
What’s the lesson here? So much of this is specific to the situation at Twitter. Most of us aren’t dealing with anything like this.
Here’s my takeaway: I’ve worked with two different leadership styles: Those that are open by default and those that are closed by default. Those that are open by default go out of their way to share everything they possibly can, but always respect the confidentiality of secrets they aren’t “at liberty to share.”
Others are closed by default. They know information but are bad at sharing it for one reason or another. They will share if prompted, but that’s about it.
Everyone I know would rather work for a leader that is open by default. Truth and transparency go a long way. Just like Elon said, when you start leading that way, others will be forced to as well, and that’s a good thing.
Employees and Culture
When Musk took over Twitter, he laid off a large portion of the workforce. In my experience as a leader, I’ve never needed to do that. That act tends to have a deleterious impact on the culture. In Musk’s case, he saw the Twitter culture as something he needed to dramatically reshape, not preserve. Also, much of this action found its way into the public sphere, which is unfortunate.
Most of us can improve the culture in our shops through softer and less dramatic means.
Opt-in to change
I’ll share an internal email that Musk wrote to his employees on November 16th:
Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.
Twitter will also be much more engineering-driven. Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway.
At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so l think this makes sense.
If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below:
[Link removed]
Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance.
Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful.
Elon
Musk is clear about his purpose, strategy, and expectations. Then, he provides an opportunity to actively opt in. Musk didn’t invent this approach. Great leaders find a way to regularly recommit their team members to the cause. Most leaders simply aren’t this clear and direct.
Most of us can find a way to regularly re-enlist our team members to our clear purpose and strategy without the need for an ultimatum at the end. A simple “yes, I’m on board” in a one-on-one conversation will usually suffice.
Extremely hardcore with long hours at high intensity
I’ve come across many that are triggered by Musk’s description of work at Twitter. Here’s my read: Yeah that’s about right. Huge seasons of my 24-year career could easily be described as extremely hardcore with long hours at high intensity. That’s the deal. That’s one of the reasons I’m so big on taking vacations.
It’s not just technical work that’s intense. Many jobs are. The farmers I know work harder than I can fathom.
Remote Work and Empathy
Musk is famous for his hardcore stance on remote work. Long before taking over Twitter, he banned the practice at Tesla and SpaceX. Then once at Twitter, he rolled out a similar policy, with exceptions only approved by him.
After the aforementioned opt-in event, Musk softened his stance with remote Twitter employees: “Regarding remote work, all that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution.” He added that he wanted to see remote teams gather in person at least once per month.
I’ll give credit to Musk for accommodating his newly committed team members. Unlike the rest of us, he doesn’t appear to struggle with attracting and retaining talent. So, his motivation appears to be genuine accommodation resulting from active listening. He also empowered his managers with the task of managing and leading frontline team members, which is incredibly important.
While I give credit for Musk’s empathy demonstrated here, clearly that’s not his strong suit. I have high expectations of empathy and overall emotional intelligence for all tech leaders. If you are Elon Musk, perhaps you can get by with the bare minimum. For the rest of us regular leaders, we need a lot more of that in our leadership repertoire.
Conclusion
It’s too early to judge the results of Elon Musk’s leadership of Twitter. Will he drive it into the ground, or lead it to unseen heights of success? I don’t know, but Musk has an impressive track record leading high-tech companies from early stages to scaled success. This is the first well-established firm that he’s led, so this is uncharted territory for him. I’ll eagerly watch right alongside all of you.
Elon Musk is a fascinating technology leader. In this article, I’ve analyzed his actions and considered how we should respond in our leadership roles. One final note: Musk wears his politics on his sleeve and has made many polarizing statements recently. For my readers, please keep politics out of the comments section. Apart from that, I would love to hear your reflections on Musk’s leadership style and my analysis.
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