Looks like we may have retired the Tesla Deathwatch a bit prematurely. Valleywag reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has launched a Nixonian “plumber” offensive aimed at eliminating leaks from the Silicon Valley startup. And boy are the employees happy about it. The plumb-and-purge strategy was launched when Tesla engineer Peng Zhou told Valleywag that the company’s cash reserves had dropped to $9M. According to the blog, Musk “hired an outside IT contractor go through the company’s email and instant messages, and then had an investigator take fingerprints off a printout discarded near a copier used to leak the email.” That investigation implicated Zhou who was asked to confess, apologize and leave the company. This was just the beginning.
The following memo was recently sent out to Tesla employees, and though it’s creepy enough in its own right, there’s more to the story. Apparently, Musk requested a Tesla IT employee to modify each copy of the memo (changing “I’m” to “I am”, etc.) in hopes of being able to identify a leaker. But because Musk kept the plumbing op close to his chest, even his executive team was unaware of the sneaky plan. Unaware of the purge, Tesla General Counsel, Craig Harding, forwarded his own copy, unwittingly revealing the plot and providing Tesla employees with a “safe” version of the memo to leak. Thus we can share the following creepiness with you without compromising any Tesla employees.
I’m a big believer in trusting employees and sharing information widely within the company, rather than confining it to a narrow set of senior execs and giving everyone else the mushroom treatment. Providing people with an understanding of what problems need to be overcome helps them align and prioritize their actions in pursuit of the greater good. It also ensures that all employees feel included and part of the same team.
This is why I’m so concerned about the continuing leaks to media. It really hurts free communication when even minor issues are leaked and blown way out of proportion. It is nutty that a company like Tesla, which is doing really well right now (how many companies can say that they’re sold out through October?) should suffer from misleading articles on blog sites that would have no credibility, but for a purported inside leak. The leaks often aren’t even accurate!
This kills trust and creates a negative atmosphere within Tesla. (ed: as opposed to convoluted plumb-and-purge operations?) It has to stop.
Today, the legal department will circulate a declaration form to all employees and contractors within the Bay Area. People will be asked to provide their word of honor and signature that they haven’t knowingly leaked any Tesla confidential information to the media. They’ll be reminded in clearly written language of the substantial liability they would incur for disclosure of confidential information in willful violation of the confidentiality agreement they signed with Tesla. If someone does not tell the full truth here, please take my word that you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Alternatively, people will be given the option of listing every leak they have made, whether published or not. If you fully disclose any leak you have done, the consequences will be precisely nothing. You will be completely forgiven and, unlike Peng, won’t be asked to publicly apologize to the company.
The actions of any one person can’t be allowed to hurt the vast majority of people at Tesla who are working incredibly hard to make a difference in the world.
Elon
I really hate to say this, but Tesla deserves to fail. Elon Musk is an incompetent, ego maniacal douche that deserves to have an investment like this blow up in his face.
Actually I would side with Elon on this one. It’s his company, employees are being paid to serve the best interests of the company. Not every piece of dirty laundry needs to be aired out, and most companies don’t voluntarily provide more info than is required by law or contractual agreements.
If Tony Soprano wrote memo’s it’d sound a lot like this one….
Admit to nothing – ’cause there’s a bullet with your name on it if you do.
Yes, I can understand why Elon might be P.O.’d at the leaks – but an ethical manager wouldn’t be worried about who’s leaking. They’d address the question “Why is the media so interested in us…why do they take leaks about our finances so seriously?”
@ dilbert
But to go to such Nixonian lengths? It reeks of incompetence and immaturity. There are better ways to go about this, and it makes Musk look like a paranoid ass.
I’m with Droid here. This memo and its harsh tone is extremely counter-productive…
The actions of any one person can’t be allowed to hurt the vast majority of people at Tesla who are working incredibly hard to make a difference in the world.
Huh? So now Tesla is a public service (sorry, global service) company, dedicated to making the world a better place? I guess, as opposed to the bad, evil polluters like GM or Toyota. Right.
And me who thought they were in for the money…
What advantage is there to signing this if you actually leaked something?
If you sign it, I’m sure the company will find something else to fire you for and it will probably haunt you in future jobs.
If you refuse to sign it, at least they have no proof you leaked something and you might be able to find other employment after resigning.
Since when did a company have to let the staff leak whatever they liked?
The individualised memos is a cunning idea. Although quite difficult to do, I suspect. Personally I’d just have a different version for each dept. Then identify the offending dept and fire them all – Stalin style. I jest.
cheers
Malcolm
I hope the company can live through this CEO, I’m hoping an organization with more professional management buys Musk out so that the product can live while the inane games and egomaniacal delusions of his management end.
In his last email to buyers on the waiting list he detailed a whole list of mistakes that wreaked of very poor planning (your body supplier can’t make more than one set of panels a week? No one noticed that earlier?) and with all there is still to do, apparently the great CEO is still wasting time on stupid and pointless gotcha games.
Whether Tesla is incompetent or revengeful is besides the point. If employees signed a confidentiality agreement when they were hired, and they broke it, then they are subject to consequences.
It doesn’t even have to be a formal contract. Consider the posting policy on TTAC. You sign up and agree to the policy, and if you break it, warnings and ban will follow. And we aren’t even paid. But you know, it’s RF’s site, house rules, you want to post, you follow the rules. If you don’t like it, you are free to never visit this site again.
In Tesla’s case, there is substantial investment in time and money in the company, payment and benefits to the employee. I would consider betrayal of trust when confidential information regarding the operation of the company is leaked.
And what’s wrong with trying to make a buck and trying to change the world? When Amazon.com started, Jeff Bezos thought he only had a 30% chance of success, he had his ups and downs, he had issues to work through, but they are doing ok now and I hope they continue to do well. And while I will probably never be able to afford a toy like Tesla, I hope they succeed (as long as they don’t use my tax dollars).
Hmmm, I don’t know… It is extremely unprofessional and grounds for dismissal to leak private company info. I would fire somebody who leaked private documents from my company. I ask former clients for their permission to include the work I did for them in my portfolio as it may contain sensitive information. I totally understand where he is coming from, how would you better handle this situation? I think if you’re going to criticize these actions, you should offer a better alternative as example.
You will be completely forgiven and, unlike Peng, won’t be asked to publicly apologize to the company.
Peng is now the “Gang of One” in the Tesla orthodoxy. Struggle sessions will ensue for all Pengist deviation from Elonist thought.
Perhaps the General Counsel is the leaker? No better way to cover your tracks than to email the note to all the employees and then leak it yourself. Just saying.
I’d say you definitely ended the deathwatch prematurely. If I recall correctly, you ended their ‘watch when they shipped some product to customers. But the big 3 are making cars and you haven’t ended their deathwatches. Even if Tesla were pumping out 250 cars a month and actually selling that many they should still be on the ‘watch, since they would still be sliding towards bankruptcy.
I don’t think anyone is saying leaking is OK and shouldn’t be grounds for dismissal, I just think that creating a dynamic like this in your already struggling company is way not good.
The truth is that Musk cannot bear to see his god-like self-image soiled in the media. He used to be just delusional, thinking he could start a car company like a web-start up. Now he’s added paranoid freak to the mix. He’s become the Jack-o of the automotive world.
@dilbert:
I don’t think anyone’s arguing that if you sign a confidentiality agreement you shouldn’t accept the consequences if you break it. Firing someone for leaking sensitive company info is totally understandable, But the way Musk handled the situation suggests a coniving, paranoid autocrat obsessed with secrecy (kind of like our former vp), and that only serves to make the press even more interested (well, the independent press, if not the lazy, apathetic MSM).
I don’t blame this CEO for ferreting-out employees that do damage to the company paying them despite giving their word, in a written NDA, that they would hold company infomation confidential.
Making an example out of Peng was the right thing to do … he deserved it. Read your Art of War, and see how making a harsh example will reform the troops.
I’m reminded again and again why I turned my back on the venture capital/captain of the universe gang when I pulled the plug in 1996.
Reminds me of the “baseball and teamwork” speech by Robert DiNiro (Al Capone) in “The Untouchables”, which ended with a baseball bat demonstration.
While he may be within his rights, Musk should ignore the problem if Tesla truly is a healthy company. His concern makes me think otherwise.
As a journalist & professional in that field I can tell you its as simple as that:
a NDA is a NDA –
You accept a NDA (non disclosure agreement) on your own free will – no force applied – but in case you break it, you face consequences.
Dire consequences – could lead that you have to give up your job for good.
No professional will talk to you in the anymore.
Think Apple computer.
I dislike Musk in person (got rich by sheer luck not by abilities as he does not have any besides bad manners, he is a unrefined, primitive behaving stupid monster mildly spoken – the incarnation of “The ugly American”) more then its applicable in writing,
but in this very case he is right on the mark.
Thats nothing special – every pro will tell:
“Musks handling of the matter in his own (that is discussable) company as a CEO is industrial standard everywhere on the globe. Nothing special or to write home about.”
TTAC, giving space to that story (there is other much more interesting and very stained laundry – with real content – to wash around Tesla), got it wrong in that very case.
BuckD, agree, the method he used was sneaky, but if it were me, I would still try to ferret out the leaker and get ride of him/her, or at a minimum, try not to let it happen again.
Leaks of that nature is harmful to the company and has to be stopped, one way or another. There may have been other ways to handle it, but it had to be taken on.
To me, this is no different than getting burned by a dealer or mechanic, I paid for a service, they screwed me behind my back. I want to screw them back, and if I had Elon’s money, I could. But I don’t, so I post it on the internet, haha.
I think the point has been missed. Of course a company has the right to eliminate leaks, but such a comically bad execution of the plan, plus the continued desire for employees to send these communications out, speaks volumes about the apparently awful relationship Mr. Musk has with his employees.
If nothing else, I hope a good screenwriter is taking this all down for future mini-series development.
Unless I misread something in the article, many people are missing the point of this story. There is no “leaker”. The only major one had already been dealt with.
Musk mentions no particular article, or story in his e-mail.
This it what makes this story so disturbing (I imagine especially disturbing to employees). The CEO of a severely struggling company is spending his time trying to ferret out possibly fictional leakers.
Maybe Musk should spend more time worrying about the product and the business than on what rumors are being written about on blogs.
How strange. As some have said, this kind of paranoia brings back memories of Richard Nixon. Funny how people like Nixon, who have such talent, so often have faults that eclipse their talent. This memo, and other things, shows that Elon Musk is the same way. Very talented, but very flawed.
I’m a lawyer in Silicon Valley. I’ve drafted hundreds of non-disclosure agreements, and dealt with many improper disclosures. But I’ve never seen anything like this.
What kind of General Counsel would let this kind of witchhunt happen? Apart from the obvious blow to morale, it seems like if any employee does disclose any leaks, of any kind, they get a job for as long as Tesla survives, since terminating them could always be argued to be for disclosing the leak.
Even seeing this kind of thing, I’m still pretty certain that Tesla will get the government “loans” they are asking for. Who else is there to give the money to?
I’m surprised at all the Elon Musk defenders here. Tesla is in deep, deep trouble. They are struggling to deliver the Roadster and are losing money on each one they deliver. Instead of focusing on getting the Roadster program to profitability, they are now distracting themselves with the Model S program, which is far more ambitious. And they’re desperately short of cash.
In the midst of all of this happy horse manure, instead of trying to put out one of the many corporate fires, Musk goes on a witch hunt.
Should Tesla employees be leaking information? No. But it is simply a reflection of the desperate problems within the company. Instead of trying to solve those problems, Musk starts an inquisition. It is a completely irresponsible waste of management time and energy, and it destroys what little employee morale is left. Criminally stupid.
But criminal stupidity has been an accurate description of Tesla management from the get go.
@tesla deathwatcher :
March 6th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I’m a lawyer in Silicon Valley. I’ve drafted hundreds of non-disclosure agreements, and dealt with many improper disclosures. But I’ve never seen anything like this.
That you have not seen it means nothing as for everything there is a “first time”
“Would you as a lawyer be happy your secretary shows your personal financial standing or provide your customers data to the media?”
I have seen enough NDA on my desk – I dont even read them to the fine print when signing bcs. I dont need to.
I know what it means to be a il-loyal person. I dont need a writing to be honest, its in the genes or not. If one want to stay in the game, he respect given rules and if you want to continue business you have to behave nicely (to clients or bosses) – one has show good manners and decency.
Normal.
I dont see whats so special about.
Loyalty cannot be enforced – everybody knows- but illoyality can and must be punished.
Thats how the system works.
I dont see why some have a problem with showing a indecent employee the highway.
@Jared :
March 6th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Its Elon Musks company (ok – this point can be discussed if he shanghaied another chaps company – probably he did)- and he can do as he pleases. He can close it, fire anyone, engage, hire or set it under water or move it to India.
Who dont want to sell his workforce for him may leave and find another duty.
Thats the way capitalism works.
Tesla is not shackling folks highjacked from the streets or using forced labor – at least not till today (as many other US companies do) In the US we have no communism, at least not until today – if it would be then you would be right to ask for “Power to the powerless” – Communism will probably coming soon through Obamas backdoor but the constitution is still valid (or the poor remains what Bush left of it) and communism manifests are not yet written law in the USA.
Here is a taste whats coming up:
So we continue with what we have today – a capitalistic country on the way to socialism:
If Tesla goes belly up, its Musks money, only his and not yours or the one of his employee (and hopefully not the one of the taxpayer)- he has as the CEO the responsibility to control his firm. In bad times even more so.
Otherwise he would be a fool. (actually he is a uncivilized one- but in other ways)
I dislike Musk a lot – but in this case he is right – 100%
^^ Well that gets my vote for random post of the day.
The more I think about it, the more this reminds me of Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny. The missing strawberries. And the hunt for the duplicate key to the wardroom icebox.
Like with Captain Queeg, it would be best if those working for Musk could help him stop doing this kind of thing. This legal maneuver is not going to do any more good than Musk’s disastrous trade secrets complaint against Fisker.
But stopping someone else’s stupidity is always hard. And that’s a shame. Tesla Motors has done something remarkable. It has raised nearly $200 million in venture capital. In just over five years it has brought to market a state-of-the-art electric car that really works. And it looks set to get government funding. That’s impressive.
What a waste if it all falls apart.
…the incarnation of “The ugly American”
In Elon’s case, South African actually.
Its Elon Musks company (ok – this point can be discussed if he shanghaied another chaps company – probably he did)- and he can do as he pleases.
Yes, Robert, Elon Musk can do anything he wants. I never said or implied other wise. That doesn’t change the fact that his actions were stupid.
CEOs are almost always time-constrained. There is always more work for them to do than there is time to do it. So perhaps the most important skill of a CEO is properly setting their priorities.
With Tesla losing money on every Roadster that they sell and their cash reserves dwindling rapidly, what do you think Musk be focusing on? Should he be spending every waking moment cutting production costs and raising money? Or should he spend his time and energy on a witch hunt that will further demoralize his already demoralized staff?
He is certainly free to waste his time and cripple employee morale with his witch hunt. But it is just about the dumbest thing for him to have done.
SunnyvaleCA :
Perhaps the General Counsel is the leaker? No better way to cover your tracks than to email the note to all the employees and then leak it yourself. Just saying.
Oh, that’s diabolical! I love it! I wouldn’t do it….but I love it, nonetheless!
I’d say you definitely ended the deathwatch prematurely. If I recall correctly, you ended their ‘watch when they shipped some product to customers. But the big 3 are making cars and you haven’t ended their deathwatches. Even if Tesla were pumping out 250 cars a month and actually selling that many they should still be on the ‘watch, since they would still be sliding towards bankruptcy.
I agree, the Tesla deathwatch should not only not have been terminated; it should be resumed right where it left off.
@ Revver :
“I think the point has been missed. Of course a company has the right to eliminate leaks, but such a comically bad execution of the plan, plus the continued desire for employees to send these communications out, speaks volumes about the apparently awful relationship Mr. Musk has with his employees”
I agree. That is what I got out of it. To me this paints the whole organization as totally eff-ed up. Why would you need to do this? I don’t see GM employees leaking critical information regularly. The fact that they have this problem shows that the employees are not loyal and that there are damaging secrets Elon is trying to mask.
I wouldn’t want to buy a car from a company that treats its employees like that. If someone is selling or trading proprietary information to a competitor, that’s one thing, but treating press leaks like a criminal investigation is batshit paranoia. I am also alarmed by all the people who defend the rights of employers to treat their employees like crap — remind me never to work for any of you.
This morning, while passing the Tesla dealership in Menlo Park, I saw two large Fed-Ex trucks unloading Teslas. Tesla is Fed-Ex’ing its cars from the factory? Not a good way to conserve cash.
One strange thing about this thing for me. I have no idea what leaks out of Tesla have got Elon Musk so upset. I try to follow the Tesla news fairly carefully. I’ve not seen anything confidential leaked. Has anyone else?
That’s why I see Elon Musk as a Captain Queeg. It was the same thing with the Fisker lawsuit. After the arbitrator ruled against Tesla in the strongest terms, Musk just said the ruling was wrong. How he could think that escapes me. Fisker clearly stole no trade secrets. Tesla had no case.
This leak thing is shaping up to be the same kind of legal disaster. Just like Queeg and his strawberries.
tesla deathwatcher,
I was also thinking of Captain Queeg.
BTW, Captain Queeg has an automotive connection. The Caine Mutiny was written by Herman Wouk, whose brother Victor was that godfather of the hybrid car.
Very interesting about the hybrid car/Victor Wouk connection to Captain Queeg, Ronnie Schreiber. I did not know that.
I’ve been trying to track down a leak that might have upset Elon Musk. The only thing I can find is some gossip, attributed to “Tesla insiders,” that Tesla has still not completed the $40 million financing that supposedly took place in December.
Can that be it? Seems rather mild.
Can that be it? Seems rather mild.
The man is a total control freak. It may seem mild to you or me, but to him it is a total betrayal worthy of the ultimate humiliation, as he did to Peng Zhou. Everyone at Tesla must bow down to him, and if they don’t he will crush them.
He’s busy extending his pecker, rather than fixing his broken company.
Maybe Musk is trying to keep secret how much time and money was wasted on the Fisker dust up.
“Tesla is Fed-Ex’ing its cars from the factory? ”
Years ago I happened to peer inside an incomplete office building which stopped construction due to lack of money. Sitting in the middle of the floor were an entire row of cabinets in their very dusty crates; Fed-x Second Day Air labels still attached. Talk about irony.
“He’s busy extending his pecker…. ”
A dangerous habit when so many knives are out.
I see Musk has been reading ‘The hunt for red october’
Jared :
March 7th, 2009 at 1:02 am
The man is a total control freak. It may seem mild to you or me, but to him it is a total betrayal worthy of the ultimate humiliation. Everyone must bow down to him, and if they don’t he will crush them.
Could be copied out of Dick Cheney`s resume – good enough for the american electoral- he was elected by a sound margin twice at VP.
I suppose they all have their resume’s out over there, but it’s not a good time to be looking.
Could be copied out of Dick Cheney`s resume – good enough for the american electoral- he was elected by a sound margin twice at VP.
Huh? What does Dick Cheney have to do with Tesla?
Bush and Cheney are out of office. That’s when normal people start letting it go. For another year or so, it will still be okay to throw out one that really fits, and is truly funny, but the hateful sniping is no longer helping anything. Perhaps you should leave it to the pro’s.
Unless, of course, you think your man needs the cover because he isn’t capable. Then, by all means, keeping attacking the last guys to divert attention.
Among other things wrong with Musk’s approach, you cannot force employees to sign a new, stricter nondisclosure agreement on threat of dismissal. You need to offer some additional consideration, like a bonus.
At least that is my experience. Tesla’s General Counsel does not seem to think the same. I wonder about this guy.
Look – Musk can fire the whole staff and hire new workers.
No problem for the company.
Could even improve the overall quality of the car.
The way the Tesla is constructed, manufactured and build (ready made stone ax ready made technology from any car-tools-supplyer shelf fitted more lame as high standard together – leaking roof e.g.) this car could be build in England (where the whole hull is ready made shipped over from) as well. If not regulations, local “tax incentive” (e.g. buy voters) and the chance of “bailoutmoney” where there the car would come from Europe. Bet.
What folks here dont get – If you own a company you have a lonely task: To satisfy your creditors, investors and banks and turn a profit.
No other responsibility lies on the side of the CEO.
The car manufacturing / mill and the treatment of personnel is only a tool to cash in a profit.
If the car is first class or rolling metal is basically of no importance.
Important is only that one can turn with the barest minimum of effort a maximum of profit.
Thats, how I understand, how capitalism works.
In a capitalistic society the profit is king.
In a communistic world workers are (theoretically) king.
Think.
Robert:
think. That’s good advice. Perhaps you should follow it.
Yes, profitability is Musk’s highest priority. His company is not profitable now. Not even close.
Instead of working at making his company achieve profitability, he is wasting time and morale on a witch hunt that will never succeed.
Here’s a thought, there wouldn’t be anything damaging to leak if you DIDN’T RUN THE COMPANY INTO THE GROUND.
tankd0g :
March 9th, 2009 at 1:46 am
Here’s a thought, there wouldn’t be anything damaging to leak if you DIDN’T RUN THE COMPANY INTO THE GROUND.
If its not profitable in your limited view?
(it is – he deducts losses from the tax from his other much bigger enterprises and saves so probably a fortune by “losing money”.)
So what?
And if so – is it you to care?
If it would be a financial disaster (without taxpayers bailout money spend in the wild) so who cares?…
…what a blue collar worker says and thinks while in the shower scrubbing his dirty balls and publishing that random thoughts to the media sharks regarding a CEO who pays him to fit a screw and hold his rand while doing so?
Is it the CEO’s business? Yes
Is it your money? No
Is it yours to say? No
Its you who is the Judge how another men runs its enterprises? No
A worker sells his workforce and has to deliver as he is asked for and thats it. If the buyer, the employer is not satisfied with the return for its money he must fire the employee. If a employee is illoyal to the hand which feeds him he must go. At once.
Its Musks company – he can flood it with water, set fire to it or change production to preservatives or pink condoms or make a brothel out of the branch-offices and a casino out of the flagship store.
USA is a free capitalistic country.
Its Musks firm – and no bystander, worker, journalist, politician, bump, I repeat NO-ONE has any saying in what a entrepreneur is doing to get a profit – as long as he pays taxes and works within the set legal frame.
If a employee pisses in his tea, he is very nice only to sack him and not to sue the shit out of him – as other “green and nice folks” as e.g. Apple computer, Matsushita, Porsche or Emanuel Rahm do if someone is not keeping its lose mouth shut.
I dont get whats wrong with that.
It would be different if the former GDR or USSR survived with its commie system – then at least theoretically the workers would have a say who to run the VEB “Volkseigene Betrieb” (peoples owned mill) – what your asking for.
What your asking is tuning Tesla in a commie VEB.
Interesting very retro idea…
Think…(communism)
Probably the only way out indeed not only for the big 3 (not Tesla – they will make it or break it without taxpayers money) but for the whole USA
– Obama is currently setting with its bailouts for everyone failed and / or having no pulse a shining example how to state run taken over private enterprises.
Its complete different in the case of the current car company bailouts by the Obama team with taxpayers money – showering dollars at a dead horse in the hope of a resurrection.
Is it the governments business to mingle with private market / entities? No
Is it your money? Yes
Would it be (theoretically) yours to say? Yes
Do you have a voice? No
Can you do something against? No
Its you who is the judge how another men (Obama and cohorts)
runs your enterprises? Yes
And most important:
Will it be you who will hold the sack? Yes
“Good night and good luck” with that policy…
PS: I was a former Obama evangelist – was…
Mr Farago, many here did try to tell you that the termination of the Tesla Deathwatch series was hasty and premature…..
Robert Frankenfurter, most MBA programs and all ABAT-accredited BS engineering programs REQUIRE a business ethics course, which oddly enough covers exactly what engineer Peng and the other employees of Tesla did and asserts it as a correct course of action. When a companies management lies, connives, and falsifies reports in an effort to snow investors, customers, and the government, then they are in the wrong. Enron, anyone?
Tesla is not and never has been Musk’s company, he is simply another (overcompensated) employee (investors own the company), one that adds little to no value to the finished product aside from the art of con and the grift. Instead of concentrating on producing a working product with the advertised specifications, timeline, and price point, he squanders his few remaining resources in the classic megalomania of an internal witch hunt. What a waste.
Jared said it best: With Tesla losing money on every Roadster that they sell and their cash reserves dwindling rapidly, what do you think Musk be focusing on? Should he be spending every waking moment cutting production costs and raising money? Or should he spend his time and energy on a witch hunt that will further demoralize his already demoralized staff?
@fallout11 :
March 9th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Every word you wrote is true – your right, perfect- theoretically.
The gap between your wishful Barby Doll perfect world and the real facts (provided you look out on any US street) on life is stunning.
Fact is, most of us live in a shark pond – the USA in a Piranha tank
Enron – how much managers got away with a golden parachute?
How much still serve in the slammer?
Maddoff?
http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/145339
Watching with a french engraved glass filled with fine Champagne in hand TV in his Upper East Side penthouse apartment, high above the town, and the fray. Is retaining enough millions not to have any caviar shortage, elegant relaxing in his suite in NY while the folks having a business ethics course MBA are waiting in line at the soup kitchens.
I spare you the x cases in the ailing bank & car industry where the biggest crooks get the highest bonuses with taxpayers money and the business ethics course chaps hit the highway after having lost their pensions they worked their back of for a lifetime.
That is the real reality – have a look at the huffingtonpost and you will see.
Musk is a typical shark – no ethics at all, not even in homeopathic doses but only brutal selfishness paired with manners seldom seen even in the lower side Bronx, a perfect capitalistic success story – but the Americans live today in a asshole society.
And that very environment is a perfect framework for Musk and comrades.
The MBA ethics specialists losers, after having lost their homes, cars and families are in the meantime happily swinging singing Kumbaya for Obama to remain warm (or posting on TTAC) – in line of soup kitchens, churches and job centers
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_madoff_victims_20081215.html
While you are correct regarding such “natural predators” (aka sociopathic personalities) being “winners” in our upside-down society, where we hold up and endear the very traits which make someone like Maddoff and Musk “successful!” and emulatable, actual real wealth creation still comes entirely from the ability to bring tangible goods and services to market, not speculative financial shell games and the marketing of a good con or spiel with a comely smile and monkey chest thumping. In fact, this is the underlying premise behind the current global financial/banking/credit collapse…..a pyramid scam can only go on for so long before it becomes obvious to all but the deluded.
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4486#post4486
Musk either needs to refocus on the primary task at hand, i.e. the production of Tesla’s end product with the afore-mentioned criterion, or they will go under sooner rather than later. Pissing money down a rathole will only get “his” company so far, unless of course one aspires merely to the grift, the course of action Musk now seems determined to pursue. His performance as head honcho to date has been far from ‘confidence’ inspiring, however, unless one judges his performance strictly in the connotation of parting the gullible from their money.
Without a continuous source of readily available prey, sharks die slow and agonizing deaths.