I sold almost all of my Tesla stock in the spring of 2024. This was before Elon Musk backed Trump in the fall. It was a tough decision b/c I had the stock for several yrs and it was extremely valuable. So what did it? It was not a political decision. Rather, it was a decision based about the psychological makeup of the CEO and the business culture he was fostering.
On Oct 16, 2023, I went to a public talk on Northwestern's campus w/ famed biographer Walter Isaacson. He was releasing a book on Musk after several yrs of research and interviews. In September 2023, I met Isaacson in New Orleans b/c he came and saw "A Wonderful World" at the Saenger Theatre. He enjoyed the show so we had drinks and kept in contact. A month later I'm in Chicago for AWW and I get a tix to this public talk.
David Axelrod, former advisor President Obama was interviewing Isaacson and doing a fantastic job asking laser-sharp questions. Isaacson said something to the effect that Musk has an engineer's mind and thinks of himself as a cartoon action hero saving the world. He thinks all problems are solvable through engineer thinking. Axelrod asked what he thought of Musk buying Twitter in 2022 and Isaacson paused for a moment. Paraphrasing here but Isaacson said there's going to be a problem with Twitter b/c Musk going to 'fix it' like it's a rocket or an EV. But Twitter is not a design problem. It's a fast-shifting, social microcosm. It is the largest printing press in human history in which the readers are also the content creators, cranking out millions of stories every minute. In trying to 'fix' Twitter and given Musk's 'social skills' it could be a PR nightmare, which could bleed over into his other businesses.
Afterward, all the audience members got Isaacson's newly printed Musk biography. I got my copy and took the train back to my hotel. Prior to that talkback I had never spent much time thinking about Musk as a person. He was just another rich guy who talked big and stood on massive stages with projection screens about the sci-fi future of our tools and robots. Isaacson was delving into the psychology of someone who was now in control of a lot of things: Twitter, SpaceX, a lot of gov contracts with the Defense Dept, top secret stuff. And he was also the guy who liked to play video games online and be 'one of the boys' and frequently jumped on reactive bandwagons to fit in.
I thought about that interview a lot. It was like getting warned about a human tsunami months in advance. I started paying attention to what Musk was saying on Twitter in Dec 2023 and into the new year. The narcissism and fanboy need for adulations. Hmmm..thinking of oneself as 'Ironman saving the world' makes one very suggestible to flattery. In short, that personality type seems like an easy person to brainwash b/c they thinks they are SO smart that they will only surround himself with ppl who also think they are the smartest guy ever, which ends up making one incredibly stupid.
The smartest ppl I've ever met are constantly in the 'don't know' phase of figuring things out. We become smarter through dynamic tension, being challenged, have peers who push us. It's the reason why rich parents so often raise thoroughly mediocre narcissists. Now if you're the richest guy on the planet, have all this power, and what you seek on a deep level is superhero praise, then you don't need the highest quality ppl challenging you. It's the psychological trap of people who believe they are genetically superior and the main character in every situation.
When Texas Instrument was the biggest/baddest computer corp in the world, they didn't need to think ahead...which is what allowed a Texas Instrument exec to go back to Taiwan and start up the richest company in the world: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. America could've had the future of tech, but arrogant businessmen allowed Morris Chang to walk back home to Taiwan and change the course of business history. Meanwhile Texas Instrument was stewing in it's own ego with H Ross Perot and now the company is a shell of itself. Narcissists implode. They are an easy target for con men, Russian bots, authoritarian movements, and just a general incompetence. The most inquistive ppl leave your presence. Your company starts experiencing a Texas-Instrument level brain drain. Tesla truck parts are stuck together with glue, Boeing airplane doors start flying off.
I sold my Tesla stock in the spring of 2024 and donated the profits to charity. I felt good. Then I started to doubt myself so I crept back in and bought small 2k of Tesla stock in the summer b/c it was rising again. Then Musk backed Trump, re-organized Twitter and the algorithm shifted. I noticed my page was filled with the Republican party anthems. There was a lot of anti-transgender anti-DEI messaging, xenophobia, and street brawls. The lurch toward right-wing fear and hatred was on...oddly enough it was started by someone who wanted to save the planet.
What Musk really wanted for the adulation of a superhero saving the planet. Because if he really watched superhero movies he knows that real heroes don't get a lot of praise. You save someone and then get complaints, envy, jealousy, and bootlickers. Every superhero story is an anti-hero b/c to be that great you have to go through the highs and lows to keep a balanced personality. The only people who experience praise are the Lex Luthor super villains who surround themselves with sycophants. And that really is the key different between the superhero and the super villain. Often both are trying to 'save the world' in their own warped way. But real superheroes frequently self-correct, have challenges, and then grow from them. Supervillains only seek to crush challenges to their power b/c they are so focused on getting praise for 'saving the world' that they are willing to destroy it.
So I am comforted that some charity orgs benefited from my Tesla stock sale. While I watch my measly 2k investment dwindle down I think about the superhero (or villain) that Musk has become in his own mind. So persecuted by the left, so adored by the right, and perpetually misunderstood as he cries into the echo chamber of his own algorithms.
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