Is running Twitter and Tesla too much for Elon Musk and what problems is he facing?

With staff rebelling at Twitter, two recalls of his Tesla cars in a week, and reports of a schoolgirl in China being killed by an out-of-control car, is Musk (and his businesses) cracking under the strain?

Psychologists have told the Standard how Elon Musk’s behaviour as the new Twitter owner goes against accepted business practices, as the Tesla founder and billionare faces continuing pressure at Tesla, and criticism over his ridiculing of Twitter’s old workplace culture.

And the founder of Twitter alternative Mastodon, Eugen Rochko, called the billionaire CEO’s leadership style “erratic”, saying it showed “incompetence”.

So what are the problems facing Musk?

Death in China

A schoolgirl and a motorcyclist were killed, and three others injured, after a driver alleged the brakes failed on his Tesla Model Y. This comes after other fatal crashes in October.

However, Musk rejects brake failure as a cause of the Chinese fatalities. Tesla has asked everyone to be mindful of “rumours”, while pointing out that the video footage at no point shows the brake lights of the vehicle coming on. Data from the vehicle confirms the brake pedal was never applied, according to Tesla.

In a statement to Reuters, Tesla said: “Police are currently seeking a third-party appraisal agency to identify the truth behind this accident and we will actively provide any necessary assistance.”

In an attempt to increase the popularity of his semi-autonomous cars, he has announced he is opening up his self-driving tech to all Tesla owners in North America, even those who previously proved an insurance risk.

In addition, Musk is facing unspecified investigation by federal authorities relating to his takeover of Twitter, according to a court filing by the social media company, Reuters reported. However, Musk’s lawyers dismissed the filing as a ‘misdirection’.

Product recalls

Earlier in November, the Texas-based car firm recalled 321,000 vehicles – specifically its 2023 Model 3 and 2020 to 2023 Model Y products – because of intermittent issues with their rear lights failing, causing false fault detections.

Just days earlier, almost 30,000 Model X cars were recalled due to an issue whereby front passenger airbags could be deployed incorrectly. A three per cent slump in company shares followed once the news broke.

With fixes to these tech issues coming in the form of “over-the-air” software updates, as opposed to physically returning the cars, Musk has dismissed the term “recall” as “outdated and inaccurate”.

“This is a tiny over-the-air software update,” he said in September, when almost 1.1 million cars had to be recalled because of faulty windows.

The above “recalls” are three of a reported 19 campaigns so far this year, with NHTSA data claiming more than 3.7 million vehicles have been affected in 2022 to date.

Twitter rebellion

When Elon Musk first took over Twitter, he made some predicted firings, including 20 employees who were understood to have earlier questioned Musk’s explanation for slow performance of the Twitter app.

The billionaire Tesla owner eventually sacked half of Twitter’s 7,500 global workforce a week after taking over the company, ended remote working, and set an ultimatum for remaining staff to agree to longer, more intense working patterns, or leave. Most Twitter talent unanimously bolted for the door.

Trade union Prospect, which says it represents a third of Twitter’s UK workforce, has written to the company raising its concerns about the treatment of the firm’s staff, how its redundancy consultation process will work, and has asked for a meeting with Twitter to discuss them.

Any staff still at Twitter are likely to be diehard loyalists hoping for promotion or employees biding their time, having mentally already left, while frantically sending off CVs during company time.

Mocking Black Twitter

Yet his outspoken approach towards Twitter is already attracting controversy. In a video clip shared to Twitter on Tuesday, Musk mocked #StayWoke T-shirts found at the company’s headquarters. The branded designs first surfaced in 2016, and were created by the Blackbirds group of black Twitter employees – one of several business-resource groups which were all disbanded following Musk’s takeover of the platform last month.

God-is Rivera, former global director of culture and community at Twitter, responded by sharing a picture of her in the shirt and tweeting: “I wasn’t yet a Tweep, but I wore this #StayWoke shirt in Feb 2017 speaking about the power of Black Twitter.

“I wore it in solidarity with Blackbirds and with the voices of Black Twitter who were demanding for a community to be seen, heard and respected. I will always be proud of that.”

Bringing back extremists

As well as bringing back controversial figures, such as Donald Trump and Kanye West, Musk also implemented a new verification system where anyone can pay for a blue check, which (of course) led thousands of people to impersonate celebrities, politicians, and huge companies.

Advertisers left in droves, fearing Twitter would slide into a cesspit of abuse (even more so) and become a perfect vehicle for scammers. This is a major problem, because 90 per cent of Twitter’s revenue has traditionally been from advertising.

Twitter shares falling

Added to this, according to Allen Root, a commentator at the Dow Jones outlet Barron’s, Musk’s apparent shift in focus away from Tesla to Twitter could be worrying investors.

On Monday, he wrote: “Tesla investors have other things to worry about [besides software recalls], such as the stock’s recent performance. Tesla shares are down about 55 per cent from their 52-week high, affected by everything from rising interest rates to supply-chain problems to competition from other EV makers.

“An extra concern is Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, which has resulted in the Tesla CEO spending more time trying to turn around the social media platform.”

Shares fell by 10 per cent on opening straight after Trump was reinstated.

Is Musk an erratic genius or a loose cannon?

Musk has already admitted he has “too much work on my plate” as he juggles his roles at Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, telling a business conference last week that he was working “from morning till night, seven days a week”. He has, however, achieved enormous success by generating public interest through acts of eccentric brinkmanship.

When asked how much of Musk’s online behaviour is frantic experimentation and how much is calculated publicity, Ben Williams of the business psychology consultancy Sten10 told the Standard it is the “million-dollar question”.

“Is this the actions of a genius business leader that goes against all acceptable wisdom and how much is it someone who is not thinking about his actions? If all comes good, it really upends a lot of perceived wisdom about how businesses should be running,” he said.

Binna Kandola, a business psychologist and co-founder of diversity and inclusion trainers Pearn Kandola, added: “Psychological safety, according to one definition, is being able to be oneself and to speak up without risk to one’s status, career, or self-image. The sacking of staff because they express dissent will mean that others won’t feel able to criticise or even critique ideas.

“In addition, they will be less willing to share ideas that are different, but potentially valid. A major study at Google examined what made an effective team within the organisation. It identified five main keys to a successful team, and psychological safety was easily the most important.

“This isn’t just about criticising Elon Musk’s actions, but also the impact they have on team performance.” In the end, it will be the investors and customers at Musk’s various enterprises that determine whether this juggling act is getting too precarious – and the jury is out.