Musk and the Reckoning of the Tech Industry
This is what happens when you idolize the wrong people.
(source: digitally altered photo of a French street artist.)
The Rant
We’ve long had a problem in the tech industry, and that problem has finally reached its logical conclusion as we watch Elon Musk’s behavior in the White House.
Before I continue, a disclaimer. I love the tech industry. I love engineering. I love being a tech startup leader. I don’t recall a time in my life when I wasn’t an engineer: from a toddler fascinated by light switches and extension cords to a 10-year-old learning to solder to a teenager writing code on a Commodore 64 to the present day of building products and companies. I will always be an engineer, and I will always love technology.
I also love leadership and have built my career on it. Much of what I write about here and all of what I do professionally is about leadership. My hardest work, my biggest failures, and my best accomplishments have been roles in which I led engineering organizations building products at scale.
So, it’s from this vantage point that I say unequivocally: we have idolized the wrong tech leaders for far too long, and now we’re paying the price.
I’m just as guilty! I have been in awe of Musk for a long time. There is no denying that Musk’s accomplishments are tremendous. Tesla has revolutionized the electric car industry, autonomous driving, and battery storage technology. SpaceX has accelerated rocket science at a pace that puts America decades ahead of everyone else. Musk is probably the most accomplished entrepreneur in my 30+ years as an engineer and tech leader.
But we’ve committed a mortal sin on this journey. We’ve allowed a person to be judged only by their accomplishments and not by their character.
Musk is an extreme example of all-too-common entrepreneurial leadership in our industry, where the end justifies the means. He’s a tech archetype: an emotionally challenged, empathy-deficient, technically brilliant engineer who ends up in leadership positions where they do incredible damage to the people around them. And we tolerate and endorse this in the name of innovation and profit.
Musk is the ultimate byproduct of systematic behaviors in my industry that have been building since the tech revolution began. And now we’ve unleashed this archetype onto the world stage, and we are reaping what we have sown.
The Solution
This Substack isn’t about politics. It’s about tech, leadership, and startups. But since we have a tech guy de facto running the country, and since we recently witnessed a parade of Silicon Valley CEOs traveling to Washington to kiss the ring of the petulant child-king, I think it’s high time those of us in the tech industry stand up and demand better.
We need better leaders in tech. Period. This belief has been the overarching manifesto of my humble substack, starting with the very first post.
To get better leaders, we need to start idolizing the right people. We need humble, brilliant, thoughtful, self-aware leaders driven to build companies and technologies that advance society.
To get better leaders, we need to start eschewing the wrong people. With all due respect to Musk’s mental health struggles, we need to stop working with, working for, and hiring brilliant jerks.
To get better leaders, we need to find balance. We need to hold ourselves and our people accountable for both good business results and good human behavior. We need our investors and VCs to demand the same.
To get better leaders, we need talented CEOs:
We need to eschew toxic environments:
We need to hone our leadership balance at all levels of the company:
And every single one of us at every level of company and government needs to develop and nurture a growth mindset:
Yes, I’m biased, but I still believe the tech industry is the only industry that has a fighting chance at “making America great again.” Let’s do better together.
Don’t idolize anybody. Take what works for you; discard what does not. No one is completely virtuous; and few people are unable to teach you something.