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.

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

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?

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…

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.

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.

At least that is my experience. Tesla’s General Counsel does not seem to think the same. I wonder about this guy.

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.

Huh? What does Dick Cheney have to do with Tesla?

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.