There are a lot of attacks levied against Elon Musk and the decisions he is making with Twitter. At the top of the list is the $8 per month blue check idea. This was rolled out quickly and resulted in a catastrophic failure. It was revoked almost as rapidly as it come into being.
The platform ended up with more fake accounts and brands being hurt. This is so Elon.
Many feel this is grounds for attack on Musk. They believe that he has no clue what he is doing as evidenced by such a public failure.
This leads to the accusations that Musk is really not cut out to run a social media or broadcast platform. On the surface, this makes sense.
Unfortunately, this is underestimating Elon and how he approaches things.
Image Via Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
There is a concept in the development world of break things early and often. The idea is to take action and push things live. It is then when things can be adapted as bugs are realized.
Elon applies this to all his companies. Tesla is known for being an environment where people are encouraged to take action. New ideas do not have to be run through committies like at other companies. Employees are given the freedom to try new things. Elon is well aware that not all things will work out as planned. Nevertheless, taking action is better than no action.
This is what appears to be the procedure being used with Twitter. If the idea is there, no need for market surveys and an assortment of other traditional feedback mechanisms. Simply go live with it, receiving real time results.
Naturally, traditional business managers will say this is insane. It is evident that is what they are doing.
For Musk, this is just another thing to blitz. He is going to use the break things early and often approach. To Musk, inaction is worse than the wrong action.
There are videos out there with people detailing how Twitter is vastly different from Tesla or SpaceX. The point being made is that engineering is required with those two companies and that a different approach is required with Twitter.
While there certainly are some differences, when it comes to business building, I have a feeling Musk knows exactly what is before him. We have to keep in mind he was one of the main player in the early days of PayPal. That naturally is a company unlike EVs or rockets. In fact, when Musk entered those industries, he had to learn from scratch.
If anything, his early background is more aligned with Twitter than anything else that he did.
Of course, that doesn't mean that Twitter will instantly be a success. There are a lot of things wrong with the company and Musk has his work cut out for him.
However, do not mistake his approach for being lost or not knowing what he is doing. He is well aware of the path he is following with it. His goal is turn to Twitter into a full service, digital platform.
This is not something that is completely foreign to him.
Musk is brash, outspoken, and, at times, obnoxious. He is also one who is extremely bold in all he does. He made a few hundred million and proceeded to move onto EVs and rockets. Who in their right mind would do that?
As it turned out, it was a major win for him. Now he is, insanely according to many, dumping billions into an extremely flawed social media company. Perhaps this is the case. He would not be the first billionaire to lose a bunch of money investing in something stupid.
In this case, however, Musk has a bit more control over the future direction of his investment. I believe he will be taking some bold steps in spite of what everyone else things.
Will they world out? Not all of them and that is by design. Nobody is right all of the time. Nevertheless, string enough right ideas together and something good could result.
Elon did not become the richest person in the world because he fell into hundreds of billions of dollars. He is willing to take risks others are not. At the same time, he is willing to lose on his bet.
Few approach things in this manner. Hence why so few of us can truly understand how he handles things.
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