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There has never been anyone like Elon Musk in my lifetime. Other technological billionaires have built extraordinary companies, disrupted industries and launched their own space rockets. Fewer people have been compared to Thomas Edison or have ambaded Mr. Musk's base of rock star fans.
No one sent a red electric sports car into orbit with a dummy fit for the driving post called Starman, as Mr. Musk did in February. . Or raised millions of dollars selling flamethrowers of US $ 500. Or designed a gigantic rocket to go to Mars, codenamed BFR, abbreviation for "Big Rock Finger Rocket".
Like so many others, I have long struggled to withstand Mr Musk 's exuberant approach. I have never been convinced that he was motivated solely by the desire to tackle the biggest problems of mankind. And yet, its Tesla electric cars and its gigantic battery factory have helped do that, prompting more traditional automakers to speed up their connection plans.
I never cared much about his plans to colonize Mars, but who could ignore his company SpaceX reusable rocket technology and its promise to reduce launch costs? Mr. Musk's hipsterish gift for self-advertisement might grate, especially when a burst of tweets to his 22 million Twitter followers seemed timed to distract from failures in his empire. But even that was forgivable for a man with so many undeniable achievements.
Yet, recently, something has changed. While the billionaire struggled to accelerate the production of the Tesla model 3 car, his behavior has declined significantly.
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"Bone Bonehead"
In April, he described media reports implicating Tesla's safety record as being the work of extremists backed by unions. The following month, Tesla shares collapsed after a bizarre profit call in which Mr Musk cut an badyst trying to ask if the company needed more money from investors, saying that "boring questions are not cool". Then came his intervention in the global drama surrounding the 12 boys who were trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand last week.
Responding to a Twitter user, Mr. Musk had the idea of building a "submarine" help in rescue efforts. In the end, it was not necessary and when the BBC reported that a Thai official had stated that the equipment was "not practical with our mission", Mr. Musk blasted.
The official in question was "not the expert on the subject" a tweet "This would be Dick Stanton, who co-directed the dive rescue team." Surprisingly, he then tried to prove his point by publishing his e-mail exchange with Mr. Stanton, who had urged him to continue working on the capsule.
Perhaps Mr. Stanton was really grateful for his help in the midst of a complex nightmarish rescue mission. Whatever the case may be, what began as an offer of help began to look more like a public relations cascade of a disruptive narcissist.
It's a shame, as it arms the critics of a billionaire who can use his one-man machine prowess. to a much better effect. Last year, he made a big bet on Twitter that if Tesla could not build a huge battery in 100 days in an Australian state plagued by a power outage, he would deliver it for free. The world's largest battery has been propelled ahead of time in a country where coal-friendly federal politicians have ridiculed promising new energy technologies.
Another Museque intervention saw crates of batteries shipped to Puerto Rico last year after the pbadage of Hurricane Maria. of people without power.
False step of Thailand
In Thailand, however, he made a mistake. I hope that there is no repetition. For all his too-promising antics and public relations, Mr. Musk remains largely a force for good. One of his most attractive traits was his joyful embrace of failure. Witness the foolishness of the spectacular SpaceX rocket explosions that he launched last year. SpaceX, of course, does not cause anything like the headache of the Tesla Model 3 production woes.
Perhaps this agitation will be useful. Mr. Musk is sometimes compared to another technological genius: the late co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs. A recent book suggests Jobs changed after leaving Apple in 1985 and suffered setbacks in its other businesses.
In the Asshole Survival Guide, Robert Sutton, a Stanford professor, talks about a conversation with Pixar's president, Ed Catmull for many years. He said that the wild years of Apple's leader have made him a more thoughtful and better leader, who has come back to create the successful story of Apple as we know it.
The comparison goes only very far. Mr. Musk does very different things to Jobs, or to someone else. And, as he tweeted last week to a critic: "If I'm narcissistic (which might be true), at least I'm helpful."
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