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Responding to Elon Musk on Twitter can be very risky. The way you respond to criticism or praise – in general – says a lot about you. The way you react when she comes from a billionaire known for his sometimes controversial but still alive Twitter feed can be dangerous.
If only every executive could take the approach that Ford CEO Jim Farley took on Friday. This is possibly the best example of emotional intelligence I’ve ever seen, and it only took one word.
That was the whole tweet. Only one word. Turns out that was all Ford CEO Jim Farley needed.
On Thursday, Tesla’s CEO tweeted his thoughts on the hardest part of making cars. Everyone has an idea, but only a few of them can execute it. Even fewer can do it while making money. In many ways, the tweet was aimed at virtually every other American company that has tried to make cars before. Well, except one.
“Tesla and Ford are the only American automakers that haven’t gone bankrupt on thousands of auto startups,” Musk wrote. “Prototypes are easy, production is difficult, and having positive cash flow is excruciating.”
Musk’s tweet pointed out that his company, along with Ford, were the only two U.S. automakers to never file for bankruptcy.
Musk is right. General Motors and Chrysler went through particularly dark times a decade ago, requiring government bailouts and ultimately bankruptcy protection.
Ford, on the other hand, fared better thanks to a little forward-thinking financial planning. For the company, this fact is a source of pride. Even during the auto bailouts in 2009, Ford did not receive a government grant. He borrowed money but was in much better shape than his big three competitors.
Tesla, on the other hand, has done what none of its competitors have been able to figure out – how to mass-produce electric vehicles that customers actually want to buy. Not only that, even after its stock price fell 31% over the past month, Tesla is still worth more than all other U.S. automakers combined.
I’m sure Musk feels like he has a lot to be happy about. Tesla is in a rare company, and the surge in his share price over the past few months has made him, at least at one point, the richest man in the world.
And yet he managed to give Ford a compliment, which in itself says a lot.
It would have been easy for Farley to rejoice. Tesla certainly has momentum, but Farley runs a company that has been around for almost 120 years and has just launched a product that may well beat Tesla at its own game.
Ford has just launched the Mustang Mach-E, which analysts say is reducing Tesla’s market share, which fell 12% in February from a year earlier. Morgan Stanley said the drop was 100% attributed to Mach-E, even after Ford announced a series of delays in delivering vehicles due to lengthy quality checks.
Instead, Farley’s response was brilliant precisely because by saying so little he actually said a lot. The ability to be both competitive and courteous is a sign of emotional intelligence.
Farley’s response was gracious as it was an unspoken acknowledgment that despite the hype, Telsa really did what almost no other auto company has been able to do, especially in such a short time.
The point is, when you’re proud of an accomplishment, it’s best to let someone else point it out. When they give you a compliment, accept it. Then don’t be afraid to reciprocate, even if it comes from your competition.
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