[ad_1]
Elon Musk was perhaps one of the few entrepreneurs to have seen marijuana in an online video interview. But as the movement of legalization grows, he joins other business leaders open on the use of cannabis.
The CEO of Tesla Inc. caused an Internet sensation and a fall in the electric car manufacturer's course of action after taking a puff of cigarette that was labeled "marijuana" this week on "The Joe Rogan" Experience". . "I mean, it's legal, no?" Said Mr. Musk from the Los Angeles studio where the interview was filmed. "Totally legal", answered Mr. Rogan, the comedian who hosts the show.
Mr. Musk – who added that he "almost never smokes" marijuana and did not find it useful for productivity – is not the first to discuss the use or use of marijuana. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and the late Steve Jobs admitted they were engaging in recreational marijuana at some point. George Zimmer, founder and former president of Men's Wearhouse Inc., has been a cannabis user for decades, and in 2015 delivered a speech at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Exhibition for the legalization of marijuana. Meanwhile, other business figures, such as George Soros and Bill Gates, have publicly expressed their support for initiatives to legalize marijuana.
Yet the context is paramount, and the fact that CEOs can openly admit marijuana use without any repercussions, such as losing their jobs, depends largely on the culture and constituencies of the companies they run.
"Ex-school executives have made far worse decisions about two-martini lunches than anyone because of marijuana use from time to time," said Jeffrey Cohn, global managing partner of DHR International, a research firm of frames. That said, he added, "it would be very different for [an older-company CEO] do like a startup founder "like Mr. Musk.
Indeed, many of the CEOs known to have worked with marijuana were founders of companies like MM. Jobs and Branson, as opposed to the company heads promoted to the head. Having that visionary aura – and greater influence over their company's board of directors – could give them more license to discuss what they consume in private, Cohn said.
Mr. Zimmer, who was ousted from his position as Executive Chairman of Men's Wearhouse in 2013 in clashes with his successor as CEO, said that even though marijuana use is becoming more socially acceptable , executives of publicly traded companies openly discuss marijuana use.
"I would advise Mr. Musk to go slowly in his [talk about marijuana] because it was probably a few years before the culture really changed, "said Zimmer, who has since founded Generation Tux, a tuxedo- and online costume rental company.
More problematic for Mr Musk, the timing with the other challenges of Tesla, said Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management. The Podcast in which Mr. Musk took a breath was his first public appearance since he abandoned a controversial attempt to take the company privately and he was confronted with production problems and questions about his behavior.
Bernstein added that while the social stigma associated with marijuana use is diminishing, boards are taking a closer look at the privacy and behavior of their CEOs, particularly in the social media and movement era. #MeToo. CEOs "need to realize that nothing they do in private is necessarily private," Bernstein said.
Even in California, where Tesla is based, and in other states where marijuana use is legal, many companies have also adopted code of conduct policies prohibiting work under the influence of drugs or drugs. # 39; alcohol. Tesla's policy states that the use of illegal drugs in the workplace will not be tolerated.
At least marijuana use by a CEO can create an appearance of conflict with a company's values, said Keith Goudy, associate director of Vantage Leadership Consulting, a Chicago-based executive coaching firm. "If a CEO can smoke marijuana, but people do not assemble heavy machinery, what about?
Write to Vanessa Fuhrmans at [email protected]
Source link
