The cult of an Elon Musk or a Jack Ma has its perks—but also perils
Business leaders eager to cultivate acolytes should be careful what they wish for
“I AM BECOME meme, Destroyer of shorts.” This recent tweet by Elon Musk struck a messianic tone that his disciples lap up. The past month has boosted the cult status of the uber-entrepreneur. The GameStop saga gave him ammunition in his long-running battle with short-sellers, while also positioning him as a champion of the little guy taking on Wall Street. This week fans were spellbound by the announcement that Mr Musk’s electric-car maker, Tesla, had invested $1.5bn in bitcoin and would start accepting the cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Earlier, a barrage of cheeky tweets from Mr Musk about dogecoin (“the people’s crypto”) had sent serious investors scrambling to learn more about a digital currency that started as a joke.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Alpha pipers”
Business February 13th 2021
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From the February 13th 2021 edition
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