91–100 of 259 posts
Musk isn't purely a self-made success story. He was born into emerald mines, got a first class education, and used that inherited wealth to start companies, sell, and then buy stakes in growing companies other people founded (inc. Tesla, incidentally). So is the lesson here to be born rich rather than try to get an education? Or just that when you are born rich education is optional? It is notable that the other foun…
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How is this working for other car makers, who are full of MBAs? Elon comes along and takes their market share.
Electric cars are 2.6% of cars sold, and Tesla is 18% of that EV market. That's not really any proof that the MBA's are "ruining" other car markers, is it? 1 - https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2020 2 - https://electrek.co/2020/10/30/tesla-tsla-market-share-globa...
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Spot on. MBA's aren't meant for 0 to 1. They're meant to optimize and sustain business models with the foundation of innovation and revolutionary ideas. Companies that only stick to one or the other are doomed, or require their industry to be that much more technical or business focused.
How is this working for other car makers, who are full of MBAs? Elon comes along and takes their market share.
> “I think there might be too many M.B.A.s running companies,” the Tesla Inc. chief executive said. “There should be more focus on the product or service itself, less time on board meetings, less time on financials.” > Many business-school leaders shot back, saying that Mr. Musk’s comments don’t match the reality of what is taught in M.B.A. programs and that more students than ever who are pursuing the graduate degre…
Yup, that's exactly the problem
It's a special case of, there's too many people and not enough work (the real problem IMO).
The years before covid, unemployment was at historic lows.
Of course, one could always create their own work by looking for opportunities to create value for their employer, but IMO it's rarely incentivized.
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He is in a very specific situation, he is the founder and the CEO and has a lot of money to burn. He wants to do big things and he can do them. A lot of companies have stock holders who expect some return every year without risking too much. As a society we sure would be better off if had more Elon Musk type company leaders, but for that too happen we would need more exceptional people like him (not going to happen)…
Our society has plenty of Elon Musks. Their being snuffed out by a academic system designed to churn out people can repeat "the correct answer". Heterodox thinking is a liability not an asset in Academia now. Along with the fact that most people don't even have the option to take risk with the massive increase of cost of housing. Our society has been designed to squeeze out cash flow and it's smothering our creatives…
1) American school education, and college education is amazing. ( if you can afford it). Talk to immigrant parents From other countries for a contra point. Crushing the soul of students isn’t fully installed in America, yet (which brings us to point 2)
2) It’s the economy. At some point, the American economy stopped working as well for blue collar roles as paths to middle class incomes.
The new path required white collar credibility. Humans naturally optimized for this. Which brings us to The fundamental conflict for American education, that gets distorted depending on how you enter the discussion.
3) the American liberal arts system, produced great intellectual output, for an economy where you could pursue both intellectual limits and get a decent paying job. The number of people entering were small, and you could lavish your attention on those pursuits.
It does not work for a majority of America customers/students who simply want credibility when it comes to entering paths to social mobility, and are not interested in a life of intellectual pursuit.
Look, colleges and schools have different problems, but for businesses, a degree has become the basic filter, where it was never meant to be.
Moocs simply don’t have the credibility to fill in the gap, and you can’t make a github or deviantart for roles which don’t have a standardized output.
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How is this working for other car makers, who are full of MBAs? Elon comes along and takes their market share.
Electric cars are 2.6% of cars sold, and Tesla is 18% of that EV market. That's not really any proof that the MBA's are "ruining" other car markers, is it? 1 - https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2020 2 - https://electrek.co/2020/10/30/tesla-tsla-market-share-globa...
Lack of early, large and decisive investment in EV shows a stunning lack of foresight from all ICE car CEOs. Suicide by inaction.
18% is more market share than the biggest ICE car companies (VW and Toyota have ~10% market share).
This shows that Musk handily outperforms all ICE car makers in his sub-market (EV cars). It's not like Tesla lacks competition in EV market (NIO, BYD, XPeng, Nissan, GM, Hunday, Renault, Rivian, Lucid...)
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Musk climbed the ladder several rungs. If musk isn't self made then neither is the guy who was born into welfare and dies the owner of a successful independent used car lot. Climbing the ladder is climbing the ladder regardless of where you start.
One way to "climb the rungs" is education. This is an article/thread discussing his anti-education take, when he himself (in spite of having a first class education) doesn't feel like he gained from it, and suggesting others don't either (or even that education is harmful). His wealth and privilege is absolutely topical because he was able to bypass certain checks due to his family is.
I’m not really a fan of credentialism, especially when it can be expensive and painful as hell to obtain them, but I don’t put much stock into most “anti education” type stuff.