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Learn leadership from Elon Musk

The antagonistic billionaire is the pinnacle of terrible leadership. Become a better leader by doing the opposite of Elon Musk.

Ryan Ford
UX Collective
7 min readJan 27, 2025
A stylish Tesla Roadster sits on a display pedestal, covered by the title “Learn Leadership from Elon Musk (and George Costanza).”
An edited photo of a Tesla, original photo by Anthony A on Unsplash

On May 19, 1994, an iconic Seinfeld episode aired entitled “The Opposite.” In it, the show’s indisputably best character, George Costanza, has a revelation: every instinct he’s ever had has led him to failure. So, he decides to try something radical — he does the opposite. As the episode unfolds, this counterintuitive strategy works like magic: George gets the girl, lands his dream job, and moves into his dream apartment.

Fast forward to 2008. Elon Musk, already a board member of Tesla, ascends to the CEO role, cementing his place in history as the leader of a company that would revolutionize the auto industry. Over the years, his list of leadership titles has grown to include CEO of SpaceX, Neuralink, and X (formerly Twitter), Chairman of SolarCity (now absorbed into Tesla), head of The Boring Company, and even self-appointed problem-solver-in-chief for the world’s biggest challenges through “The Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk is a busy man. And there’s no denying Musk is three things: a remarkable business success, a prolific executive, and — let’s be honest — a terrible leader.

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Published in UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. Curated stories on UX, Visual & Product Design. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Written by Ryan Ford

Designer, Design Leader, Advisor & Mentor. Helped build Chime, Crunchyroll, Deviantart, and more internet treasures.

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