There’s been a lot written about the flaming wreckage that is Musk’s takeover of Twitter. But I find it odd that no one has written about how the first people to be let go from the company were the accounting and legal people.
Getting rid of the CEO is a given. Nothing weird about that. But the CFO and Chief Counsel? That’s just downright weird. In my almost 30 years in business, I’ve never seen anything like that. I’ve been through multiple takeovers and I’ll you what usually happens when a new CEO takes over, the existing CFO and Chief Counsel become indispensable to the new leadership.
From what I’ve seen, a good new CEO leans on the existing CEO and Chief Counsel to show him where the bodies are buried. Who better to get you up to speed on how things work than those who have a deep understanding of how the company works?
But a good CEO possesses a certain level of humility and self-awareness. The ability to admit that you don’t have all of the answers and to lean on others for advice. Apparently, Musk falls far short of the standard. The accounting and legal groups are like the state department or FBI in the federal government. It doesn’t matter which party controls the presidency. These non partisan government agencies help bring the new president up to speed. They are supposed to be an aid, not an adversary.
So why did Musk feel the need to begin his firing with this group? Could it have anything to do with the fact that this is the one group within a company that can and will stand against a CEO if his plans will bring harm to the company or put people in legal jeopardy? It’s interesting that Tesla’s big turnaround didn’t really come until after Tesla’s experienced CFO retired and Musk promoted a 38 year old Zachary Kirkhorn, a young accountant with relatively little experience. If Musk wants to influence the quarterly financials, there isn’t really anyone to stand against him at Tesla.
And anyone who’s watched Tesla over the past few years will tell you there has always been a very strange dynamic at Tesla when it comes to turnover within the accounting ranks. Teslas financial turnaround came after a massive exodus of high-ranking experienced financial leaders. Make of that what you will.
As I’ve written before, accounting is typically a low turnover department where people are content to stay a while, except for Tesla. And making the turnover even stranger at Tesla is that high ranking officers like former Tesla CFO Jason Wheeler were walking away from a ton of stock options. Those with an inside view of what was happening at Tesla came to the conclusion that their stock options were worthless. And this has happened over and over again.
From what I’ve seen, a good new CEO leans on the existing CEO and Chief Counsel to show him where the bodies are buried. Who better to get you up to speed on how things work than those who have a deep understanding of how the company works?
But a good CEO possesses a certain level of humility and self-awareness. The ability to admit that you don’t have all of the answers and to lean on others for advice. Apparently, Musk falls far short of the standard. The accounting and legal groups are like the state department or FBI in the federal government. It doesn’t matter which party controls the presidency. These non partisan government agencies help bring the new president up to speed. They are supposed to be an aid, not an adversary.
So why did Musk feel the need to begin his firing with this group? Could it have anything to do with the fact that this is the one group within a company that can and will stand against a CEO if his plans will bring harm to the company or put people in legal jeopardy? It’s interesting that Tesla’s big turnaround didn’t really come until after Tesla’s experienced CFO retired and Musk promoted a 38 year old Zachary Kirkhorn, a young accountant with relatively little experience. If Musk wants to influence the quarterly financials, there isn’t really anyone to stand against him at Tesla.
And anyone who’s watched Tesla over the past few years will tell you there has always been a very strange dynamic at Tesla when it comes to turnover within the accounting ranks. Teslas financial turnaround came after a massive exodus of high-ranking experienced financial leaders. Make of that what you will.
As I’ve written before, accounting is typically a low turnover department where people are content to stay a while, except for Tesla. And making the turnover even stranger at Tesla is that high ranking officers like former Tesla CFO Jason Wheeler were walking away from a ton of stock options. Those with an inside view of what was happening at Tesla came to the conclusion that their stock options were worthless. And this has happened over and over again.
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