“A Question for Tesla’s Board: What Was Elon Musk’s Mental State?”, 2018-08-15 ():
There’s no question that Elon Musk is one of the great entrepreneurs of this era. He may even be in “a class of one”, as he recently described Tesla Motors, the revolutionary electric car company he founded.
But Musk’s tweet last week—expressing his intent to take Tesla private and declaring that he had “funding secured” for the multibillion-dollar transaction—was so impulsive, potentially inaccurate, poorly worded and thought out, and with such potentially dire consequences for himself, Tesla and its shareholders, that the board now must ask a sensitive but vital question: What was Musk’s state of mind when he wrote it?
…The explanation for the tweet may be more psychological than strategic. In a Twitter exchange from last summer, Musk said he experienced “great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress.”
…“Entrepreneurs often have a temperament and a constellation of traits that can create enormous value but are also associated with substantial risks”, said Michael A. Freeman, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco whose research and practice focuses on entrepreneurs.
While Dr. Freeman said he couldn’t comment on Musk, whom he’s never treated, he said that his research and experience with clients show that entrepreneurs generally “have mental health profiles that are associated with higher levels of creativity, higher levels of energy, higher levels of risk tolerance and higher levels of impulsivity. Another way to look at impulsivity is a need for speed, a sense of urgency, higher motivation, and greater restlessness.”
All of that would seem consistent with Musk’s Twitter habits.
Scott Shane, a professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University, put it more simply: “These people are just wired differently”, he said. “They’re quicker to spot and act on opportunities, but that same tendency can get them into trouble in other situations.”
These qualities may also be exacerbated by lack of sleep. Musk has said he’s been sleeping on the factory floor, skipping showers, and working extremely long hours while Tesla ramps up production of its Model 3. “There are a number of behavioral destabilizers in the world of entrepreneurship”, Dr. Freeman said, “and sleep deficiency is high on the list. The consequences can be impaired functioning, higher irritability, and judgment can be adversely affected.” During Tesla’s most recent earnings conference call, Musk apologized to Wall Street analysts he had insulted during a previous call for asking “boring, bonehead questions.” “There are reasons for it. I’ve gotten no sleep and been working sort of 110-hour, 120-hour weeks”, he said.
It’s also a common trait of entrepreneurs that they feel rules don’t apply to them. From their perspective, many rules “get in the way of getting things done”, said Dr. Freeman.