Two Cheers for the Tyrant in the Corner Office

Management gurus have been preaching for years against the evils of autocratic management. Successful managers thrive on feedback, the argument goes; autocrats don’t listen to anybody but themselves. Successful managers bring out the best in their employees; autocrats turn them into shivering chihuahuas. The imperial CEOs of yesteryear — “Neutron” Jack Welch at General Electric Co. and “Chainsaw” Al Dunlop at Sunbeam Products — earn mention in business schools today only as examples of how not to manage.

The anti-autocrats can hardly control their glee at having a real-time example of the evils of autocracy — Elon Musk’s troubled takeover of Twitter. Since Musk’s arrival, the social media company has been in such turmoil that its imminent death is repeatedly announced. Having already sacked half the company’s 7,500 employees, Musk sent out a midnight email giving the remaining employees a choice between going “extremely hardcore,” by which he meant “long hours at high intensity,” or taking a three-month severance package. Another 1,200, or half the remaining workforce, quit. Musk is even in trouble with the San Francisco city authorities (who apparently don’t have anything else to do, given the impeccable state of that city’s streets) for turning conference rooms into bedrooms without planning permission. William Klepper, of Columbia Business School, has described Musk’s approach to management as “a case study of failed leadership.” Peter Coy, of the New York Times, says that “it’s hard not to draw parallels between Musk’s problems at Twitter and Vladimir Putin’s problems in Ukraine.”