The article chosen for this review is titled ‘Tesla earnings day: Elon Musk is in the driver’s seat steering the company’s path to profits’. This headline is an attention grabbing one, especially for anyone with an interest in business and technology. This is because the company named in the headline is one that has been pushing the boundary of what is possible in the last decade and is run by one of the most visionary business leaders in recent years. The headline attracted the attention of the student owing largely to a prevailing notion among a majority of commentators that Tesla’s stock will soon plummet owing to delivery issues and it interests the student to find out more about how Elon Musk intends to handle the growing competition and delivery issues within the company. The headline reflects the article’s relevance to leadership by mentioning the driving seat as a reference to Tesla’s change of fortunes from relative obscurity to becoming a household name in the electric vehicle segment which has led to significant growth in the segment which has been steered by Elon Musk as CEO and, only until recently, chairman of the company (Wasserman, 2019).
The article, through a number of quotes from different industry observers and stock experts; develops a case for the delicate nature of the company’s stock and the varied nature of industry observer’s ideas on how the company will perform in the near future. The article also touches on the somewhat eccentric nature of Elon Musk and how the seeming recklessness of the CEO may affect the public’s view of Tesla and other companies that he heads. The underlying idea seems to be that although Elon Musk is not the typical CEO, all suit and tie; he has a history and reputation for finding solutions to problems and the article suggests that the Tesla earnings day to be held within a few days of the publishing of the article could prove the many naysayers wrong about the company’s financial position.
With regard to leadership theory, the article is indicative of the role that a strong vision and work ethic in the leader often cascades down to the followers or employees in a business leadership set-up (Caridi‐Zahavi, Carmeli, & Arazy, 2016). The article mentions how the drive and vision of Elon Musk has seen him build several successful businesses from the ground up with the combined value of the two companies mentioned in the article, namely Tesla and SpaceX, being valued at a combined 80 billion dollars (Wasserman, 2019). The people working at these companies, especially Tesla, have shown significant dedication to their work to help the company achieve its current status. This is in part due to Elon Musk’s string vision and exemplary leadership both in recruiting only the best as well as staying true to the goals and demonstrating a commitment to the goals of the company.
The article uses direct quotes to enhance the authenticity of their sources and includes the titles and names of the respondents interviewed as part of the article’s research and fact collection stage. The use of well-known industry names makes the claims made in the article easily verifiable and by quoting notable industry persons, the publisher puts themselves in a position where they must quote correctly or else face legal issues for wrong representation of people who have a reputation to protect. Where there are no people to be quoted, the source of a number or fact is quoted and if possible a link to the article provided. These measures coupled with the fact that the publisher is a well-known news website greatly reduce the chances of there being any elements of fake news in the article.
References
Wasserman, T. (2019). Tesla earnings day: Elon Musk is in the driver’s seat steering the company’s path to profits. Retrieved 11 August 2019, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/24/tesla-earnings-musk-in-drivers-seat-steering-company-path-to-profits.html
Caridi‐Zahavi, O., Carmeli, A., & Arazy, O. (2016). The influence of CEOs’ visionary innovation leadership on the performance of high‐technology ventures: The mediating roles of connectivity and knowledge integration. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 33(3), 356-376.
