[throwawaywd89e]

I think the major problem a lot of people have with Elon's behaviour is not that he is behaving in an "entrepreneurial" way, but that he appears to be in the middle of a hypomanic episode and has nobody around him who has the ability or balls to tell him he's acting irrationally. And I say this as someone who is bipolar and has them on a regular basis. Most people (who manage their mental health conditions responsibly), have a group of people they trust to rein them in when they start going batshit. This usually involves things like taking away their bank cards so they don't spend all their money, dissuading them from making any major, life altering decisions, noting when you're lying to yourself and others, and attempting to point out that possibly behaving like a self aggrandising megalomaniac is not particularly healthy.

It's quite clear that Musk doesn't have anyone around who is willing or able to do that. Most of us when we go hypo will end up blasting through our savings, screwing around (literally) and generally pissing off all around us by behaving in a self centred and irrational way, but ultimately the damage we do is limited mostly to ourselves. Elon on the other hand has spent billions on a company, apparently on a whim, probably during another episode, that he later regretted and tried to get out of, again presumably when he came down, and now appears to be taking a series of increasingly irrational and destructive decisions that are affecting the lives of many. To be honest, I think it's kind of sad to watch.

[Kreutzer]

This behavior isn’t atypical for him, nor is it for the “elite” celebrity entrepreneurs featured in endless news cycles. Reminds me of Dov Charney, an employer I worked for, who was more than willing to chase his coked-up half-baked ideas at expense of his company and the livelihoods of thousands of workers. I’m afraid Elon is not a novel case nor an interesting one.

[mandeepj]

> It's quite clear that Musk doesn't have anyone around who is willing or able to do that

How can you say that with such certainty? Maybe he’s not listening to them. Same for Kanye. A lot of people spoke with him about his condition. Did that make any difference?

Real example about Musk: a lot of people told him to not start SpaceX. Did he stop? I’m glad though he did not.

[thunky]

> How can you say that with such certainty? Maybe he’s not listening to them.

They said "willing or able"

[sbergot]

Pushing for innovation is one thing. Messing erratically with people's minds careers at a large scale is another one. The former does not excuse or justify the latter. Firing people can be necessary but what he did this week was just crazy in a bad way.

[Apocryphon]

Without speculating about his mental state, which doesn't only apply to him but to other polarizing public figures, it definitely seems like his actions are larger-than-life and controversial. I'd argue that a lot of it is probably carefully cultivated, but the monomaniacal, megalomaniacal style is just off-putting for the masses exhausted by celebrity spotlight chasing (even if it might serve to elide all sorts of decisions the public might not be looking at):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33659992

[hotelmaz]

Is it really an unusual mental state for Musk?

Seems like normal behaviour for him, he's often in the news for being a dick, just as much as he is for his entrepreneurial ventures.

[kranke155]

As another bipolar individual: I must agree that he reminds me deeply of my hypomanic episodes I had (before it developed into full blown bipolar).

[regpertom]

There could be more to the story but I believe Elon Musk has said that he has autism. I’ve heard it said that autism is often misdiagnosed as bipolar because they are similar in some ways. That being said I would say there’s a difference between a hypomanic/depression swing/episode and an intense interest/ burnout swing/episode.

More on the topic, the things you listed as responsible management are all removing agency from the person and treating them like children because otherwise you can’t be trusted. Imo being responsible is learning to manage your own issues as an adult.

[nothatscool]

I think the frustrating thing for me is that the extreme reaction to his actions are really about his politics. I have no doubt that he would be being praised for saving Twitter instead of ridiculed for ‘destroying’ it if he had been toeing the party line.

[Apocryphon]

Toeing the party line how? Any CEO who takes control of a company and behaves erratically towards its workforce, at he is doing now, would get criticized. The only difference is that alternate version of Musk might get called a hypocrite or a fraud, so just a different set of insults.

SBF was a huge Democratic Party donor and he's not escaping severe criticism because of it, even if the NYT and some other outlets might've gone easy on him. The court of public opinion is still severely against him.

[chopsuey5540]

Aha of course, the democrats would have applauded brutally laying off 75% of the workforce had he been “toeing the party line”.

[DemocracyFTW2]

By 'party line' you surely mean that old-fashioned rule where business owners are praised for not destroying their business willy-nilly?