We all see his name every day. In a news, video or tweet. Elon Musk is undoubtedly one of the most talked about names of today. Moreover, the subjects with which his name comes together are also quite interesting.
He founded SpaceX to take humanity to Mars and establish colonies, Tesla for a sustainable and livable future, and Neuralink to ‘plug chips into our brains’ by developing brain-machine interfaces. Finally, according to his own claims, he bought Twitter for ‘freedom of expression’.
Iron Man of the real world, Steve Jobs of today, a genius and an entrepreneur who thinks about humanity…
Each of these phrases was a frequent phrase for Elon Musk, especially in the last few years, when he was a very popular name. But especially in the last year, these expressions have been replaced by ‘narcissistic’ ‘selfish’ ‘manipulative’ ‘unbalanced’ boss expressions.
Although the agendas about Tesla and SpaceX are also controversial from time to time, the main development that pulled the pin for everything was Musk’s sudden ‘buy Twitter’ offer.
The unbelievable developments after the acquisition of Twitter was the final blow, and Musk’s ‘genius savior’ image suddenly turned into an ‘evil, narcissistic and mad scientist’ image.
So what does Elon Musk’s behavior tell us about his psychology?
To answer this question, we first need to take a brief look at some of Elon Musk’s features and behaviors.
- Musk is quite hasty and said someone. It is known that in almost all of his companies, he puts pressure on his employees to speed up the work and meet ‘the date he wants’. The most recent examples of this are the statements on Twitter that show that Neuralink rushed the team in their work and set an unrealistic work/target schedule.
- He is very devoted to his own ideals and is a dreamer. This takes him away from reality at times. As a continuation of the above article, this dreamer and at the same time idealistic personality is causing major problems in their company.
- It can be misleading by spreading untrue information about the technologies and products developed by their companies. The best examples of this are Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink, where most of what he says will ‘show this product/technology today’ comes with years of delay. At the same time, there was a period when he often made these manipulative behaviors about the crypto market.
- He has serious problems with the concept of authority. They do not tolerate any ideas, goals or statements other than their own, regardless of whether they come from senior executives, board members or anyone else in their company.
- Musk can also take a step back, often breaking his own words. This indicates that the decision mechanism does not work very well.
- One of the topics that has been talked about for years is that Musk frequently experiences ‘outbursts of anger’ in the working environment. He cannot control his anger, he makes impulsive decisions. Sometimes this decision can be as stark as dismissing an employee or suspending a project.
- Speaking of firing employees… Musk is rather insensitive and lacks empathy, he can fire his employees instantly if they ‘do not work as he wants’ in addition to the attitudes that amount to mobbing in all his companies.
All these features and behaviors cause Musk’s name to be often combined with the word ‘narcissist’.
People with narcissistic personality disorder can be highly manipulative, selfish and angry;
- Don’t overestimate yourself
- Seeing himself as superior to everyone else and manipulating people for his own ideals
- A great need for attention and admiration and exhibiting behaviors in this direction
- An exaggerated sense of achievement and ability
- Fantasies of unlimited power, sex, beauty
- a cold-blooded indifference or anger in response to criticism, indifference, or defeat
Narcissistic personality disorder, which is defined as a personality disorder identified with behaviors such as , makes people say ‘yes’ to many items when it comes to Musk.
While Musk’s vision for Mars and the place where he positions himself, as well as the successes he has attributed to himself in the development of electric cars, reveal his narcissistic behavior, his turbulent private life also sends us some signals in this regard.
In addition to the behaviors he establishes with millions on Twitter to receive constant attention, reaction and approval, and constantly sharing tweets confirming his own thoughts, numerous examples showing that he can never tolerate criticism overlap with the behaviors that appear in people with narcissistic personality disorder.
Of course, diagnosing Musk with narcissistic personality disorder is not something we can do with any assessment. However, although some psychologists and psychiatrists say ‘we cannot diagnose because it is not our client’, they openly say that ‘he exhibits narcissistic behavior’.
Another ‘personality trait’ that is associated with narcissistic personality disorder and that we see in many ‘leaders’ is ‘hubris syndrome’, known as ‘power poisoning’.
This syndrome, which can be seen especially in managers, judges and lawyers, political leaders and high-level officials of companies, is summarized as excessive exaggeration of their own abilities and decisions, not thinking that they will make mistakes, believing that they are always right, and exhibiting behaviors that show excessive arrogance and pride.
The point Elon Musk has reached over the years shows that he can be ‘poisoned’ as he gains power…
However, there is also a health problem that affects Musk’s character and has been announced in the past years;
Musk announced that he has asperger’s syndrome on Saturday Night Live, which he participated in last year. Talking about his situation with a humorous language, Musk said,
“It’s an honor to present Saturday Night Live, and I mean it sincerely. Sometimes I have to add ‘I’m sincere’ after I’ve said something so people can understand what I’m saying sincerely. Because I don’t always speak with a wide variety of intonations. This is good comedy material, I’m told. In fact, I’m making history as the first person with asperger’s to present SNL tonight; at least as the first to admit it. So I won’t be able to make much eye contact with the guests tonight.”
He also responded to the discourses that he is a shy, introverted character who has difficulties in communicating, and is often found ‘strange’.
In the continuation of the same speech, “I know that sometimes I say or share strange things. That’s how my brain works, that’s all. I want to say to everyone I’ve offended: I’ve reinvented electric cars and I’m sending humans to Mars in rockets. Did you think I would be a calm and normal person?” He clarified his situation.
So what exactly is Asperger’s syndrome and what effects does it have on character? To summarize briefly, Asperger’s syndrome is one of the neurological disorders called autism spectrum disorders. A neuro-developmental difference that is congenital or occurs in the first years after birth.
those with Asperger’s syndrome;
- Encountering difficulties in the process of establishing and maintaining friendships,
- Not being able to comprehend the feelings and thoughts of others, that is, not being able to empathize,
- obsessive attention to a limited number of specific topics
- Disorganized speech or directing the conversation to one’s own interests,
- Inability to focus on what the other party is talking about
- Repetitive motor behaviors such as clapping or waving
- Not being able to make eye contact or maintaining eye contact too focused,
- Difficulty understanding the use of language with sarcasm or irony
- Not complying with expected interpersonal boundaries,
- Lack of sense of privacy
- Excessive attachment to routine
- Clumsiness, difficulty in adjusting the tone of the voice or keeping it the same,
- Sensitivity to audible, visual, olfactory, gustatory or contact stimuli
- Lack of social awareness and lack of interest in socializing
- Inability to understand body language, not changing facial expression and using mimics while expressing oneself, or using exaggerated facial expressions
They have some behavioral and cognitive features such as This allows us to understand what is the reason for some of Musk’s behavior.
Elon Musk is undoubtedly one of the most important characters in our history. He achieved significant success with the companies he founded. It continues to throw. Unfortunately, the decisions he took and the wrong steps he took caused his image to be damaged.
Arbitrary changes he made on Twitter, taking steps that could harm the masses under the name of ‘freedom of expression’, firing thousands of employees, hastening teams at Neuralink to pressure the calendar of such a big project, making promises he couldn’t keep at Tesla, manipulating the crypto market, and all that. The fact that he always thinks that he is doing the ‘best’ while doing these shows that things are not going well for Musk.
How Musk and his companies will be affected by these steps and the new ‘evil’ image he has drawn, how these decisions will affect our lives, we will see together in time…
Sources: Business Insider, Wired, The Association for Business Psychology, NY Times, Time, International Institute for Management Development, APA Dictionary of Psychology
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