[scottkduncan]

"Shorts" didn't cause the CEO to invent a $420/share offer for the company out of whole cloth, nor did they force him to smoke a blunt on video. The mental gymnastics you have to do not see the red flags here, completely the result of the CEO's actions and mismanagement, is something.

[smolder]

Neither of those things bother me. Being a conformist is not a virtue in a business culture marked by top-heavy bureaucracy, mediocrity, me-too hype chasing, and slow decline. Economists, board members, bankers, c-level execs - the shot callers of the world are much less clever and equipped to lead than they collectively think they are. If you think hitting a joint is a red flag, I wonder what kind. It's just showmanship - he's building up his normal-guy folk-hero persona. It means nothing else, is completely harmless.

[scottkduncan]

> Economists, board members, bankers, c-level execs - the shot callers of the world are much less clever and equipped to lead than they collectively think they are.

I completely agree with this, but disagree that Musk is constructively channeling his creativity and nonconformity here. He's trying to pivot from a niche product for tech enthusiasts to a mass market car, with a client base whose first questions will be about the car's reliability, not how quickly it can go 0 - 60. A guy who flies off to Thailand, accuses people of being pedophiles, curses out journalists, and yes, smokes a huge blunt during an interview, does not inspire confidence to most people at a time when his company is hemorrhaging cash, straining to meet production goals, slashing investments in the future, and losing senior execs left and right.

If Tesla was humming along it'd be one thing to have more of this edge, but to me this looks like a slow motion breakdown prompted by deep problems at his company.

[perl4ever]

To me, the senior execs leaving is what's probative. Reading between the lines, the CFO left because he feels Musk is unstable and doesn't know what to expect. I take that as much more significant than my own perception of Musk or some random person on the internet. Also, I tend to discount FUD about cash and production goals, but again, I weight the insiders' actions much more highly.

[martythemaniak]

He also drank whisky. In California, those are both legal.

[scottkduncan]

legal != smart

[smolder]

It's probably only "not smart" because you're assuming some hypothetical people are going to be hypothetically upset about the weed use when they have no real reason to be. In effect, you'd be that reactionary person you're worried about.