Unnati Bose (MBA ’26) probes our primal occupation with Mr. Musk.
Our STRAT professor kicked off class with a provocative question: “Tesla minus Elon – are you a buy or a sell?” As a frequent flyer with reality TV, I live for a spicy plot twist. I leaned back into my chair and the room tensed as if on cue, splitting our otherwise warm and fuzzy section into two camps: Musk fans vs. skeptics.
Iron Man was my first introduction to Elon, after which he became what Jill Lepore describes as, “the Kim Kardashian of CEOs, where everything he said was fleeting and meaningless but extremely influential” to popular culture and financial markets. In the years since, Musk’s antics have expanded their residency in the collective imagination. He’s become the richest man in the world (or second, depending on the weather), signed a pledge to donate at least half his wealth (but has so far given away next to nothing), made headlines for smoking weed on a podcast, made headlines again for being sued by the SEC over false tweets that mislead his shareholders, and again for taking Twitter private over a joke.
Analytically, Musk warrants attention. How billionaires deploy their wealth shapes the world we all inhabit, often without our consent. Should a billionaire that refuses to pay corporate and personal tax use taxpayer’s money to privatize international space? What happens to content moderation and data privacy when social media platforms vital to journalism and grassroot activism change hands? Is it in the best interest of the American consumer or the environment to keep out cheaper, high quality electric vehicles through tariffs? These are questions of consequence, and Elon controls how we answer that as a society.
But there is something more than a rational interest in Elon. In an unscientific poll of 19 HBS classmates, 69% described him as a “visionary.” Even when they saw him in a negative light – 81% described him negatively – “manchild”, “problematic”, “sexist” - most (69%) acknowledged that he was good for the environment, and society.
This duality reveals a deeper truth: Musk’s image as a visionary savior isn’t accidental. It’s meticulously crafted, feeding into a narrative that positions him as indispensable to humanity’s future, no matter the cost of his methods. After serving as the real-life inspiration for Iron Man, Musk has relentlessly fostered and deepened his brand to avoid meaningful scrutiny. In a 2007 interview to NPR, he said, “I think I’m good at inventing solutions to problems. Things seem fairly obvious to me that are clearly not obvious to other people. I’m not really trying to do it or anything, I just.. I can see the truth of things, and others seem less able to do so.” If he is a visionary, his prescience justifies any collateral damage. He is exceptional. He needs to do what it takes for humanity’s greater good. Nearly everyone I interviewed considered him essential for humanity in the long-term, even calling him a “necessary evil”. “I don’t think he’s good for society today, but he may… save humankind.”
How does someone so unlikeable become so aspirational? My instinct screamed, “because he’s a man!” Sure – all but one man in my poll described him as a visionary. But so did most women. This wasn’t just about gender, but a broader cultural obsession with billionaires. Their wealth is mistaken for wisdom, and their eccentricities are seen as genius.
Billionaires are rarely evaluated in the public eye by their business practices, but by their “brand”. Their business acumen is presumed by the money they have accumulated, and their dubious business practices remain unscrutinized because markets efficiently allocate wealth to those who deserve it. The role of government aid to Elon’s companies is ignored; his failure to launch self-driving Teslas is met with unprecedented sympathy; employees who raise alarms on safety standards are written off as “disgruntled;” repeated allegations of misconduct and harassment by him and his leadership team are pushed down; Twitter continues to struggle despite its confused rebranding, and on and on.
I posit that we aren’t obsessed with Elon because he built reusable rockets and expanded the EV industry. It’s because he has an endless pit of money. Money affords him license to be eccentric, which gives him the freedom to do as he wants without any consequences. But I still ask – money, power, and zero accountability – in our training as “leaders who make a difference to the world,” is this what we want to aspire to?
Unnati Bose (MBA ’26) is originally from India but has called many places home. She graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce with a degree in Economics. She has worked in social impact consulting, global health, and pharma. In her free time, she can be found asking questions of love, community, and popular culture on her substack, Uno’s Thought Scramble.
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