This week, Elon Musk’s Twitter engineers found themselves without access to Slack, the chat and messaging platform they used for team communication and coordination. Musk apparently made the unilateral decision to eliminate Slack without discussing it with his team, and without securing a replacement communication platform. According to a report from an anonymous employee, the loss of Slack means the loss of years of documentation and message data, and only adds to the current chaos within the company.
Sadly, in all likelihood, no one will tell Musk how badly this has affected his company and his employees.
As an entrepreneur and innovator, Musk pushed the boundaries of what was possible in the space and auto industries, but his management decisions at Twitter continue to surface concerns about his leadership and decision-making style. His tendency to surround himself with “yes-men” and to ignore dissenting opinions is a dangerous leadership style. It creates a culture where problems are hidden, and people are afraid to speak up. As we’ve seen in a number of recent crises, this kind of culture can lead to catastrophic failures. It’s essential for leaders to encourage diversity of thought, listen to dissenting opinions, and create a culture where people feel comfortable raising concerns.
In November of 2022, the billionaire CEO fired many Twitter employees who were criticizing him on Twitter and in their Slack backchannels. And things have only gotten worse. This February, when his Tweet about the Superbowl failed to garner enough attention, Musk held a meeting with the Twitter team to try to figure out why more people weren’t reading his tweets. When one of his principal engineers spoke up and suggested that Musk’s dip in popularity was more likely to be due to the public being sick of his antics than it was to be a problem with the algorithm, they were fired on the spot.
In short, Musk isn’t leading with curiosity. Curious leaders know that when they tap into the wealth of knowledge and expertise embodied in their team members, it leads to better outcomes for the organization. This kind of open communication also fosters a culture of transparency, which helps to build trust and improve engagement and motivation.
It’s important to note that for leaders, creating psychological safety is one of the most important jobs, especially in complex, fast-moving organizations. Psychological safety is the belief that one can speak up without fear of negative consequences. In a culture where psychological safety is present, team members feel empowered to share their perspectives and bring up concerns, which can help leaders make better decisions.
However, in a culture where psychological safety is lacking, individuals are hesitant to voice dissenting opinions. This leads to a lack of diverse perspectives, and could create disastrous consequences. Leaders like Musk should strive to create an environment where all team members feel heard, valued, and are encouraged to speak up. This can lead to better decision-making and a more successful outcome for the organization as a whole.
The importance of psychological safety extends beyond the realm of decision-making. It plays a crucial role in learning and innovation. When individuals feel psychologically safe in their environment, they are more likely to take risks, share their ideas, and experiment with new approaches. This type of atmosphere enables individuals to innovate, and to learn from their mistakes without fear of repercussions. In this sense, psychological safety can be seen as a prerequisite for organizational learning and ingenuity. By cultivating an environment of psychological safety, leaders can foster a culture of continuous improvement and help their organizations stay ahead of the curve.
Musk’s tendency to ignore expert advice is a common feature of many high-profile crises. In recent years, he’s made claims about the safety of autonomous vehicles that have been contradicted by his own engineers and scientists. This type of behavior is especially dangerous when it comes to safety-critical systems. Leaders need to be humble, to recognize the limitations of their own expertise, and to rely on the collective intelligence of their teams to make decisions.
Musk has created a culture of uncertainty and confusion, not only by firing people for making dissenting comments in their Slack channel, but by eliminating a fundamental technology Twitter engineers used to communicate. No one can know for sure how this will end, but historically, leaders who fail to heed the council of their advisors find out the hard way that pushback has value.
What about you? How would you reflect on your own leadership style? When you request feedback, are you asking for it in a way that requires people to be brave as they speak truth to power? How much psychological safety have you created in your organization and how do you know?
If these questions resonate with you and you would like to learn more about leading with curiosity, check out my video, “Don’t Ask Your People To Be Brave.”