Failed leadership
Heather had just woken up and was drinking her morning coffee when she tried to log into her work portal with her laptop. When she picked up her iPhone she noticed a priority email from her employer Twitter; she had been fired. “After countless long days, working on weekends and trying my best to succeed I was fired via a group email” she told me. Welcome to Musk’s Twitter.
Ever since Musk took over Twitter the social platform has been in a tailspin dive. Advertisers are staying away and important employees are being fired. Let’s be clear; this is not leadership.
A good leader listens and learns before making decisions. A bad leader thinks he knows everything and is only interested in the balance sheet. Musk is a failed leader.
Twitter did have some problems before Musk’s buyout. It had too many employees and needed to find new ways to make money but firing thousands was not the way to proceed.
Would you pay a dollar per month for Twitter if you knew that a big part of that money was going to be used to refine an AI to limit hate speech and limit false information? What about a small symbol, under news stories, that indicated if it had a left, right or center view?
For advertisers Twitter could have developed a special page for online coupons. People who click “add this coupon” would add it to a special page within Twiter where it can be scanned at checkout. It’s measurable and could be hugely effective.
If Musk had asked Twitter employees for their suggestions on how to make money he probably could have had at least a hand full of ideas but of course he knows better.
The other issue is The Street’s requirement that brands “continue to grow” even though they might be making a great profit right now. A lot of brands fall into this trap and wind up losing profitability at the expense of growth.
Twitter will only grow by adding features that attract new users. Many would probably fail but with failure comes understanding.
Ye was listed as a top influencer on Twitter for keyword “Jews”. That’s where we are at. It’s sad to see a brand drown under bad leadership but that’s what’s happening when wealthy people think they know it all.
