Is Elon Musk A Good Leader? Using the L.E.A.D.E.R. Scorecard to Evaluate His Effectiveness & Performance

15 min readOct 16, 2024

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I’ve been working on developing a high level leadership scorecard that I can use to evaluate business leaders around the world. Periodically, my goal is to review a new leader and break down how the leader scores on all of the elements as well as give an overall LEADER score. My hope is that not only will this generate discussion but will also help you in your career and leadership journey.

This LEADER scorecard will ONLY be available for premium subscribers of Great Leadership. If you aren’t a subscriber yet, then I encourage you to sign up, it’s only a few dollars a month.

First, here’s a breakdown of what the scorecard looks like. I expect that overtime it might change a bit but it’s also something that you can use to evaluate your own leaders.

L = Long-term vision and strategy: This is fundamental for any leader. The ability to envision the future and strategize accordingly is crucial for guiding a team or organization toward success.

1–3: Unclear or inconsistent vision and strategy.
4–6: Vision and strategy are defined but not effectively communicated or implemented.
7–10: Clear vision and strategy that are well-communicated, consistently implemented, and aligned with organizational goals.

E = Employee experience and engagement: Recognizing the importance of employee well-being and their engagement levels indicates an understanding that leadership isn’t just about top-down decisions, but also about fostering a positive work environment.

1–3: Low levels of employee satisfaction, engagement, and commitment.
4–6: Moderate levels of employee satisfaction; some areas need improvement.
7–10: High levels of employee satisfaction, engagement, and commitment with proactive measures to maintain them

A = Adaptability and innovation: In a rapidly changing world, a leader’s ability to adapt and innovate is vital. This element reflects the importance of being proactive and responsive to change.

1–3: Resistant to change; limited innovation efforts.
4–6: Some efforts to adapt and innovate but lacking consistency or clear direction.
7–10: Actively promotes a culture of adaptability and consistent innovation.

D = Decision making: Central to leadership is the ability to make decisions — sometimes under pressure, often with incomplete information. A leader’s judgment and decision-making capability is a key determinant of success.

1–3: Decision-making is slow, unstructured, or lacking transparency.
4–6: Decisions are made but might lack full stakeholder input or data-driven insights.
7–10: Decisions are timely, data-driven, and involve relevant stakeholders.

E = Exemplary behavior and role modeling: Leaders set the tone for an organization’s culture. Their actions, values, and behaviors can inspire and influence those around them.

1–3: Leadership behaviors are inconsistent with organizational values.
4–6: Leadership sometimes displays exemplary behavior, but inconsistencies exist.
7–10: Leadership consistently models desired behaviors and values, setting a positive example for all.

R = Results and metrics: At the end of the day, leaders are often judged by the results they achieve. This element ensures a focus on tangible outcomes and data-driven assessments.

1–3: Limited use of metrics; results are below expectations.
4–6: Uses metrics but might lack alignment with strategic goals; results meet some expectations.
7–10: Metrics are strategically aligned, and results consistently meet or exceed expectations.

Today, I’m going to be looking at Elon Musk, the founder/CEO of companies including Tesla, SpaceX, X, and The Boring Company. He’s currently the world’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $250 billion

Born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971, Musk has emerged as one of the most influential figures in technology, space exploration, and sustainable energy. Musk’s endeavors often resemble the ambitious feats of science fiction. Yet, time and again, he has turned his visionary ideas into tangible realities. Whether celebrated as a forward-thinking genius or criticized for his audacious proclamations, there’s no denying that Musk’s contributions continue to shape the trajectory of the modern world.

If you want me to do more posts like this then please let me know in the comments section and you can also suggest other leaders for me to review

Let’s break down all of the LEADER elements and see if Elon Musk is truly a great leader and why or why not.

Long-term vision and strategy

Elon Musk is widely regarded for his long-term vision and strategy. From the creation of Tesla with the mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, to SpaceX’s goal of colonizing Mars, Musk’s endeavors consistently revolve around ambitious and long-term goals. His ability to communicate these visions has mobilized significant resources and public interest. If you take a look at his core ares of focus they revolve around the following:

Pioneering A Sustainable Future
Beyond Earth
The Ecosystem Strategy
A New Vision of Transportation
The Free-Speech Super App

Lots of leaders have big dreams and aspirations but what sets Elon Musk apart is not just the scale of his dreams but his ability to executive on them. This involves challenging norms, personal and financial sacrifices, and an unyielding commitment to his strategic objectives.

In essence, Musk’s long-term vision and strategy blend groundbreaking aspirations with pragmatic execution. Whether it’s revolutionizing roads, redefining aerospace, or envisioning interplanetary life, Musk’s strategic acumen continually pushes the boundaries of possibility. One challenge here is that sometimes his goals can seem overly ambitious which can cause teams to overextend or set unrealistic expectations, for example his predictions for autonomous driving which have been delayed several times.

It’s hard to imagine a leader as effective at both developing and executing on a long-term vision and strategy.

Score 10/10

Employee experience and engagement

This is the area where Elon Musk struggles with the most. Elon has a renowned work ethic, oftentimes working over 100 hours a week and sleeping under his desk. He’s notorious for the level of intensity he brings and the expectations he sets on those around him which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s certainly not for everyone. He has absolutely developed a passionate work culture where the people who work at his companies know they will have to work extremely hard. However the challenge is that Elon thinks everyone else can and wants to work like Elon.

Musk is clearly mission driven and communicates that mission to his employees, giving them something to rally behind. He is involved in leadership, and is able to unlock the full potential of the people who work for him.

However, numerous reports and stories have emerged over the years over his non-human working conditions and how he treats people. For example the manner in which he fired his employees at X, his temper and ego where he can explode on his employees, and the long hours and all-in commitment he demands. A Forbes article actually said that “Elon Musk views people as collateral damage instead of as human beings.” He also isn’t known to have high levels of emotional intelligence and that is one of his big critiques. But, we should also remember that was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome which is associated with difficulties in social interation.

Numerous high ranking executives have left after working short stints for Elon (CFO, VP engineering, etc). Musk also sometimes uses X as a way to announce things and make decisions before even telling them to employees which causes communication challenges and chaotic work environments.

Looking at Glassdoor rankings Tesla has a 3.6/5 where only 70% of employee approve of Elon Musk as CEO and only 60% of employees would recommend working there to a friend. Twitter is much lower at 3.2/5 in terms of CEO approval (recently changed to Linda Yaccarino), only 35% recommend the company to a friend and there is only a 23% approval rating. SpaceX fairs slightly better with a 3.8/5 overall rating where 70% would recommend the company to a friend and Elon has an 84% approval rating.

Score 6/10

Adaptability and innovation

Time and time again Elon Musk has demonstrated his ability to adapt, challenge the status quo, and innovate with new solutions and ideas. He has done this in every single industry has been involved in ranging from space exploration to electric vehicles. There isn’t a company or industry Elon Musk has gotten involved in that has generate sever disruption and massive global impact.

Here are a few of things has has done:

SpaceX and Reusable Rockets: SpaceX, revolutionized space travel with the introduction of reusable rockets. This innovation reduced the cost of accessing space, marking a significant leap forward in making space travel more feasible for various applications. Before SpaceX’s efforts, the idea of landing and reusing rockets was seen as unattainable.
Tesla’s Electric Cars: Musk’s insistence on transitioning the world to sustainable energy led to the birth of Tesla, which brought electric cars to the forefront of the automotive industry. With models like the Roadster, Model S, and Model 3, Tesla defied skeptics who believed electric cars couldn’t match the performance or range of their gasoline counterparts. Not only that, his cars are practical, beautiful, and the Y has recently become the #1 best-selling car in America, a first for an electric car.
SolarCity and Sustainable Energy: SolarCity (now a part of Tesla Energy) aimed to provide sustainable energy solutions. The company’s solar panels and Powerwall units are examples of innovations that aim to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Hyperloop: Musk proposed the idea of the Hyperloop, a high-speed transportation system using near-vacuum tubes in which pods could travel. While he has not developed it personally, his proposal inspired a flurry of research and development worldwide.
Neuralink: Venturing into the realm of neuroscience, Musk co-founded Neuralink with the goal of facilitating brain-computer interfaces. This could be revolutionary in treating neurological disorders and enhancing human cognition.
ChatGPT: Few people realize that the startup which created ChatGPT was actually funded by Elon Musk to the tune of $50 million.

Adding to this list we can include The Boring Company which is aimed at improving transportation via the use of underground tunnels and X which will eventually become the “everything app” according to Elon.

However, Musk didn’t get to where he is without having to overcome obstacles and adapting. Both Tesla and SpaceX at one point faced potential bankruptcy and Musk had to invest a considerable portion of his personal funds to keep the companies afloat. You may also recall that in 2014 Musk announced that he would open source al of the Tesla patents, many of which you can see here on Github.

Score 10/10

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Decision making

Elon Musk certainly makes mistakes and his decision making has been both heavily criticized yet also lauded. No leader makes perfect decisions 100% of the time. One of the big challenges Elon Musk faces is that he things in public, specifically on X. As I mentioned above he will share controversial views and perspectives and oftentimes make business decisions before even telling his employees about it.

In a recent published by INC magazine the authors point out that Elon Musk as (quoted from the article):

Ask a question.
Gather as much evidence as possible about it.
Develop axioms based on the evidence, and try to assign a probability of truth to each one.
Draw a conclusion based on cogency in order to determine: Are these axioms correct, are they relevant, do they necessarily lead to this conclusion, and with what probability?
Attempt to disprove the conclusion. Seek refutation from others to further help break your conclusion.
If nobody can invalidate your conclusion, then you’re probably right, but you’re not certainly right.

He also subscribes to “first principles thinking” which is about breaking things down into small parts, looking at fundamental truths, and avoid reasoning by analogy. In article published by author James Clear, he gives the following quoted example:

“I tend to approach things from a physics framework,” Musk said in an interview. “Physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. So I said, okay, let’s look at the first principles. What is a rocket made of? Aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fiber. Then I asked, what is the value of those materials on the commodity market? It turned out that the materials cost of a rocket was around two percent of the typical price.”

Instead of buying a finished rocket for tens of millions, Musk decided to create his own company, purchase the raw materials for cheap, and build the rockets himself. SpaceX was born.”

Here’s a great but old video where Elon Musk explains this in his own words. Taking this approach allows Musk to challenge prevailing beliefs and conventional wisdom about anything and everything, thus leading to greater innovation.

Elon Musk is also known to take calculated risks, all of which have so far paid off with the exception of X which as of now is a massive loss for him, but, it remains to be seen what will become of the platform in the coming years. Remember, both Tesla and SpaceX were at one point near bankrupt.

In addition to a healthy skepticism towards conformity Elon Musk also embraces continuous feedback from both his employees and the general public via X. He doesn’t always respond to the feedback in the best way but it can be argued that no other leader takes in as much feedback as Elon. Musk is also someone who stands by the decisions he makes. He takes accountability and doesn’t pass the blame to anyone else. Even in the case of X, he joked that he was running the world’s largest non-profit, obviously a joke he made at his own expense, acknowledging the challenge he faces with turning the company around.

Musk makes better overall strategic business decisions than he does micro level decisions. Most of the criticism he has received over the past few years when it comes to his decision making is in relation to X. Collectively his decisions have let to massive success.

Score 8/10

Exemplary behavior and role modeling

This is another area where Elon Musk struggles quite a bit. In some ways Elon Musk is a fantastic role model for entrepreneurs and leaders. He came from a difficult background as a young boy in South Africa where he was bullied and achieved massive success. Elon is the exemplar of all things related to work ethic, hard work, passion, grit and determination. He conquers all the obstacles that come his way, disrupts anything he touches, and stands by his values and decisions.

But exemplary behavior and role modeling for leaders is more than about the business decisions and impact they make. It’s also about how the leader treats others and behaves not just in a professional setting but in a personal one as well. One clear negative example here is how Musk let go of thousands of employees at X in a rather cruel and ruthless way.

Here’s an in-depth Vanity Fair article which highlights some of the things Elon Musk has done which don’t bode well for positive leadership behavior including bullying his employees, making inappropriate public and private comments, and assuming everyone is a workaholic like he is and putting those same pressures on employees.

Peter Thiel once said that Elon Musk was a negative role model because he was too hard to emulate.

Would I want my kids to emulate and look up to Elon Musk? In terms of how he approaches business, for the most part, yes. In terms of how Elon treats others and himself? Not as much.

Score 6/10

Results and metrics

In the business world there is no substitute for being able to deliver, aka delivering results. Unlike most other business leaders, Elon Musk has his hand in many many cookie jars, some of which were outlined above.

Not all of the endeavors Musk is involved in are public in terms of the results they have achieved, the goals they have, and the metrics they are using to measure success.

Tesla alone has around 130,000 employees around the world and if you combine the headcount of his other companies it’s around 150,000. Being able to create jobs and provide a livelihood for that many people is certainly no small feat.

The only company where we can see publicly available financial data is Tesla because it’s the only public traded company. Tesla most recently missed on both revenue and earnings in their latest call and the Cybertruck seems to be running into plenty of issues in terms of scale and manufacturing. Still, the company overall has done quite well over the years and the issues the company is facing appear to be as a result of high demand, which is not a bad thing in the long-term.

X as of now is still a financial disaster but it’s no longer a public company so the information is a bit hard to come by. Musk fired around 80% of the staff and when he took over the company had $13 billion in debt. It remains to be seen what will happen to the company.

The revenue for OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) has skyrocketed to over $1.3 billion and I expect that will continue to grow. Musk isn’t in any formal leadership role but he did fund the company to get it off the ground.

SpaceX turned profit in 2023 after reporting to subsequent annual overall losses. According to Reuters, “The company generated $55 million in profit on $1.5 billion in revenue during the January-to-March period.”

In regards to his other businesses such as Nueralink, Hyperloop, and The Boring Company, these are still early stage businesses whose primary goal is make more of a societal and human impact versus a business impact (for now). It’s hard to evaluate them in terms of financial success but at least Nueralink seems to making strong strides in merging humans with AI!

Overall, Elon Musk is able to generate results for the businesses he is involved in. Again, he’s a bit of an anomaly since he is involved in so many companies and only one of them are public. With Tesla underperforming a bit lately and projections being over promised and underdelivered, X being massively in debt, and SpaceX barely seeing a profit, there is something left to be desired.

Score 7/10

Elon Musk is undoubtedly one of the most visionary leaders of our time and he has made more of an impact on our society than most human beings. Like all leaders, Elon Musk has his strengths and weaknesses. While he excels in all areas of strategy, innovation, creativity, and adaptability, he struggles when it comes to the human aspects of work.

Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not? Leave a comment below and let me know.