Apply the 3-step Problem Solving Approach.

1. Define the Problem

2. Identify causes of the problem

3. Make your recommendations for solving the problem.

Leadership Matters! Elon Musk is widely regarded as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in history."Elcll He became a billionaire by age 31 after founding and selling several successful start-upsmost notably the company that would later be known as Paypal. In 2004 Musk invested $5.3 million into Tesla Motors and soon after became the company's CEO'E" Music has a keen ability to express ideas and get people excited about them and has garnered praise for his inspiring and visionaryr le ad ership.132 Author Dale Buss argues that . . a huge part of Musk's motivational quiver is to come up with and continually express other-worldly goals that appeal to the passions of his employees as well as to his own ambition 5."133 Todd Maron. Tesla's former general counsel. said Musk is \"someone who empowers you to be better than you think you can be." adding that 'he has extraordinarily high standards, and so he pushes you to be your absolute best.\" Another former employee described Musk as "the smartest person I have ever met," adding. "I can't tell you how many times I prepared a report for him and he asked a question that made us realize we were looking at the problem completely wrong."134 MUSK'S LEADERSHIP STYLE AND BEHAVIOR Some have criticized Musk's aspirations to change the world as outlandish and his ideas as unachievable. but Musk doesn't believe in impossibilities. Says author Christopher Davenport. "People are always telling him he can't do it. But he doesn't like to hear it can't be do he. He categorically rejects that. It's all about. 'How can we do it?' "135 A recent example of Musk's stubbornness is the production of the Model 3. After the company revealed the concept to the public and locked in production dates, Musk called a meeting to tell executives he had a dream that the entire production process had been fullyr automated. In other words. vehicle production would require no humans from start to nish. He wanted to make the dream a reality. he wanted to do it with the Model 3, and he wanted to begin production four months ahead of Tesla's original schedule. IIr'lthat followed were several months of what former executives and employees describe as a familiar pattern: executives told Music his idea wasn't achievable. he disagreed. and engineers resigned when they realized they couldn't reason with him'E Musk eventually conceded that his idea for fully automated production of the Model 3 was a non-starter. and he and his workers scrambled to get production back on track by working SUI-100 hour weeks\"? Customers waited months past delivery dates for their vehicles and took to social media to lambast the company. Further. many of the Model 35 that were delivered needed costly and time-consuming repairs":as Musk would later refer to the ordeal as "production hell."135' Some blame Musk's inability to delegate for Tesla's problems and for the recent exodus of more than 36 'v'F's and other high- ranking executives?\" Musk wants things do ne his way down to the tiniest detail and' often rejects industry best practices along with advice from his senior leadership. For example. Musk once instituted a new worldlow management method against the advice of his production workers. The employees secretly reverted to Toyota's Kantian method when Musk's technique ultimately slowed production.1'1Author Barry Enderwick believes Musk's micromanaging style ". . . displays a fundamental misunderstanding of what leadership means. No one person can do everything at a company.""'2 Others blame Musk's mental health for his downward spiral and describe him as emotionally unstable and fragile. Musk developed a reputation on the production floor for openly ridiculing, insulting. and bullying workers who fell short of performance targets. He appeared extremely sensitive to skeptics. often reassigning workers who questioned his ideas to new departments. uninviting them to important meetings. and even firing them. Musk also displayed frequent emotional reactions to isolated customer complaints on social media. As a former employee recalls, \"Some customer would tweet some random complaint. and then we would be ordered to drop everything and spend a week on some problem affecting one loudmouth in Pasadena, rather than all the work we're supposed to do to support the thousands of customers who didn't tweet that day."""'3 Musk's recent public appearances and social media posE have raised consumer concerns about his ability to deliver page 5.1.4 on his promises and successfully run his companies. In one instance. he angrily tweeted that a diver sent to rescue a trapped Thai boys' soccer team was a pedophile after Musk's offer to assist with the rescue was declined. The diver filed a defamation lawsuit against Musk for this damaging and unsubstantiated claim.\" As another example. Musk chose to smoke marijuana during an appearance on \"The Joe Hogan Experience" podcast.\"5 In August 2:313. in what would prove the most financially damaging of his social media choices to date. Musk tweeted that he was taking Tesla private and had secured the funding to do so. As a result of his tweet. the company's shares skyrocketed 11 percent in one day. Musk had not actually secured funding to take Tesla private and the SEC charged him with securities fraud. He settled the case and agreed to pay a $40 million fine to the SEC. step down as Tesla's chairperson. and allow others in the companyto regulate his social media activity.\"5 A few months after reaching the settlement. Musk gave a 56 Minutes interview and said "I do not respect the SEC." While it is not illegal for Musk to criticize the regulatory agency, experts agree it's an unwise choice. both in terms of his relationship with the agency and his ability to attract board members to his companies.""'"r WHATS NEXT FDR EL'DN MUSK? Musk's quirkiness. overconfidence. and volatility resemble the attributes and behaviors of other famous entrepreneursmost notably. Steve Jobs?\" As consumers we allow for and even expect a certain amount of idiosyncrasy in our leaders. Yale School of Management's Dr. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld argues that some measure of hubris is necessary for entrepreneurs to succeed. saying. \"The odds are against them succeeding rationally. so they have to have an unrealistic sense of their own efficacy to beat the odds.\" But Sonnenfeld also notes that Musk is likely to "take himself and the company off a cliff" if he doesn't dial things back."""Ell Tesla recently unveiled its new electric vehiclethe Model ~r crossoverto lukewarm reception. F're-orders started immediately and required a $2.5CIICI initial payment$1.000 more than the company had charged customers to reserve the Model 3. Market analysts see this increase as cause for concern about the company's cash position and predict that initial orders for the Model '1' will be much lower than they were for the Model 3.15\"I As for that tweet that cost him $40 million in SEC fines and his position as chairman of Tesla's board. Musk says it was \"worth lt.\""'5"