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Elon Musk and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke in confidence over the phone in April, only two days after Musk revealed his intention to purchase Twitter. Given that Nadella had possibly managed the most successful tech turnaround in history, one might have anticipated Elon Musk can use Nadella's advice on how to turn around the failing Twitter.
Nadella helmed leadership of a directionless Microsoft in 2014 that was riven by strife and inertia and whose stock price had fallen by more than half during what is referred regarded as Microsoft's lost decade. Thanks to Nadella's leadership, Microsoft has the third-largest market valuation in the world today and is well-positioned for the future as a pioneer in several cutting-edge technologies. Elon Musk, meanwhile, apparently wasn't seeking counsel. He was providing it because Nadella afterward contacted him to say "thanks for the call." Will remain in contact. And will unquestionably follow up on the teams' feedback! Nadella may have helped Musk. Instead, he has done everything in his power to completely ruin Twitter since acquiring control of it.
Microsoft was at its lowest position ever when Nadella was appointed CEO. It was bogged down in bureaucracy, power struggles, and backstabbing. Nadella offered several suggestions on how to turn the firm around, including getting out of the mobile phone industry and putting more faith in the cloud than in Windows. He also suggested changing the workplace culture to emphasize cooperation rather than fighting. But he didn't force his views on the populace.
Compare that to Musk, who, after acquiring control of Twitter, quickly effectively burnt the firm down. He dismissed half the workforce in the first few weeks, then threatened the remaining personnel, which led to a sizable number of them quitting. His sponsors abandoned him when he insulted and threatened them. The dangerous conspiracy theorists and white racists that plagued the business were warmly welcomed back. Additionally, he directly promoted false information and conspiracies using his Twitter account.
He viewed the cloud as the way of the future and set out to make Microsoft a cloud-based business. But to achieve that, he had to keep the business viable by continuing to milk Windows, the company's cash cow. It was successful. With each new version of Windows, he made improvements while using the profits to expand Microsoft's cloud computing division. Only Amazon remains ahead of Microsoft in terms of cloud market share.
While this was going on, Musk wagered that Twitter's future lay in for-pay services rather than ad sales, which now make up around 90% of income. He then took immediate action to destroy Twitter's advertising business.
Over the years, Nadella has had to fire a lot more employees than Musk did at Twitter. Microsoft made a significant round of layoffs in 2017, firing 12,500 Nokia employees out of an estimated 18,000 employees overall. Nadella meticulously planned the layoffs, giving the staff enough notice and fair severance packages.
In contrast, Musk hacked away at Twitter, destroying entire departments at random. Who was fired and who stayed on seemed to have no rhyme or reason. People were frequently not even informed they were being fired; they only learned as a result of being locked out of business networks. Numerous layoffs were carried out on what appeared to be a whim when Musk dismissed employees for saying things he didn't want to hear.
Microsoft was not made into a $2 trillion monster by Nadella on the backs of his workers, but rather in partnership with them. He understands that finding and maintaining IT talent is likely the most challenging and crucial issue a firm must deal with.
Instead, Musk has ruled by intimidation, insulting, and threatening his Twitter staff. His top workers have either lost their jobs or been dismissed. He is already the object of many lawsuits over the way he handles his personnel, including discriminating against women in hiring decisions, firing people without authorization, and breaking agreements to let them work from home.
CEOs ultimately retire; they don't stay in office forever. When Nadella departs, he'll undoubtedly do it in the same manner in which he led Microsoft. He undoubtedly would advise Musk to follow suit.
Would Musk heed that recommendation? Not. He'll slam the door as loudly as he can and leave while yelling and shouting. If there is still a door at Twitter that can be slammed, that is.
