Will Musk be Hoisted by the Petard of Public Opinion?

Casting himself upon the whims of vox populi, Twitter boss Elon Musk has decided to allow the platform's users to determine his eventual fate. In what is fast becoming a trend for decision-making at Twitter HQ, the belabored owner asked the social media denizens the ultimate questions for any company owner: "Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll."

With the poll now closed, those who believe Musk should step aside seized 57.5%, so what happens next? And was this the plan all along?

Tesla Demands More of Musk

Indonesian billionaire KoGuan Leo –the third largest Tesla shareholder with an estimated $3.4 billion invested – insisted that the electric vehicle company is presently rudderless and needs a new leader appointment immediately. He wrote, "Elon abandoned Tesla and Tesla has no working CEO… Tesla needs and deserves to have working full time CEO."

The price of Tesla stock has seen a significant decline since Musk took over Twitter; with news that he may be stepping down from the day-to-day running of the social media platform, markets anticipated a 5% boost.

A Grand Plan?

"Be careful what you wish, as you might get it," warned Musk as the results started to drop. But was it his plan all along to step aside once the "dirty work" had been done? Even if the Chief Twit does abdicate from ultimate leadership, he will still be the owner of the company and majority shareholder, meaning what he says goes.

Speculation abounded that Mr. Musk already had his replacement in mind and was simply engaging in a little internet trolling.

MIT scientist and podcast host Lex Fridman offered his services in response to the poll, writing, "Fun suggestion… Let me run Twitter for a bit. No salary. All in. Focus on great engineering and increasing the amount of love in the world."

Musk swiftly responded to the proposition but highlighted that keeping Twitter afloat would be a Herculean task:

"You must like pain a lot. One catch: you have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May. Still want the job?

The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive."

Pooh-poohing suggestions that Musk already has an heir to the blue bird throne ready to go, he tweeted, "No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor."

Power and Power Vacuums

"Those who want power are the ones who least deserve it," Musk wrote in the early hours of this morning. This sentiment echoes an interesting piece of writing by author Douglas Adams in his classic "trilogy in five parts" The HItchikers Guide to the Galaxy, of which Musk is known to be a big fan:

"One of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.

To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."

This leaves the possibly outgoing CEO with something of a dilemma. He doesn't seem to believe that anyone he appoints can keep the company alive, but also that any individual he does hire may not deserve the responsibility. Perhaps he'll put the final decision to a poll?