Peter Thiel Slams Elon Musk: Tesla CEO A 'Negative Role Model'

Trump supporter and entrepreneur Peter Thiel has called Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a “negative role model” noting that Musk’s myriad innovations make him difficult for others to emulate.

Making the complex comment, Thiel, who is also a member of the Facebook board called Musk a “good friend” during the debate at UCLA’s Internet50 event on Tuesday.

Thiel was debating the question: “Has true innovation stalled?” with Robert Metcalfe, the professor for innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin.

While Thiel argued in the positive Metcalfe took the opposite stand, per CNBC report.

Stretching his arguments, Thiel said, “Elon is the counterexample” to the hype that true innovation has stalled. He then compared Musk to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs and hailed him as a single great innovator.

Thiel’s association with Musk dates back to at least two decades when Thiel was the co-founder of PayPal and it was taken over by Musk’s financial services company.

Pioneer of electric cars and reusable rockets

“It’s a very weird thing where that’s the go-to story is we have one person who helped develop electric cars and reusable rockets,” Thiel quipped.

On projecting Musk as one of the role models of the youth, Thiel noted “if you tell a young person, ‘why don’t you be like Elon?’ it’s a negative role model where the basic response is, ‘well that’s too hard, I can’t do that.’”

Thiel said it is easier to suggest a young man to “start a computer internet company from your college dorm room,” alluding to Facebook’s modest journey in the technology entrepreneurship domain.

Musk as an example of transformative leadership

Meanwhile, an article in the Entrepreneur hailed Musk for his transformative leadership and new innovations.

It notes that Musk who is also heading SpaceX has been an indisputable tech visionary despite his penchant to swim against the currents.

Musk once said “I hate the whole idea of brands and branding” while replying to a follower’s suggestion that the Tesla brand was too luxe to produce an electric truck, per Tesla news.

Musk is hailed as the world’s first “Influencer CEO,” and uses social media’s branding tactics and irreverent culture to share his philosophies and transformational leadership style.

It says the 48-year-old entrepreneur is a case study for many branding lessons for executives to follow.

The editorial piece notes how Musk always defends his business decisions by referencing his “mission of accelerating the advent of sustainable transport and energy, which is important for all life on Earth.”

Musk makes it a point to assert his primary focus as the relentless pursuit of developing technology that best serves humanity.

Musk is an icon because he has a vision and a mission that he sticks to unflinchingly.

Although most of his projects are years away from completion, Musk, by investing in sustainable technology companies has become the most visible business and innovation leader in the current decade.