Elon Musk is a unique figure in the business world – celebrated for revolutionizing entire sectors, such as the automotive industry, space exploration, among others – and at the same time, heavily criticized for controversial management decisions. In recent years, especially after the acquisition of Twitter (now rebranded as X), his leadership style has been scrutinized by HR and technology professionals seeking lessons about psychological profile and behavioral risks.
Studying Elon Musk's profile from the perspective of organizational psychology reveals an atypical leader. According to an analysis conducted by Hogan Assessments experts, nothing in his trajectory indicates that Musk is "crazy, narcissistic, or malevolent"—adjectives often used by critics. Instead, what emerges is the image of an extremely entrepreneurial individualcapable, ambitiousand also prone to risks. The Hogan methodology, including, suggests three keys to understanding your personality at work: cognitive ability, entrepreneurial orientation, and your interpersonal style.
An extraordinary technical knowledge
Maybe not everyone who follows the news about entrepreneurs knows, but Elon Musk has a great deal of technical knowledge. Graduated in Physics and Economics, he ends up combining knowledge about numbers, technologies, and finance—more deeply than most people. Colleagues claim that he has a keen perception to anticipate business trends and identify flaws in others' reasoning. This intellectual confidence translates into agility in decision-making: Musk is not a fan of rigid long-term plans – he takes action and learns from the results, adjusting the course as needed.
Regarding the psychological structure, Musk embodies the archetype of the tireless entrepreneur. Hogan data indicates that successful entrepreneurs tend to be analytical, solve problems based on data, work energetically (often 100 hours a week), are not afraid of risks, and are highly competitive and impact-oriented.
Musk embodies this profile: he is famous for his extreme work ethic and for pursuing bold goals. Characteristics such as courage to take on high risks, intense dedication, and focus on concrete results are identified as essential ingredients of his success, regardless of his exceptional intelligence. In other words, Musk combines brilliance with a lot of effort – he thinks big and works hard to realize his visions. This structured guidance for ambitious goals partly explains how he managed to found and scale multiple companies in different sectors in such a short time.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Musk is his way of dealing with people. He himself revealed that he has Asperger's syndrome (a condition on the autism spectrum), something relatively common among engineers and entrepreneurs with a technical profile. People close to him have already described him as the "life of the party" at social occasions, someone cheerful, irreverent, and mischievous outside of work.
In the professional environment, however, Musk adopts a highly demanding stance. He defines himself as a "nano" manager – that is, he takes micromanagement to the extreme – impatient and quick to point out faults. Concerns about team feelings or kindness are not at the top of their daily priorities. Like many leaders with a technical background, he values performance and delivery over diplomacy.
Two extremes
Hogan's analysis suggests that Musk is a highly successful visionary entrepreneur, but a mediocre leader in terms of people management. This does not set him apart much from other tech giants: the so-called "Apple paradox" theory – referencing Steve Jobs – shows that brilliant leaders can be difficult in personal dealings and still build high-performance organizations.
In practice, Musk relies on subordinate managers to soften his tough style with employees, while he focuses on major strategic decisions. This combination yields remarkable results, but not without internal friction.
Even the qualities that propelled Musk to the top can become behavioral risks when taken to the extreme. Hogan Assessments uses the concept of derailers to describe personality traits that, under stress or pressure, can "sabotage" a leader's performance. In recent years, Elon Musk has been frequently associated with two particular derailers: excessive perfectionism and extreme self-confidence.
Musk's perfectionist tendency worked well in the past, with Tesla. But on the old Twitter – and current X – the entrepreneur took a big risk of disrupting the team's agility and morale. This clearly shows that strengths in personality, without proper adjustment to the context, can derail a leader's career.
Musk's extreme self-confidence also led him, in the past, to replace Twitter's established brand with a new name—"X"—a radical change that would certainly have been done differently by any other organization. However, Musk's personality leads him to have a "supreme conviction" in himself and his visions, challenging all odds. The risk here is exceeding the limits of prudence – believing that your intuition is enough, even in the face of contrary alerts from experts or the market. Twitter's rebranding, widely seen as hasty, illustrates how Musk's self-confidence can lead to controversial repercussions. Being bold is part of Musk's innovative genius, but in excess it can imply risky bets to the reputation and value of his companies.
Impacts on Twitter management: governance, culture, and performance
Before the acquisition, Twitter was a publicly traded company with a board of directors, nearly 7,500 employees, and an internal culture focused on content moderation and long-term projects. After the acquisition in October 2022, Musk took the company private (gaining full control), dissolved the board, and dismissed most of the senior management. Then, he implemented a drastic overhaul of the platform's governance, culture, and strategy. What were the results?
At the start, Musk implemented massive layoffs. In a few weeks, about half of the employees were laid off. Months later, in an interview, Musk himself revealed that there were about 1,500 out of approximately 8,000 original employees remaining – a reduction of over 80% of the workforce. Along with the layoffs, Musk sent an ultimatum to the remaining employees to embrace a "super hardcore" work culture, with long hours and high intensity, or to resign. Many chose to leave. This cultural shock profoundly transformed the company's daily life, replacing the previous culture with an extreme startup philosophy – small teams, multiple roles per person, and relentless focus on engineering and product.
"Working at Twitter under Musk is not for the faint-hearted," summarized an anonymous former employee. From an HR perspective, this change sparks debates: on one hand, staff reduction and increased pressure can eliminate bureaucracy and accelerate deliveries; on the other hand, there is a risk of losing talent, institutional knowledge, and team motivation in the long term.
But what about Twitter – or X?
In 2024, platform X showed mixed financial performance. Although it achieved an adjusted profit of approximately US$ 1.2 billion in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), total revenue fell to around US$ 2.9 billion, a significant decrease compared to the US$ 4.4 billion recorded in 2022, prior to the acquisition by Elon Musk.
A significant factor affecting X's profitability is the debt service incurred during Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform. Currently, the annual debt service costs are estimated at US$ 1.2 billion, representing a substantial portion of the company's total revenue.
In terms of market valuation, X recovered its value to $44 billion in 2025, matching the price paid by Musk for the company's acquisition. This recovery was driven by new investments and the appreciation of the artificial intelligence startup xAI, of which Musk transferred a 25% stake to X's investors.
The relationship with Donald Trump
In addition to the performance of his companies, Elon Musk today deals with the consequences of his public positions and political alliances, especially his relationship with the current U.S. President Donald Trump. From a reputational standpoint, this association polarized Musk's image as a business leader.
On one hand, he gained admiration and influence among conservative circles – some see him as a defender of free speech and an opponent of alleged "censorship" in Silicon Valley – on the other hand, he seriously damaged his image among center and left audiences. On the other hand, Musk also gained new allies. Groups and entrepreneurs aligned with free market ideology and minimal regulation celebrate their partnership with Trump, expecting mutual benefits – Musk would have doors open in Washington, and the Trump administration would benefit from Musk's experience and innovative reputation. In fact, Musk has become a sort of informal ambassador for the tech sector within the Trump administration.
Among pros and cons, and controversies, understanding Elon Musk's leadership profile requires accepting his paradoxes. He can be both visionary and unpredictable; inspiring and feared; progressive on certain causes and reactionary on others. For the HR and technology sectors, Musk emphasizes the importance of evaluating leaders holistically – considering not only the financial results they achieve but also how they achieve them and at what human and reputational cost.
Your journey offers lessons on the importance of balancing ambition with self-awareness. No leader is above feedback or free from blind spots. Elon Musk continues to challenge limits – it is up to us, analysts and professionals, to critically follow these movements, learning from their successes and failures in the pursuit of developing effective, ethical, and resilient leaders in a world of rapid change.
By Roberto Santos, managing partner of Ateliê RH
