Elon - the New King of Command&Controllers

At first, I had thought I would address some of the comments I got on yesterday’s article in today’s one but on second thought I will not. I stand by everything I said. This will cost Elon and it will further cost anyone who thinks he speaks sense. Just watch.

The vast majority of the defenders made points around how communication and managing can only happen in person which are too embarrassing (for the argument-maker) to deconstruct, to be honest as they are absurd, they no longer hold any water after what we learned over the pandemic so I will simply let you read them yourself and see which are worthwhile objections -and there are some- and which are just Command&Control last bastions of execs that fear they’ll be wiped out of existence in the brave new world of work. You'll spot them easily.

My favourite one was someone claiming I was “too emotional” about the topic- which wasn’t something I would have thought one would hear in a professional context in 2022 in the wake of the big D&I battles that have been fought of late but I suspect there are plenty of people out there who think it’s acceptable when it isn’t. Forget that I’m a woman and that can be triggering, forget that I'm me and if you read any of my writings there's always a tsunami of feelings behind every measured argument but more importantly, I am a human with feelings and emotions and (allegedly) strong points of view so damn right I will be emotional in an OpEd, are you serious? Hell, I'm emotional AF right now, shall I delete this till I cool off?!?

Is that a dig still in this day and age? How sad to think it’s ok to say that. We ALL are emotional. Or should be. We care - we have feelings about things, it’s that simple. If we don’t also have the courage to express them boldly that’s thanks to people who still find it acceptable to point it out as if it would be a flaw, not a sign of being passionate and bold.

Look, I am not surprised this brings up all the feels for all of us. But it's particularly tough for the Superheroes and those of us who have been on the frontline of the fight to bring humanity back to the workplace and make it fit for this century of products and technology-making where being isolated, “professional”, closed off and fearful doesn’t work anymore; the ones that fight every day to see the HumanDebt lowered; the ones that have seen some solid wins regarding making our employees feel heard and seen and cared for; all of us are appalled this is a plausible development.