Some thoughts on Rod Serling’s prescient warning about AI nearly 60 years ago; the shamelessness of Silicon Valley billionaire Marc Andreessen; and Elon Musk’s disdain for homeless persons.
People
Elon Musk’s A-Team Leadership Genius
Tesla’s most recent app update and the storm we recently experienced in Los Angeles drove home Elon Musk’s undeniable leadership brilliance.
David Chiu: A Bright Bulb in SFO’s Darkness
Lovers of the San Francisco of yore looking to read something positive about the troubled city, David Chiu is just the tonic.
My Dream Job: President of the UAW
Heading the UAW at this economic juncture is an opportunity to publicize and address America’s growing wealth disparity. Shawn Fain, who heads the autoworkers’ union, has so far demonstrated he’s not up to the challenge.
Jennifer Granholm’s Inner Hunter Biden
Proterra, a California-based electric bus manufacturer and energy storage developer repeatedly hailed by President Biden, filed for bankruptcy yesterday, causing the company’s shares to tank. Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s Secretary of Energy, previously served on Proterra’s board and pocketed $1.6 million when she sold her shares to an undisclosed buyer.
Ford’s Heavyweight Beltway Swamp Creatures
The Department of Energy’s sweetheart $9.2 billion loan to Ford Motor Co. to finance the company’s EV projects in Tennessee and Kentucky had a bad odor to it. Thankfully, Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso agrees, and a letter he wrote to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm helped connect the dots.
Carlos Tavares’ Inspiring Stellantis Leadership
The media isn’t fond of Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares because he says demand for EVs are artificially driven by government mandates and subsidies and complying with those mandates could lead to a shortage of raw materials necessary to produce enough battery driven vehicles.
Nevertheless, Stellantis has ambitious EV plans for the U.S. market, including launching a truck with 500 miles of range that could prove a competitive threat to GM’s and Ford’s lucrative truck businesses.
Unlike the CEOs of GM and Ford, Tavares has demonstrated he knows how to execute.
Hollywood’s CEO Pay Awakening
Some thoughts on the less than Six Degrees of Separation between Hollywood’s striking workers and the workers at GM’s Ohio electric battery plant.
America’s Banking Code of “Ethics”
Reading up on the latest wrongdoing in U.S. banking and finance I was struck just how much the industry has changed since the days of Milburn Drysdale of Beverly Hillbillies fame.
By today’s banking standards, Drysdale was an upstanding executive.
Backstabbers Shall Inherit the Executive Suite
Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth, but he never held a corporate job. Those looking to run major U.S. businesses shouldn’t look to Jesus for career advice.