Elon Musk has achieved what many others have dreamed of for a long time. Changing the industry is backbreaking work, and while there’s no warning he’s giving up his job, he already has an heir to the crown in mind.
Work begins to crowd Elon Musk’s office. The American businessman has too many open fronts, which is a weakness since with a lack of hours throughout the day, he means neglecting some obligations of the many companies he runs. SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter command almost all of his daily attention, and yet it’s too much for one person. A comment opens the possibility of the arrival of a successor, although for the moment it has not been revealed who it could be since only Musk himself knows the name.
It cannot be denied that the South African has a very particular way of running his companies, but no one can say that he has not achieved success with each of his daring. SpaceX is conquering space and Tesla is doing the same with electric cars. Few companies can say they have revolutionized an industry like Tesla has, changing the entire mobility paradigm on a global scale. A possible successor would not have anything easy to follow in the footsteps of Elon Musk, although he has not said that he is going to give up the chair so soon.
Musk himself has always said that his position as head of Tesla is not for life and that at some point when he considers it, he will designate an heir. Himself, he has several relevant positions within the company, such as product architect. However, following the recent acquisition of Twitter, many voices have been raised demanding a new, more focused direction for the company. The problems with the authorities, added to the multiple delays of the products, are putting the work of Elon Musk in the spotlight.
One of the members of the Tesla board of directors, James Murdoch, has commented that Musk has long thought about a potential successor, although he has not specified who that illustrious figure may be. Immediately many eyes have been directed at Herbert Diess. The former CEO of the Volkswagen Group has always maintained a great relationship with Musk, in addition to sharing that vision of electric mobility that in the end has ended up burning him in the German conglomerate. However, we cannot be sure who Musk is thinking of.
Nor is it necessary to look outside of Tesla to see possible successors since there are strong candidates for it among the ranks of the company. Highly qualified managers with a lot of internal knowledge of the company, such as Zach Kikhorn, the director of finance, or Drew Baglino, head of the power and energy unit department. We are not going to think that this change is going to happen quickly, because nobody is raising something like that, but taking into account Musk’s usual way of acting, it is not something that we should completely rule out either.
