Succession

Did Elon Musk never watch the show?

If something happens to Elon Musk, what happens to everyone else?

When Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk came out, I was struck by two short passages in that book in particular:

• First, there's a detailed story about how Musk once contracted malaria on vacation, spent 10 days in intensive care, and nearly died (and took out a $100 million life insurance policy benefiting PayPal as a result).

Second, there's Musk's nine-word reaction in 2022, when he convened what turned out to be a brief and unsuccessful meeting with four estate planning experts to discuss creating some sort of foundation.

"I've got too much else to think about now," Musk said as he left the table, according to Isaacson.

So, a question: Is there any sort of succession plan in place at any of the six major companies Musk leads, either as CEO, as owner, or otherwise?

Over and over, we've seen how succession planning can set companies up for long-term success, while lack of planning can lead to demise.

There was also a very popular television show about this idea, remember?

• Apple. Probably the best example. Steve Jobs set up such a good succession plan that in 2011, just six weeks before his death, he was able to hand over control to Tim Cook with a single memo.

• Berkshire Hathaway. Crisis averted here, but Warren Buffett, turning 94 this month, sure did take a long time to announce Greg Abel as his planned successor.

• Yahoo. Sure, Yahoo still exists as a shell of its former self, but we can point to nonstop CEO turnover in the 2000s as a major cause for its downfall.

• Subway. This might be the best example of no-succession-plan madness. Once the world's largest restaurant chain, Subway fell into disarray after CEO Fred DeLuca's death, since his widow and his co-founder, who couldn't agree on anything, then each owned half of Subway's shares.

In 2023, Tesla rejected the idea of sharing a succession plan after an activist shareholder tried to force the issue. And if there's a public plan for SpaceX in case of Musk's departure or demise, I haven't found it.

For that matter, what would happen at X, formerly known as Twitter?

Remember: Musk has 11 make that 12 surviving children by three women. He and one of his children no longer talk, and in fact have a blood feud going on — on Twitter (ok, fine, X, whatever).

Imagine if Musk were to die without ironclad estate planning?

He also has a history of handling major legal issues with extreme speed and brevity. My favorite example: the brief, 241-word agreement he signed when he originally bought 9 percent of Twitter and sought a seat on its board.

(By way of comparison, this newsletter is more than seven times as long; heck, the permission slip I signed for my daughter's camp program ran 500 words.)

Many people don't like to think about estate planning or succession planning. It's a human reaction. Nobody wants to admit the two other uncomfortable ideas it highlights:

• the idea that we'll all die someday, and

• the notion that we might not be the truly indispensable people we like to think we are.

Even Elon Musk.

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Planning ahead …

I’ve got a bit of vacation coming up, and some big plans for afterward. If you’ve been here for a while, you might remember that instead of going dark during vacation, I like to share new takes on some of our greatest hits over the years, which I call “Low Power Mode.”

We have plenty of material to work with—but if you’ve been here a while, and you remember a particular story you’d like to see us revisit, please reply to this email and make a suggestion! Thanks for reading!

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7 other things …

• The great inflation spike of the past three years is nearly spent — and economists credit American consumers for helping slay it. Consumers aren’t cutting back enough to cause an economic downturn. Rather, economists say, they appear to be returning to pre-pandemic norms, when most companies felt they couldn’t raise prices very much without losing business. (AP)

• It may seem unfair, but being unattractive could mean people are more likely to die a year or two younger (men and women, respectively) than their good looking peers. In fact, 'ugly' men live nearly a year less on average than those who were considered good looking, according to a US study published in Social Science and Medicine. Alongside a lifetime of health data, researchers also collected yearbook photos and tasked independent arbiters to rate their attractiveness. (Daily Mail)

• A new study, published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, reveals that LinkedIn profiles might offer significant insights into individual traits like narcissism and intelligence. This research suggests that machine learning algorithms can accurately infer these traits from the information available on LinkedIn, potentially offering a powerful tool for recruiters and organizations. (PsyPost)

• I hate taking up space with this but: Trump accused Kamala Harris of using AI technology to fabricate images of crowd sizes at her rallies: "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.‘d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!" he shared. To be clear, the image was real, showing a 15,000-person crowd at a Harris-Walz rally in Michigan. (CNBC)

• Settle this household fight: What’s the best way to load a dishwasher? (Washington Post)

• The Biden administration on Monday outlined new proposals to make it easier for Americans to cancel unwanted subscriptions. Several federal agencies are proposing rules that would combat "corporate tricks and scams like excessive paperwork, long wait times, and more" that companies use to stall consumers from canceling subscriptions, per an adminisration fact sheet. (Axios)

• Grace Carr was 17 when she left her family home in the coal town of Freeland, Pa., to pursue a dream she’d had since she was 5 years old: "Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a nurse and work in a hospital. There was never any question that I would do anything else. Eighty years later, Carr, now 97, is still at it, working exactly where she started: St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Campus in Allentown, Pa., about 60 miles from where she grew up. (Washington Post via Stars and Stripes)

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Thanks for reading. Photo by Maciej Ruminkiewicz on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.