Strategic Genius or Strategic Ghosting?

When pressed, Musk’s own AI admitted his leadership style leaves nothing but wreckage.

It started, as many things do these days, with a tweet.

Mario Nawfal, one of Musk’s most reliable hype men, posted a glowing quote from David Sacks about Elon Musk’s role at DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency). The story went like this: Musk had supposedly thrown himself into the agency, learned everything "down to the database level," and, having heroically set up the perfect system, was now stepping back to manage strategically, just one or two days a week. Efficiency incarnate.

The post practically begged for a question: Was this really representative of Musk’s style?

So I asked Grok, Musk’s own AI, built into X, for an answer.

Grok’s first reply was exactly what you’d expect: a long, polished essay describing Musk’s leadership as a model of visionary intensity followed by masterful delegation. It quoted Harvard Business Review and Business Insider. It praised Musk’s "transformational leadership" and his "mental models." It even called his withdrawal from DOGE a textbook example of strategic oversight.

It was everything Musk's PR team could have hoped for, and almost none of it dealt with reality.

Naturally, I pushed back and crafted a reply pointing out the missing context: the chaos Musk routinely unleashes during his "intense focus" phases; his pattern of abandoning projects once they become politically toxic; the shallowness of his so-called mental models; and the authoritarianism baked into his obsession with "efficiency."

And then something amazing happened: Grok completely changed course.

What followed was a detailed, brutal acknowledgment that Musk’s leadership style isn’t just intense, it’s disastrous. Highlights from Grok’s revised confession:

• Chaos, not stability: Musk’s hands-on phases create wreckage, not functioning systems. Twitter/X lost advertisers, credibility, and user trust after Musk’s impulsive "reforms", a pattern now repeating at DOGE, where database overreach has sparked lawsuits and human rights scandals.

• Delegation as abandonment: Musk stepping back from DOGE didn’t reflect strategic management; it was a retreat from a growing disaster, just as he did after gutting Twitter. As public outrage over deportations of children and U.S. citizens grows, Musk is nowhere to be found.

• Shallow mental models: Musk’s supposed "deep dives" often ignore legal, ethical, and human consequences. At Twitter, this meant a surge in hate speech. At DOGE, it means dismantling safeguards that protect lives.

  • Authoritarian tendencies: Efficiency for Musk often means cutting oversight, due process, and any democratic constraints. His drive for speed and control mirrors authoritarian models, not transformational leadership.

Grok didn’t just mildly agree with my pushback; it went into painstaking detail, citing sources and laying out the human cost of Musk’s approach, from workplace safety violations at Tesla to mass deportations at DOGE.

By the end of it, Musk’s own AI had essentially delivered a eulogy for the Musk Myth, one backed by facts, receipts, and real-world consequences.

It’s easy to dismiss Musk’s spin when it comes from his fans or his social media blasts. But when Musk’s own AI, built inside his own empire, is forced by facts to admit that his leadership is a chaos engine, that’s something different.

It shows just how thin the veneer really is. The Musk Myth, the genius innovator, the savior of industries, the strategic master, survives only through constant narrative control. Scratch the surface, and the wreckage spills out.

DOGE was supposed to prove Musk could modernize government. Instead, it’s proving that his leadership style, at best reckless, at worst authoritarian, carries devastating consequences when real lives are involved.

Musk may try to step back, spin the narrative, and move on. But as Grok made clear, the damage stays behind.

And this time, it’s not just broken platforms or missed production targets, it’s deported children, shattered families, and constitutional violations.

When even your own AI starts quoting A People's History of Elon Musk, you know the game is almost up.

I’ll post the entire conversation in Notes.