e-ttraction Leadership : Building a Tribe from your Team (Tesla Vs Ford)

blog 2018

10 July

Last week Tesla hit a significant milestone in their business which prompted an unusual reaction from one of the world's largest car maker. The reaction was surprising and lead to some important leadership branding lessons for us all to consider.

If you missed the news last week, Tesla announced the first 7,000 cars rolled off the production line of the new model 3; their version of a family electric car. Elon Musk was pretty proud of the team and tweeted to his 22.2 million followers about achieving the milestone. Great leadership, recognising the team for their efforts.

Not everyone was as pumped as Elon however. The CEO of Ford Motor Company Europe decided to chime in with his own thoughts, trying to belittling Tesla with his larger production capacity, saying they make more cars. Whoopdeedoo.

The impressions I had about this response was that it was a petty remark and one that doesn't boost the confidence of his team or his leadership. If you were on his team what would he say to you about your success?

That someone in the team does it better? I am sure his intentions were to help the team morale, but snide remarks doesn't boost morale. Focus on the positives.

Secondly, while Ford does produce many more cars than Tesla, the market capitalisation of the business has fallen under the Tesla brand. Meaning Tesla, with their much lower revenue and production, is actually worth more than Ford.

Thirdly, Elon could have replied and mentioned said market cap or many other benefits that Tesla has over Ford currently. But that's not great leadership either. So what were his next tweets about? Responding to Steven with a counter tweet, reminding him that he only has 3k Twitter followers compared to your millions? Nope.

Elon tweeted about working on building an underwater submarine from rocket ship parts to get the Thai soccer team kids out of the cave in Thailand. Now that's leadership.

In this situation what would you do as a leader?

The reason I follow Elon, as so many do, and regard his brand of leadership as more authentic is that his actions speaks louder than words. That's the reason I follow Elon and not others. Authentic action.

What do you think?

Andrew

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Andrew Ford

Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.

http://www.andrewford.com.au/

e-ttraction Leadership : Building a Tribe from your Team (Tesla Vs Ford)

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