Why Elon Musk is a terrible corporate author
How you can learn from Elon Musk’s mistakes, the importance of paragraph placement, God is a designer and gain a discount worth up to £250
When X (formerly Twitter), or Tesla, or SpaceX shares some news, or makes an announcement, who do you think is speaking to you? Do you hear the company, its corporate voice and policies? Or the voice and opinions of its co-founder Elon Musk?
And when Elon Musk speaks about the corporate direction of any of his companies, for example, his most recent expletive-laden comments about advertising on X, do you hear an institutional voice sharing a considered, sober corporate position. Or the more frantic, reactive opinions of a brilliant, but controversial maverick?
Most of us hear a muddle of both. Because Elon Musk has conflated the voice of his companies with his own, often to detrimental effect.
By reflecting on how Elon Musk has become a terrible corporate author, we can learn lessons about the importance of authorship when communicating any factual story or message.
Factual stories are defined by their authors, and each author’s perspective. A crime will be reported very differently by the perpetrator, police or victim, for example. An audience will evaluate differently a report into the financial dealings of a company, if it was authored by the company itself, rather than a financial services authority with investigative powers.
Being clear who is the author of a message is one of the key principles of effective communication. Because the author’s identity is what lends authority to any communications act (the words author and authority have the same root). Authority is defined as the power to command thought, opinion or behaviour.
So an author’s identity directly impacts how any message influences audiences.
The result is that his voice, and those of his companies, are very different. But they have become conflated.
When Elon Musk speaks in a purely personal capacity, he has great influence, his authority derived from an extraordinarily successful track record as a technological innovator and disrupter, and from being a maverick.
However, most companies correctly employ a form of institutional authorship. As an organisation, they take a particular world view that guides their stance on future developments. They evolve some sense of institutional personality, one that usually avoids controversy and naturally tends toward conservatism and stability. They have institutional values, an institutional memory and reputation and try to speak in a consistent, institutional voice. All those things also confer authority, and as we’ve just explained, also create influence.
So Elon Musk’s individual, reactive, personal and maverick voice will and should be very different from the institutional voice of each of his companies, which speak to different audiences, over a longer time frame, in a more considered style.
And audiences will quite rightly separate their feelings and judgments about Elon Muk’s personal behaviour and performance as a human being, from his companies’ corporate positions and performance.
But Elon Musk frequently makes personal announcements about his companies: about new, unexpected corporate developments or floating half-formed policy ideas. He argues on behalf of his companies, but in his own voice and style. Which can be erratic. He embraces controversy, and he often changes his position.
Being a co-founder and major shareholder of many of his businesses, and also carrying the exposure of a celebrity, what he says reaches many people and materially affects his companies’ prospects.
When you hear breaking news regarding X, Tesla, or SpaceX you tend not to think of the company, but of the Elon Musk, the man.
The result is that his voice, and those of his companies, are very different. But they have become conflated.
As a result, their messaging has become confused, because the audience no longer knows who is the true author, and on what basis they should judged. When Elon Musk shares news about X or SpaceX, are we listening to, and judging, him or the company?
When you tell your factual story, don’t be like Elon Musk. Be clear whether it’s you talking, or your company. Whether you are sharing a personal opinion or position, or a corporate one?
Be certain about how you represent you or your organisation as an author, and don’t conflate your voice, position or opinion with that of your company. If you do, you’ll only undermine your or your company’s authority, and be less convincing as a result.
The importance of paragraph placement
Almost all of us know how to speak. It’s something we naturally learn at a young age. We know how to write, learning to do so in school and college.
We are born to communicate; we speak and write every day, and so naturally does it happen, that we almost never stop to think if we are actually doing it well.
As you improve your communication skills, one the most important things to learn is the importance of structuring your message and content.
It’s one of the most fundamental lessons we teach at the The Factual Storytelling School.
Well produced stories, good editorial copy, and compelling content invariably follow known, repeatable structures that are designed to engage readers and keep them following your story. You can learn them, you can apply them and you can benefit from the impact they will create.
For example, when you write, how much attention do you pay to the function of your paragraphs, and their placement in your story?
The first paragraph of an opinion article usually states what is known as the article’s topic.
If you are announcing something new, then you should structure your content more like a news story.
That means your most important paragraph appears first, and that paragraph tries to both sell and summarise your whole message.
See our course lesson Turn Your Content Into News.
If you are telling a longer, more immersive story, and you need to keep your audience engaged for many hundreds or perhaps thousands of words, your most important paragraph should appear as the third or fourth paragraph (it can appear as the second, or fifth or even sixth paragraph, though this is less common).
You are essentially writing a form of a feature article, and your most important paragraph is known as a nutgraph or billboard paragraph. Its function is to again summarise and quickly convey your whole story, hooking your reader and providing them with a mental roadmap of the content they can expect to follow, enticing them to read on.
See our course lesson Write Impactful Features.
If you are trying to argue a point or position, for example, why people should support your organisation’s cause, policy or initiative, you are writing a type of opinion article.
Here, your most important paragraph is also your first. Not because it summarises your story. But for two other reasons.
First it should grab the reader’s attention, so it could begin with a strong claim, surprising fact, a metaphor, mystery, or counter-intuitive observation that entices an audience. Second, the first paragraph of an opinion article usually states what is known as the article’s topic - the person, place, issue, incident or thing that is the focus of the argument.
The function of your first paragraph is therefore to draw your audience’s attention to the argument you want to make.
See our course lesson How to Influence Opinion.
Remember, all good content, and impactful communications, are based on hidden rules that govern their editorial structure. By learning and consistently applying these rules, you will become a far more powerful and effective communicator.
God is a designer
Here at The Factual Storyteller, we’ll regularly recommend other newsletters and commentators we think may inspire you.
This week we suggest you take a look at the newsletter God is a designer.
Unless you produce podcasts, radio or audio books, you will tell your factual story using visual media. You will expect people to look at your story, and view it, whether that be a video, or words, images and graphics on a page or presentation slide.
How that story is designed is therefore important.
The Factual Storytelling School course includes the eponymous module Good Design And Why It Matters. We’ll be sharing our own tips and techniques about why and how to embrace good design.
But it’s worth taking a look too at God is a designer. Each week they share design assets, resources, and some inspiration to help you, in their words “keep making beautiful things”.
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