Elon Musk's DOGE has proved 'omnigenius' as a myth
By Gautam Mukunda / Bloomberg Opinion
Elon Musk’s misadventures with DOGE might be the ultimate example of a powerful flaw in how we think about leaders. That’s our tendency to believe skills and accomplishments are portable, that someone who excels in one venue will be just as impressive in others.
I call this exceptional — if imaginary — superpower “omnigenius.”In reality, though, success doesn’t exist without context. While there’s no pleasure in watching Musk make a mess of the U.S. government, maybe it will help clarify the crucial link between the two.
Musk and DOGE show how a leader can be empowered by the omnigenius fantasy. Musk has surely done remarkable things. For all Tesla Inc.’s current struggles, it transformed the automotive sector. And it’s almost impossible to overstate SpaceX’s revolutionary impact on the space industry.
Once he joined the government, though, the story changed. In just one notable example, DOGE fired hundreds of employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency responsible for the production and security of nuclear weapons and management of nuclear waste sites. But the Trump administration reversed many of the cuts less than 48 hours later, when it became clear what these workers did and how important their roles are. “The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for,” said Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball at the time.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-elon-musks-doge-has-proved-omnigenius-as-a-myth/
That's so obvious to many of us. To me the truly smart people know their limits.
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