Explain how a leader sets the tone for culture, ethics and diversity?

Entrepreneurial Leader: Elon Musk

Company: Tesla, Electronic Car Manufacturer

Elon Musk is the co-founder of Paypal, SpaceX and Tesla. For this activity I have chosen to talk about the cultural, ethical and diversity related factors of Tesla is the car company of the future according to many experts which will revolutionaries the auto industry towards an environmental friendly industry which at present it is not (Davis, 2010). Elon has inspired many due to his innovation thinking of doing something beyond what other investors do. For example he started SpaceX Company which is a private space venture. Before that, space ventures were run by governments not private investors. In the following discussion I would like about Elon Musk and Tesla in relation to the factors identified in the activity assignment.

Organizational Culture and Leadership

One of the fundamental aspect of leadership is to influence the culture of an organization to achieve the specified goals (Lussier, and Achua 364). Elon musk has been a front runner in promoting a kind of culture in Tesla where the employees of the company have been made to believe that they need to work hard and achieve the unachievable. I mean who would have thought that Tesla would be as successful as it is today. In the recent times, Tesla has introduced its 3^rd generation cars with more than 300 thousand pre-orders (“Week That Electric Vehicles Went Mainstream | Tesla Motors”). Elon Musk has been visiting his company at night and in fact, according to news reports, he has many times stayed for weeks inside the company leading his staff. These substantive actions have helped him win the confidence of his staff members towards the production of an electronic car that can run for over 350 kilometers with a single charge which was unimaginable before.

Leadership and Ethics

In my opinion, the very existence of Tesla is an example of an ethical believe in saving the environment. This is a fact that Tesla is a not a charitable company, but we cannot ignore the ethical appeal behind establishing such an environmental friendly company. Elon Musk has largely been appreciated for working on this project as it has been seen as a step towards a greener earth (Cesar and Trasferetti, 2007).

The ethics of a leader are most observable when the company is in crisis (Lussier, and Achua 371). In 2015, Tesla was going in loses and it seemed the end of the company. But then Elon made a miracle happen when he invested most of his savings/wealth in a failing company (“Elon Musk Shares the Miracle That Saved Tesla”). In such situations, one would think that the owner would like to get rid of the company but Elon set an example by not only retaining the company but also saving hundreds of jobs and rising it again within less than two years of time.

Diversity and Leadership

Despite the all the good thing that are there to say about Tesla and Elon Musk and the associated achievement, the company has been blamed by many for a company discouraging gender diversity (“Tesla’s Gender Gap at the Top Narrows – but Just a Little”). Tesla has reiterated so many times that the company is does not promote gender gap, instead the nature of the company is so that there is less interest from the female gender to apply to. If I were to state my position about this situation, I would definitely want to see more female staff at the company. In the modern world there is an acceptance toward females working in diverse fields and companies like Tesla and leaders like Elon Musk should strive to make an organization environment where people from all genders, nationalities and ethnicities are encouraged to work.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude my discussion by appreciating the ethical standards followed by Elon Musk at Tesla. I would also like to follow the organizational culture established by Elon Musk at Tesla where he is leads by an example. As I said earlier, I would love to see more room made for female staff at Tesla so that it can be an organization that is not blamed to be against gender diversity.