In Part II of this series on America’s Leadership Culture, I listed the culture’s ten key components. I made plain that these were norms – indicators of how leaders were expected to lead. Each was, however, a reasonable expectation, not an unattainable ideal. Americans do, for example, expect their leaders not to compel compliance by using force. They expect their leaders not to violate the law but to abide by it. And they expect their leaders to respect their followers independent of station or status.
But what happens when American leaders fly in the face of America’s leadership culture? Especially when they flagrantly and repeatedly violate its norms?
The answer is “it depends.” As always, it depends on who is the leader, who are the followers, and what is the context within which the norms are being violated.*
Elon Musk is a glaring example of an American leader who gleefully flies in the face of its leadership culture. No question he is a leader. A leader of several extraordinary companies. A leader on earth and in space. A trillionaire leader who, because of what is now his historically great wealth, will wield even more power in the future than he did in the past.
Musk doesn’t bother with authority or influence. He is so dominant that all he must do to get his way is to exert the power that already is his. Starbase, Texas, is an example. It’s a company town, built to accommodate people who work at, or are otherwise closely affiliated with Musk’s company, SpaceX. Musk controls Starbase as would an all-powerful king, or tsar, or emperor. The town is described by locals as having a “highly secretive environment overseen by a company-affiliated commission that rubber-stamps Mr. Musk’s vision, a place where even kindergartners are guided by his philosophies.”**
What we have then are two truths – truths that would appear contradictory, but which nevertheless coexist. America has a leadership culture that consists of norms to which most leaders are expected to adhere. But to this general rule as with other general rules, there are exceptions. Musk is a genius – which is why he is one.
———————————————–
*I always think systemically. Specifically I conceive of leadership as a system with three parts that are equally important: leader, followers, contexts.
**https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/opinion/elon-musk-spacex-starbase-texas.html