Elon Musk’s bold critique: Why Parag Agarwal fell short as Twitter CEO

Months prior to finalizing the acquisition of Twitter, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk met with Parag Agarwal, the then-CEO of the social media platform, for dinner. According to details unveiled by Walter Isaacson, the author of Elon Musk’s biography, Musk identified a key leadership quality he believed Agarwal lacked during this meeting in March. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an excerpt from the book, revealing Musk’s thoughts on Agarwal.

Musk commented on Agarwal, saying, “He’s a really nice guy,” but he emphasized one of his guiding principles that managers should not aim to be liked, as per Isaacson’s account in the WSJ report. Musk opined, “What Twitter needs is a fire-breathing dragon, and Parag is not that.”

The book, set to be published on September 12, delves into the dynamics of Musk’s interactions with Agarwal during the acquisition process.

The dinner meeting took place in March, with Twitter’s then-board chair, Bret Taylor, also in attendance, as disclosed by Walter Isaacson.

Despite their differences in leadership style, both Musk and Agarwal exchanged cordial messages following the meeting, which were later released in September 2022 as part of Twitter’s lawsuit against Musk.

In one message, Agarwal wrote to Musk on March 27, 2022, saying, “Hey Elon – great to be connected directly. Would love to chat.” Musk responded, “Great dinner :)”

However, tensions escalated in April when Musk sent a tweet from Hawaii, questioning the activity of top Twitter accounts, stating, “Most of these ‘top’ accounts tweet rarely and post very little content. Is Twitter dying?”

Following this tweet, Agarwal sent Musk a polite and carefully worded text message after 90 minutes, stating, “You are free to tweet ‘Is Twitter dying?’ or anything else about Twitter, but it’s my responsibility to tell you that it’s not helping me make Twitter better in the current context.”

Musk responded with a pointed question, “What did you get done this week?” This message was perceived as a dismissive remark, indicative of Musk’s impatience with the platform’s progress.

In another message, Musk asserted, “I’m not joining the board. This is a waste of time. Will make an offer to take Twitter private.”

Agarwal expressed a desire to talk to Musk, and Twitter’s board chair sought “five minutes” for a conversation. However, Musk firmly responded, “Fixing Twitter by chatting with Parag won’t work. Drastic action is needed.”

Ultimately, a deal to privatize Twitter was reached in October, and one of Musk’s initial actions was to remove Parag Agarwal from his position as CEO.