Remarks

Tesla Runs on Faith, Exxon Runs on Discipline. Only One Is Right

CEOs Elon Musk and Darren Woods have incompatible visions and styles that belie their companies’ similar belief premiums.

Woods and Musk.
Photo illustration: 731; Photos: Bloomberg

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By Liam Denning

April 19, 2021 at 9:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the April 26, 2021 issue of businessweek.

The future of energy boils down to the competing visions of a self-styled Technoking and a man so low-profile that Wikipedia isn’t sure which year he was born.

Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., and Darren Woods, his counterpart at Exxon Mobil Corp., could hardly be more different. Musk’s symbiosis with the publicity industry drives much of the conversation around Tesla’s electric vehicles as well as his other ventures, from rockets and neural implants to tunnel-boring machines and the odd flamethrower. Woods’s most headline-grabbing gesture so far was the time he showed up to an earnings call.