Can Robyn Denholm Stand Up To Elon Musk And Still Remain In Her Position At Tesla?

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Tesla board of directors chair Robyn Denholm insists that the Wall Street Journal report claiming that Tesla began a search for a new CEO is false. Why would the Tesla board pursue replacing its CEO, Elon Musk? He brought the company from fledgling status to nearly the top of global electric vehicle sales. His vision and innovation are unrivaled in automotive manufacturing.

Yet a spokesperson for the WSJ says the newspaper is standing by its report. In March, they have learned, Tesla board members contacted executive placement firms in a quest to replace Musk.

Denholm has refuted the claim, saying on X on Thursday that the WSJ report was “absolutely false.” (Of course, X is the social media site owned by Musk.) “The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk, and the board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead,” Denholm wrote.

Is there more than meets the eye behind the scenes at Tesla that accounts for these contradictory media stories?

Reaching the C-suite is usually viewed as the consummate goal for women. Yet breaking the proverbial glass wall of business is often depicted as a binary: women either make it, or they don’t. However, barriers when at the top — sometimes subtle, sometimes not — can prevent women from acting authentically once they’ve reached the pinnacle.

Is Robyn Denholm in the unenviable position of assuaging Musk’s ego in order to hold onto her position at Tesla and to turn around this pattern of downward trends?

Several causes are really hurting Tesla sales and stock value.

• Elon Musk’s political activities seem to be impacting the Tesla brand.
• Tesla’s limited and quite old lineup is making it less and less competitive.
• Previously owned Tesla vehicles have lost a good deal of their trade-in value.
• The EV competition has soared, offering consumers many more models and price ranges from which to choose.

How much is Denholm to blame for failing to hold a firm hand to Musk?

Trouble at Tesla: Fleeting, or are Systemic Flaws Emerging?

Once upon a time, a key governance decision for Tesla was to “compensate Tesla’s CEO only if other shareholders realize tremendous value.” Musk threatened to leave his role at Tesla last year if he didn’t receive the compensation package he demanded. It’s important to recall that in January 2024 Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick in Delaware invalidated Musk’s compensation package. In her ruling, she wrote, “Swept up by the rhetoric of ‘all upside,’ or perhaps starry-eyed by Musk’s superstar appeal, the board never asked the $55.8 billion question — Was the plan even necessary for Tesla to retain Musk and achieve its goals?”

The company has not seen any relief since Musk was placated with this pay package.

Tesla has experienced a 71% drop in quarterly profit, and Musk, realizing that his absence has compromised the company’s viability, has agreed to spend only one or two days a week moving forward to assist the Trump administration. He has pledged to devote the remainder of his week to Tesla.

Of course, Musk is the CEO of several other companies which are also stagnant or struggling. They clearly need his attention, too.

Two months after the Trump 2.0 inauguration, with Elon Musk deeply entrenched in his Department of Government (In)Efficiency role, CleanTechnica senior writer Steve Hanley asked, “What obligation — if any — does the chair of the board of directors of a publicly traded company have to comment on the actions of the corporation’s largest stockholder and CEO?” In the article headline, Steve (who was appraised of this article before it went to press) stated that Denholm had decided “to dummy up when asked about Elon Musk.”

“Dummy” has several definitions. While it can mean pretense, it can also connote a lack of intelligence.

Agency is a fluid construct. Sure, personal philosophy and self-determination are powerful factors in women’s rise to leadership roles. However, male-dominated culture at the top of the pyramid impedes women’s agency — even a longtime leader like Denholm.

She’s no dummy — but she also hasn’t spoken out about Musk as so many people have hoped. Has she been compromised at Tesla?

Women and the C-Suite

A 2024 S&P report revealed that only 9% of CEOs in the largest US companies are women. There are 74% fewer women executives in leadership teams than there are in the US population. The S&P report also offered illumination about what often happens when women are promoted to high levels of leadership.

“Gender diversity in executive leadership means more than just equal representation of men and women across C-suites. Organizations must also ensure that women brought into executive leadership roles also gain a sense of belonging and see the direct impacts of their contributions to the organization’s success.”

The executive summary offers guidance that firms with more women in senior positions “are more profitable, more socially responsible, and provide safer, higher-quality customer experiences.”

Each corporation has its own social structure — regular and familiar patterns of cultural behaviors like shared beliefs, values, symbols, and goals. Women who attain the highest levels of leadership have negotiated what Eagly and Carli write in the Harvard Business Review as “labyrinthine arrangements that present various kinds of obstructions.” Organizational practices are transmitted from one leadership team to another, and good relationships between high level players yield social acceptance.

So, in order not to be perceived as a gatecrasher, has Denholm had to acquiesce to not only the male-dominated upper echelon but also its unwavering worship of Musk as all-mighty? Eagly and Carli suggest that many women in leadership roles “figure out aspects of a masculine culture and accommodate to it.”

Moreover, a whole lot of evidence concludes that some women are placed, more often than comparable men, in highly risky leadership positions. It would be hard to argue that billionaire Musk, the world’s richest person, is a force with which most people could not reckon and that Denholm has been doomed to fail since taking the Tesla helm.

Broad, downward changes in the US economy, driven by the Trump–Musk team, could be providing Denholm the data to rejuvenate Tesla. Will she — a person who has openly stated that her Tesla stock has been “life changing” — buck Musk and be the symbol of internal Tesla disruption?

Who is Robyn Denholm, Anyway?

Robyn M. Denholm has been chair of the Tesla board since 2018. Her leadership experience is not limited to Tesla. Since 2021, she has been an operating partner of a venture capital firm. She’s variously been CFO of both a telecommunications company and a networking equipment company. Her experience with technology includes various executive roles at Sun Microsystems. Her financial background includes fairly long stints at Toyota Motor Corporation Australia and at Arthur Andersen & Company.

Denholm’s remuneration with Tesla is pre-arranged so as to give her the flexibility to exercise equity options, and she has done so robustly. Denholm sold 112,390 shares worth $35 million just weeks after Tesla stock value rose post-Trump re-election. She sold the same amount of stock again on December 2, February 3, March 3, and at the end of April. These sales have amounted to $558 million worth of stock since 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Yes, totally: this fortune has been “life-changing” for Denholm (as it would be for most of us). She and other Tesla board members hold about $1.63 billion worth of shares and options. Is this low-profile board ready to make the break with Musk — with Denholm leading the way?