IT Essentials: Here comes the new boss

Radically different to the old boss?

Elon Musk has announced a new CEO for Twitter. All we know is that "She starts in six weeks," but rumours abound.

The new leader of the social media firm is expected to be Linda Yaccarino, who until today led advertising at NBCUniversal.

She left the company this morning, adding more fuel to the fire of rumour.

Twitter has been through ups and downs (mostly downs) since Musk took over in October last year. Losing 75% of your workforce and having to sell office supplies probably counts as a down, for example.

Yaccarino, a long-time media executive, might signal a return to a more measured style of management.

She's a proponent of globalisation, sitting as chair of the World Economic Forum's Taskforce on the Future of Work. She also appears to cross the political divide - having worked with both the Donald Trump and Joe Biden administrations - and is a proud Catholic.

Compare that to Musk's increasingly free-wheeling libertarianism and agnosticism, and you have a distinctly different type of person (possibly) set to take the reins.

Don't for one minute think that Musk will be totally hands-off. He's set to transition to a CTO role, which in any normal company would be subordinate and report to the CEO.

As Musk is the company's owner, that power dynamic is already dramatically skewed. Yaccarino could well end up being a sacrificial CEO, with the real decisions made over her head.

An example? Look no further than Musk's plans to turn Twitter into an 'everything app'.

Turning Twitter into the West's WeChat would need massive diversification, either through acquisition or in-house development. The company hasn't got enough money to realistically do either.

When Musk's plan is inevitably delayed, or outright fails, who will be blamed? The established (male) CTO, or the new (female) CEO?