Elon Musk and Mark Cuban hate Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s ‘guiding motto’

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek shared his “guiding motto” on X (formerly Twitter) this week, and the reaction to it from other business leaders was swift and not particularly positive.

Ek’s motto is a quote from the often controversial Irish playwright and political activist George Bernard Shaw.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

“I am not sure about other entrepreneurs, but for me being unreasonable is a difficult thing.” Ek continued. “Like many others, I struggle with wanting to be liked. So seeing this on my wall every day when I wake up serves as a reminder to not worry about conforming, and to persist. Because without it, companies such as Spotify and many others wouldn’t exist.”

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian responded positively, “Feel this in my bones. Thanks. I forgot about this quote.”

But Elon Musk of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter/X disagreed, saying that he had “overcome the desire to be liked,” before adding, “For what it’s worth, I like you.”

Investor and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban went further. “I hate this quote. Sorry. Maybe it’s semantics. But it’s not being unreasonable to create change. It’s not being unreasonable to challenge the status quo. It’s unreasonable to continue to do things because that’s the way it’s always been done. It’s unreasonable to nostalgically try to return to the past. The only thing constant in life is change.”

“I don’t disagree with your take,” Ek replied. “And for me, it is semantics. But I guess it is also in the eye of the beholder. I am pretty sure that you have been called unreasonable many, many times when you were pushing to get something done.”

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.