This is a crucial year for Tesla. Just ask Elon Musk.

In January, he described 2025 as “maybe the most important” in the company’s history, with the admittedly ambitious goals of releasing its long-promised robotaxi service and humanoid robots.

But Musk’s attention was monopolized by a high-profile role in the Trump administration as problems at Tesla began to mount. Even after stepping very far away from that role, Musk remains focused on a wide range of activities outside of Tesla, including starting a third political party and trying to fix problems at X, his social media platform.

That leaves Tesla — the most valuable automaker on the planet, employing 125,000 worldwide — missing one thing every other major company has: a full-time boss focused on its future.

Instead, the company has a chief executive who is so polarizing its costing the company sales and likely the ability to attract talent. While Tesla’s board and shareholders aren’t likely to show him the door, they probably should.