The way you keep people like Musk in companies performing is giving them a large portion of ownership of their particular endeavor, so they benefit based on how successful they are - however then they're really just becoming investors.
Which vary greatly, I might add. The Corvette and Camaro are very nice cars. The HHR was a nice looking, if somewhat derivative car, and the SSR was pretty unique and a pretty cool ride in it's own right.
OTOH, you have the modern Malibu, which is an insult to the Malibu legacy, and all the other crappy/generic low-end stuff they are pushing out.
GM has really suffered from "brand confusion" the past few years. And even killing off a few brands (Oldsmobile, Saturn, Pontiac) didn't really help, because there's still little clear connection between any of the remaining brands and any specific positioning. Well, OK, I guess Cadillac is still the "luxury" brand. What what does Chevy represent? Performance cars (Corvette, Camaro), electric cars (Volt), entry level cars for first-time buyers (??? I don't even know what their model for that is these days), or something else?
This is probably going a bit off-topic, but when GM did the big brand re-org, I think they screwed the pooch. If they were going to kill what was supposed to be their "performance" brand (Pontiac), they should have repositioned Chevy into that role, and focused on the Corvette, Camaro and similar models. Saturn could have picked up all of the low-end, entry level stuff, and Buick would have made a fine home for generic mid-level sedans and family cars. Where electric cars fit into this is subject to debate, I suppose. I would think you could position one as either "luxury" and put in under the Cadillac brand, or "performance" and put it under the Chevy brand (in my re-imagined GM).
Anyway... sorry for rambling. I grew up a fan of GM products, Chevy in particular, and still own a 1968 Camaro, so I have some sentimental attachment to them. But GM management never seen to quit finding new and innovative ways to disappoint their loyal fans.