I just finished reading Elon Musk’s Biography by Walter Isaacson. It’s a very interesting read. I would like to thank Elon Musk for his contributions to humanity by reinventing electric cars, the space industry and many frontier technologies. At the same time, I will never work for a nutcase like Elon. I prefer someone who sets very high expectations, has a very strong sense of urgency, steps into the trench to get the work done themselves when necessary, and is blunt like him but without the emotional abuse. A more stoic version of Elon does exist. Morris Chang, founder/CEO of TSMC, was known for fostering a very hardcore culture at the company. Mr. Chang retired from TSMC at 82 years old and now 10 years after his retirement, TSMC remains THE leader of semiconductor manufacturing.
Elon is very consistent throughout the whole book. He likes to struggle and fight and win the war. The problem is that he couldn’t enjoy peace after winning the war. He would very often manufacture unnecessary dramas and shoot himself in the foot for no particular good reasons, such as buying Twitter when his plate is already really full. He also descended into the dark *demon* mode on a regular basis and made irrational decisions that drive people crazy and make himself look ridiculous. But his war fighting spirit inspires people around him to achieve impossible feats such as low-cost electric cars, low-cost reusable rockets, low cost long-batteries and many other great inventions. He is very vigilant and makes sure his team stays scrappy and hardworking and he would do anything to weed out bureaucracy and complacency from his companies. Every time he senses his team is getting comfortable he would order a surge and give people crazy challenges. He also led by example by working alongside engineers and doing actual engineer things around the clock. His paranoia and extremely high expectations differentiate his companies from competitors. There is a reason why Tesla and SpaceX are so far ahead of any other electric car or rocket manufacturers.
Elon Musk deserves our respect for all the accomplishments he spearheaded to drive humanity forward. But I came away wondering if he needs to make people around him so miserable in order to accomplish amazing things. Or, perhaps he could have accomplished more without being so emotionally abusive. But we will never really know. Elon is truly one of a kind.
same vibes.
truly amazing entrepreneur, but prob would not enjoy working with him if public perception is anywhere close to accurate.
It's an interesting read for sure.
I struggle most the the deceit. You can't be as smart as Elon is perceived to be and not be aware when you are being decietful.
I suppose it's just US startup culture these days. Unfortunate