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Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

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Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but he is also building a massive friggin reusable rocket and has built rocket boosters that land. He is emotional because he cares about changing the world for the better. He is a weird dude that has a weird sense of humor. Jumping down his throat for bad jokes seems like it actively hinders human kind's progress.

He isn't building anything, the actual engineers (whom he likely also routinely abuses) do.

Any source for that? He sure seems to know very fine detail of almost anything related to the product.

See for example:

Everyday Astronaut recent Musk interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t705r8ICkRw

Munro interview with Musk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAtLTLiqNwg

There are also other examples where Musk talks about things it's hard to imagine of him even being aware of if he's not building anything.

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#242
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's really good at raising money. Which is a skill. An incredibly useful skill, and arguably more important for someone in the position of CEO. He's grabbed $20+ Billion for Tesla. He's grabbed multiple Billions for SpaceX. Its a totally different skill than his persona identifies with. No one else I know of in the modern market has successfully grabbed as much money from people as he has. --------- Pretty much ever…

Wow, what an incredible bunch of nonsense. SpaceX and Tesla were mostly funded by him because he couldn't find investors. Literally nobody wanted to touch electric cars or rockets. Pretty strange for a guy who is supposedly some mastermind investor whisperer. They had massive amounts of funding issues and went almost bankrupt because there were so few people willing to invest. > He's grabbed $20+ Billion for Tesla. T…

Looks factually correct, although I didn't fact check the minutiae.

After Musk provided the initial funding, Tesla and SpaceX got more because they executed well. Investors were right and as a result got handsome profits. Isn't that how it should be?

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but he is also building a massive friggin reusable rocket and has built rocket boosters that land. He is emotional because he cares about changing the world for the better. He is a weird dude that has a weird sense of humor. Jumping down his throat for bad jokes seems like it actively hinders human kind's progress.

> He is emotional because he cares about changing the world for the better Unless you know him personally, this statement reads like a naive teen idolising a politician that will 'fix' all issues. You dont know what he is like, what he wants out of the life. All you know is a public person he and his PR team puts out. Whats your opinion on dalai lama? Read up on how he is behind the closed door. Kind, humble, head bo…

> Unless you know him personally, this statement reads like a naive teen idolising a politician that will 'fix' all issues. You dont know what he is like, what he wants out of the life. All you know is a public person he and his PR team puts out

He has no pr team. He has done tons of one on one interviews where he puts forth his viewpoint in long form podcasts. Sure he says some ambitious stuff but it is backed up by his actions.

> Whats your opinion on dalai lama? Read up on how he is behind the closed door. Kind, humble, head bowing monk or a leader of exiled country and religion under attack by china?

Seems slightly off topic. I haven't formed a coherent opinion.

> Judging Musk by his actions not promises nor PR speeches, he is at least an asshole. Whatever he is IRL one thing is sure, he is not a saviour nor a tech jesus just a businessman

I don't dispute that he can be an asshole. If he is able to complete the current projects he had in flight he will have had the largest positive impact on climate change than any other person on earth. He is not some business man adding no value. Take a look at the new booster that was rolled out yesterday, humans are going to the friggin moon again and then Mars. Tesla has single handedly made electric cars cool and started the process of getting out of combustion engines. He launched a $100m x prize for carbon capture. He is actually getting shit done and is not some politician. Yes, he is a businessman. To achieve his goals he needs to do that or become a super villain and take over the resources of a good chunk of the world.

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#244
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Elon said it many times over the years that he rather spend his time on engineering and design over management. I'm always thrown when public figures who have an obvious incentive to lie are taken at their word in public statements. It happens all the time with politicians and CEOs. If you look at where Musk seems to add value, it's 100% in the management zone. Well, that and the other CEO duties of representing th…

In recent interviews - Sandy Munro and Andrej Karpathy vouched his technical capability. But it appears you have made up your mind as it seems to be the simplest answer.

[deleted]

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#245
post #26

"Tried to get rid of safety measures" He was annoyed at seeing his line stopped, during a crisis, who wouldn't be? He tried to convince them to start it again, but they didn't. If he then overruled them and actually started the line and actually put anyone in danger that would have been a bad thing. But he didn't, and there's no story here. Just an anecdote of an emotional moment. No one believed they could actually…

Another former exec describes the time when Musk moved his desk to the factory floor to signal the importance of the Model S production crunch, and personally oversee it. However, he was so annoyed by the mandatory honking that factory floor trucks are required to do when approaching a corner, so he swiftly banned that practice… The anecdotes seem to have no end.

Well it’s partly incorrect because it was the Model 3 not the Model S. So if they can’t even get the model correct (they were made years apart) how many other things are wrong in the story?

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but he is also building a massive friggin reusable rocket and has built rocket boosters that land. He is emotional because he cares about changing the world for the better. He is a weird dude that has a weird sense of humor. Jumping down his throat for bad jokes seems like it actively hinders human kind's progress.

> He is emotional because he cares about changing the world for the better Unless you know him personally, this statement reads like a naive teen idolising a politician that will 'fix' all issues. You dont know what he is like, what he wants out of the life. All you know is a public person he and his PR team puts out. Whats your opinion on dalai lama? Read up on how he is behind the closed door. Kind, humble, head bo…

I doubt many people here know the leaders of the CCP, the president of former president of America, or many other people but go on making judgements about them all through this site. So it’s only when someone disagrees with your opinion you want to police their opinion?

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#247
post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sandy Munro, by now, is a Tesla shill who can't be taken seriously. I've seen him say quite negative things about Tesla, and quite positive things about Tesla's competitors. Examples: He stated that the Ford Mach-E battery case is a structural component. He's also touted injection molding as a means of achieving some of the same things that Tesla is doing with aluminum casting. He praised some aspects of the ID4 moto…

> I've seen him say quite negative things about Tesla, and quite positive things about Tesla's competitors. What I've seen from him, he always shows a clear bias towards Tesla. > Can you give me an example of something Sandy Munro has said which IS NOT something good about a Tesla product, where he has clearly sacrificed engineering concerns? When I say he's a Tesla shill, it's specifically because of the positive th…

So saying positive things about a good product makes him a shill? That’s a pretty low bar you set. Does this apply to all things in your life?

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another former exec describes the time when Musk moved his desk to the factory floor to signal the importance of the Model S production crunch, and personally oversee it. However, he was so annoyed by the mandatory honking that factory floor trucks are required to do when approaching a corner, so he swiftly banned that practice… The anecdotes seem to have no end.

Well it’s partly incorrect because it was the Model 3 not the Model S. So if they can’t even get the model correct (they were made years apart) how many other things are wrong in the story?

Um, Elon was also reported to have slept on the the factory floor for the Model S.

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#249

I guess there are some true facts in this book but I am overall very skeptic of the picture the author is trying to paint or the conclusions he is drawing from those facts. For example, the book says Elon wanted to be Apple's CEO post Tesla acquisition on a phone call. But Elon said it many times over the years that he rather spend his time on engineering and design over management. Edit: Also Tim Cook mentioned in a…

Extremely busy CEOs speak to other busy CEOs through assistants; otherwise it’s weeks before they can find a common time slot. I doubt the person Cook hung up on was Elon himself.

Re: Tesla CEO berated employees, investors and tried to get rid of safety measures

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another former exec describes the time when Musk moved his desk to the factory floor to signal the importance of the Model S production crunch, and personally oversee it. However, he was so annoyed by the mandatory honking that factory floor trucks are required to do when approaching a corner, so he swiftly banned that practice… The anecdotes seem to have no end.

Well it’s partly incorrect because it was the Model 3 not the Model S. So if they can’t even get the model correct (they were made years apart) how many other things are wrong in the story?

No I’m pretty sure it was the Model S. This was Peter Carlsson who left the company after 5 years to start NorthVolt already in 2015 which is too early to be about Model 3. If the same happened again for the Model 3 then that’s … another anecdote.
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