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Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

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Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#781

Post by nyokodo »

gw98 wrote: post #567
abxytg wrote: post #481

Or -- he's stupid.

I suspect this is the real problem. Stupid people with money can look like they are clever because the layer of people immediately underneath them actually wields the clue stick. Stupid people with no money look stupid because they can't afford the layer of clever people underneath them. Clever people are either abstracting the liability via stupid person in the layer above them or don't need that kind of shit in the…

> Stupid people with money can look like they are clever

I get it, some people hate Elon’s guts and equally hate Elon fans. I also think that it’s pretty well established that he has a range of character flaws that really hurt him and threaten his future success. However, anyone who insinuates that Elon is stupid needs to establish how a genuinely stupid person could found two successful dot coms and then hire all the brilliant engineers that have made his subsequent companies so successful against such odds and become the world’s richest person. Luck and debatable opinions about his alleged wealthy upbringing cannot explain this. Even assuming all the highly debatable opinions about his technical contributions any reasonable observer must admit he is at least a genius at hiring the right people to achieve his vision and then avoiding getting in their way enough to make enormous inroads and sell it all brilliantly. I am far from an Elon fan but I couldn’t hope to achieve 5% of what he has.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#782

Post by iLoveOncall »

VLM wrote: post #269

Interesting strategic window: You can't innovate and software engineer using 1950s style "butts in seats". Maybe this is a signal twitter isn't going to innovate, develop, and maybe even operate, internally, at least going forward. You need code for a new feature? Buy a startup that already wrote it. You need to keep something running? Contract out instead of employees. Very few companies have a full time plumber or…

I don't think it's a crazy idea you've got here, but Musk has announced he wants to try a lot of things and keep what works.

https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/15903849198299627...

That doesn't seem compatible with what you present in your post.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#784

Post by willnonya »

poszlem wrote: post #517
abxytg wrote: post #481

Or -- he's stupid.

What's stupid is people thinking that someone who successfully rules over some of the most influential companies in the world is stupid. Reminds me of all those people who claim that Trump or Putin[1] are "stupid" where in reality they just mean "I don't like them". [1] You can be a murderous dictator and not stupid, I would actually wager a guess that those people tend to actually be cleverer than average. Some appl…

You had a good point going until you tried to lump Trump in with the "not stupid" crowd.

There was no need to cross into that zone of stupidity.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#785

Post by PM_me_your_math »

uxcolumbo wrote: post #599
poszlem wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's stupid is people thinking that someone who successfully rules over some of the most influential companies in the world is stupid. Reminds me of all those people who claim that Trump or Putin[1] are "stupid" where in reality they just mean "I don't like them". [1] You can be a murderous dictator and not stupid, I would actually wager a guess that those people tend to actually be cleverer than average. Some appl…

Putin's and Musk's massive ego and narcissism will be their downfall. By invading Ukraine, Putin has achieved the exact opposite he wanted to achieve. The West is now more united than ever and more Russia border countries are going to join NATO. On top of that he has destroyed Russian economy. Tell me how that's not stupid? I don't even have to go into Musk's actions. He massively overpaid for Twitter and to service…

Yes, everyone who disagrees with you, or does something you don't understand is stupid.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#786

Post by palata »

lumost wrote: post #591
poszlem wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's stupid is people thinking that someone who successfully rules over some of the most influential companies in the world is stupid. Reminds me of all those people who claim that Trump or Putin[1] are "stupid" where in reality they just mean "I don't like them". [1] You can be a murderous dictator and not stupid, I would actually wager a guess that those people tend to actually be cleverer than average. Some appl…

There is a surprising amount of luck and happenstance in people reaching their current positions. Even great discoveries made by smart people often originate because someone was in the right place at the right time. Most societies rewards these events, for both the individual and through inheritance their children. Musk may be cleverer than average, but he's also come to own twitter by virtue of being successful at b…

Just wanted to note that neither Tesla nor SpaceX remotely solve global warming.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#787

Post by PM_me_your_math »

anothernewdude wrote: post #730
poszlem wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's stupid is people thinking that someone who successfully rules over some of the most influential companies in the world is stupid. Reminds me of all those people who claim that Trump or Putin[1] are "stupid" where in reality they just mean "I don't like them". [1] You can be a murderous dictator and not stupid, I would actually wager a guess that those people tend to actually be cleverer than average. Some appl…

I've read his leaked messages. He is stupid.

Totally stupid. Created several high-value companies with many innovations. Totally dumb. Completely.

A quick check of my resume and bank balance quickly demonstrates my superior intellect.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#788

Post by cortesoft »

Zigurd wrote: post #312
slg wrote: post #208

Let's say you run a company and you want to reduce staff. Let's also say you want to make an unpopular decision (or multiple unpopular decisions) that you know will drive a certain percentage of your staff to leave the company. Wouldn't it make the most sense to announce those decisions before making layoffs? Let people self select whether they want to stay and work for you and then make your layoffs after to ensure…

This is the part you are overthinking: "Wouldn't it make the most sense..." It would makes sense to hire a CEO. It would make sense to plan a layoff so you don't have to beg key people to return, etc. Musk frames this as making mistakes while working fast. In this case it will push more people to leave. There is probably intent, if not exactly thought and planning behind this because Really Bad Things have not happen…

It would make sense not to base your offer price on a weed joke…

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#789

Post by rchaud »

drcross wrote: post #572
nonrandomstring wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made a half-joke here on HN a few months ago that Musk was buying Twitter just to destroy it for the lols. Maybe everyone's wasting their time with rational economic analysis, trying to figure out a pretty simple guy with an obscene pile of fuck-you money and an axe to grind.

Watch Musks interview with Ron Baron instead of reading second hand quality hack articles if you want to understand the scale of his plans for twitter.

the scale of his plans so far includes slashing Twitter Blue prices from $20 to $8 on a whim after talking to Stephen King, a horror author.

yesterday, he also killed a feature that was introduced the day before, because MKBHD, a Youtuber criticized it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/15903833662136115...

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#790

Post by mullingitover »

Barrin92 wrote: post #570
cmh89 wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting rid of remote work is an excellent way to chase away your best employees while retaining people with nowhere to go.

the correlation in my experience is if anything the other way around. The best and most productive employees tend to be involved and in-person is still the best way to get things done and actually exchange ideas. This is the one thing Musk is 100% right about, remote work is awful for productivity and it's most popular among the "least amount of effort" crowd. It's also why almost any major tech company after covid i…

> This is the one thing Musk is 100% right about, remote work is awful for productivity

Banning remote work famously turned Yahoo! around and eventually led to a sale of the company.

(Not mentioned here: the direction the company turned in, or the sale price)

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