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Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

businessinsider.com

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Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#51

Post by sjm-lbm »

cwyers wrote: post #33

To everybody who is talking about this being out of context: in what context is the alleged behavior okay?

The article makes it sound like "That is no excuse" is referring to taking time off work to see your child born - in other words, there is nothing that could excuse someone taking off time for that. It's possible that he's merely saying that taking time off for something so important is no excuse for failing to request the time off with HR, failing to ensure that a different team member could be present in a meeting, or something along those lines - in other words, not that taking time off for important family reasons isn't OK, but rather that things still need to be handled properly even for things as important as taking time off to be with your partner while she was giving birth. Something like that might not be the kindest thing to do, but I can at least understand the logic behind it.

Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#52

Post by codyb »

stevecalifornia wrote: post #16

My first day at SpaceX I ran into a friend. I asked him how he was doing and he said he just had a kid. "How old is she now?" "Oh no, like, my wife just gave birth an hour ago." The guy was working through the birth of his first born. The story continued for months afterwards and it's not a good one. That and many other stories are what led me to quit. I took the summer off and didn't work. I hung out with my dog and…

Yea, I really enjoy programming but I have yet to be able to come to terms with this idea that if I'd like to be a professional software engineer I have to want to be the world's saving grace rockstar ninja programmer.

Isn't it enough to want to wake up refreshed every day, put in a good solid 6-7 hours of professional quality engineering work, and then have the time and energy to want to perform all of the other duties and joys to be found in life?

Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#53

Post by pc86 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #48
at-fates-hands wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I get working on big goals, I get working hard. I don't get throwing away everything else. It's not just your life it's the people who need a father and a friend. Agreed. The quote which finally got me to realize my family was more important than my job: "When you’re gone would you rather have your gravestone say, ‘He never missed a meeting.’ Or one that said, ‘He was a great father'."

I agree that family is important and it's especially important to be there for other people, but regarding your quote, to the two gravestone inscriptions above I'd much prefer: "He helped mankind make its first steps on Mars.", or "He helped ensure the world is a good place to live for generations to come.".

The question is about whether you'd have it say that or that you were a great father. It's rare to be able to do both, particularly if the company's CEO says having a child is "no excuse" to miss an event. Not a deadline or a board presentation or an earnings report. An event.

Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#54

Post by mikeash »

stevecalifornia wrote: post #16

My first day at SpaceX I ran into a friend. I asked him how he was doing and he said he just had a kid. "How old is she now?" "Oh no, like, my wife just gave birth an hour ago." The guy was working through the birth of his first born. The story continued for months afterwards and it's not a good one. That and many other stories are what led me to quit. I took the summer off and didn't work. I hung out with my dog and…

I interviewed at a big company (unrelated to Mr. Musk) about a decade ago. The team was in a little satellite office away from headquarters, and we headed back to headquarters for lunch. As we walked into the cafe, the guy from the team who took me pointed to an office building next door and said something to the effect of, "Our office used to be right in there. It was so convenient! I could be at work, come down and grab dinner, then go right back up to work."

And that was the moment I knew I would decline their offer.

Some people really seem to go for that stuff, though.

Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#55

Post by pc86 »

codyb wrote: post #52
stevecalifornia wrote: post #16

My first day at SpaceX I ran into a friend. I asked him how he was doing and he said he just had a kid. "How old is she now?" "Oh no, like, my wife just gave birth an hour ago." The guy was working through the birth of his first born. The story continued for months afterwards and it's not a good one. That and many other stories are what led me to quit. I took the summer off and didn't work. I hung out with my dog and…

Yea, I really enjoy programming but I have yet to be able to come to terms with this idea that if I'd like to be a professional software engineer I have to want to be the world's saving grace rockstar ninja programmer. Isn't it enough to want to wake up refreshed every day, put in a good solid 6-7 hours of professional quality engineering work, and then have the time and energy to want to perform all of the other dut…

Yeah if you can find a job that is okay with you only working 30 hours a week while paying you for 40, hang on to it and never let go.

Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#57

Post by wordbank »

run4yourlives2 wrote: post #38

A good number of "world changers" prioritize their work over everything else in their lives, including themselves and the people around them. They expect their team to do nothing less, so if he did say that, I'm not exactly surprised. This wouldn't work for me, and I'd imagine it wouldn't work for a lot of people who prioritize their families over whatever project they may be working on. I still like Musk and the thi…

History repeats itself and people who are trying to "change the world" don't care about any casualties on their way.

Ironically, world could change so much by everyone being kind and grateful to others. No invention or conquest can bring this kind of change.

Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#58

Post by cwyers »

sjm-lbm wrote: post #51
cwyers wrote: post #33

To everybody who is talking about this being out of context: in what context is the alleged behavior okay?

The article makes it sound like "That is no excuse" is referring to taking time off work to see your child born - in other words, there is nothing that could excuse someone taking off time for that. It's possible that he's merely saying that taking time off for something so important is no excuse for failing to request the time off with HR, failing to ensure that a different team member could be present in a meeting,…

The alleged e-mail seems to mitigate against that reading:

> That is no excuse. I am extremely disappointed. You need to figure out where your priorities are. We're changing the world and changing history, and you either commit or you don’t.

"Figure out where your priorities are," not follow procedure. "Commit or you don't." There is not a terrible lot of ambiguity here.

Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#59

Post by greglindahl »

fingerprinter wrote: post #34
Cshelton wrote: post #11

Before anybody jumps to conclusions about Musk, we need to first know the source is accurate and the email is real, and also we need to know the context of the email. It could be very well that the employee failed to communicate the fact his wife may go into labor prior to the event, and with no heads up of any kind, he gave the excuse after missing the event. In which case, I completely agree with Musk, if any emplo…

Yes, you have a rough idea when babies are due. My middle child was born 5 weeks early, however. My last was born 3 weeks early. I've had employees send me a note a day after saying 'sorry, baby came early. more later'. If you have any reaction other than "oh, ok, hope everyone is healthy", you are probably a terrible human being.

Huh, my coworkers who have had pregnant spouses generally gave us a heads-up around week 24... unlikely to be that premature, but it helps everyone plan for that possibility.

Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth

#60

Post by iamcurious »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #48
at-fates-hands wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I get working on big goals, I get working hard. I don't get throwing away everything else. It's not just your life it's the people who need a father and a friend. Agreed. The quote which finally got me to realize my family was more important than my job: "When you’re gone would you rather have your gravestone say, ‘He never missed a meeting.’ Or one that said, ‘He was a great father'."

I agree that family is important and it's especially important to be there for other people, but regarding your quote, to the two gravestone inscriptions above I'd much prefer: "He helped mankind make its first steps on Mars.", or "He helped ensure the world is a good place to live for generations to come.".

I like your phrasing. It prevents being busy for its own sake. I wonder how much work at Space X is "help mankind make its first steps on Mars" and how much work is TPS reports.
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