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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

#71

Post by silencio »

DanBC wrote: post #24
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You only get to witness the birth of a child once You know what else? Though it's rare, the spouse is needed to make important decisions in the event of some unplanned problem and the incapacitation of the mother.

But it's a good idea if the would be parents talk about what they want to happen and write it down. Just in case.

My parents' birth plan went out the window when my mother had an emergency C-section 4 weeks early because I was breech and there were unexpected complications. Plus, mom had an adverse reaction to the anesthesia that was used. It's not easy to plan for things that could go wrong - which is why I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that my partner or my mother is there to advocate for me if I can't for whatever reason.

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

#72

Post by iamcurious »

mindcrime wrote: post #3

Musk even scolded a Tesla employee who missed an event to witness the birth of his child If true, that diminishes my respect for Elon just a touch. I mean, OK, I get it... when you're trying to change the world, you want passion, you want commitment, etc. Fine. But here's the thing: in the end, you're just as dead either way. Change the world, you're still dead. Don't change the world: You're dead. The only thing tha…

that diminishes my respect for Elon just a touch

You are way more generous than I am.

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

#73

Post by pc86 »

bmj wrote: post #64
pc86 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You missed the "quality engineering work" disclaimer. Any reasonably good project manager knows that, between meetings, email, and water cooler conversation, you get about 30-32 hours of actual project work from someone each week.

Please tell my boss that :)

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

#74

Post by fsloth »

Whatever the truth of the matter I think this highlights a specific thing people should pay attention to when they choose their employer: different companies have different values and when considering joining, it's good to make sure those values are aligned with ones personal values. Having a strongly disaligned value base can lead to burnout and depression.

Tesla values seem to be in the extreme end of the spectrum. I am not saying that this is good or bad, just that they are not necessarily aligned with the values of all.

But all in all, having a car is pretty pointless if there is no-one to drive them. Hiring clever people and then hindering their pro-creation is not really helping the society as talented parents usually get talented children, and for children the most important time of their development is their first years. Screw those, and the person is considerably worse off. A healthy child might get well of and by a fancy Tesla in 30 years. I'm not saying slave laboring the father would make the infant a mental patient and a destitute, but discouraging healthy parenthood is hedging the bets towards worse outcomes.

The same argumentation can be said of space travel. What's the point of traveling to Mars unless the needs of future of the species are taken care of as well. This includes resources for nurture and care.

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

#75

Post by fingerprinter »

mikeash wrote: post #65
fingerprinter wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this statement is true and in the proper context (who knows), this all but kills my respect for Musk. It basically puts him at the same level as Jobs, Ellison and others who are just egotistical, sociopathic assholes. Look, Musk /is/ out to change the world. His employees might not be, at least to the degree and level as he is. And, if they are, they'll likely not be remembered along with Musk. There is often only…

I'm mostly just happy that we've largely figured out how to channel driven sociopaths into relatively productive pursuits like building rockets (and, yes, less productive things like finance) instead of conquering, pillaging, and salting the earth.

This is easily the best 'glass half full' statement on corporate sociopaths I've ever seen.

Thank you!

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

#77

Post by clavalle »

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.".

Mars will be there in 20 years. Your kids' childhood won't.

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

#78

Post by pbreit »

cwyers wrote: post #33

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

It's unlikely the employee was expected to miss the actual birth, despite what the book apparently tries to imply (i.e., context is missing).

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

#79

Post by TeMPOraL »

iamcurious wrote: post #60
TeMPOraL wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And, were I employed at SpaceX, my commitment would probably vary depending on that distinctions. Reports can wait, so don't you dare tell me to skip a very important family moment. But if I were deep in the critical parts of the path to making humans multiplanetary species, or in Tesla the electrification of transport process, I'd probably consider this more important than any but most special personal events.

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

#80

Post by the8472 »

ssmoot wrote: post #41
the8472 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly so, but I was merely trying to dismantle the fairly blunt assertion that it's unconditionally making the world of the family worse.

> it's unconditionally making the world of the family worse It obviously is. The 48 hours or whatever curing cancer can and will continue another time. Child birth won't. And if you can't even afford to prioritize your family at such little cost to your work, then I think it's also pretty easy to assert that the world of the family will continually be worse off. Unless you actually cure cancer next year, collect your…

> Unless you actually cure cancer next year, collect your $1billion and quit your job to focus on your family from then on.

Why is a hard cut-off date required?

If you take into account that your family extends into the future indefinitely (not just your children) and that there are gradual benefits (not just black-white) then spending time now to gradually improve the world for future generations (including those of your family) then you can come to the conclusion that a little hardship now could have tremendous payoffs in the future.

Maybe a slightly better example than the cancer case:

- spend a lot time with family now - miss climate change goals by the end of the century, making life significantly worse for everyone.

- spend less time with family now - meet goals, life continues to be good for hundreds of years to come

I know that this example is fairly reductionist, ignores diminishing returns and has various other problems, but it's merely there to illustrate that it gets a lot more difficult to appreciate the value of a little personal time in the present if you have an unusual utility-function in your moral code that applies a lot more weight to the future than most people do.

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