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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

#81

Post by gclaramunt »

pc86 wrote: post #53
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.".

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 .

Pretty sure the ppl of Nasa/JPL who actually put a man on the moon, worked reasonable hours and almost never missed dinner with family. So, I don't think they're mutually exclusive

EDIT: So, everybody was screwed then? I must have mixed anecdotes :)

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

#82

Post by genericuser »

pc86 wrote: post #53
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.".

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 .

We don't really have all the context of the message. For instance what was the event? (The launch of their first rocket might be classified as an even to Musk for all I know)

What was the message that was sent to prompt this reply? I mean he starts with 'That is no excuse' so he is clearly referring to an email sent to him and I am trusting about the general content of the email chain. But for all I know this guy just got up and left work when heard his child was being born as opposed to actually taking time off. While this is a completely invented narrative by me, it could be that it was that kind of action that can leave a lot of other people in the lurch is what there was no excuse for.

My point is simply that many people are reading things into the quote which do not seem to be explicitly stated, but are being treated as though they are.

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

#84

Post by TeMPOraL »

clavalle wrote: post #77
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.".

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

OTOH the future my kid would live in would be better.

But honestly though, if I knew I'm doing work I consider that important, I wouldn't decide to have a kid in the first place.

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

#85

Post by Zelphyr »

MrGando wrote: post #47

-it true- I don't know how people here are deffending this kind of attitude. If you decide to bring another person to this planet, you have a huge responsibility. You can balance things out and work a lot and have a family. But if you really want to work 23 hours a day without paying proper attention to your family, for the sake of your children and spouse, just don't form a family. The damage you'll do, is irreversi…

That "23 hours a day" part is what strikes me as suspect. Unless they're being hyperbolic--and it doesn't seem like that's what they're trying to do--then its not sustainable for anyone.

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

#86

Post by cwyers »

pbreit wrote: post #78
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).

Assuming the Business Insider summary is correct (which is an assumption, yes), the book isn't trying to imply it, the book is outright claiming it. It is possible that either the book or the Business Insider article is mistaken -- gets facts wrong, is misleading, whatever. That's not "out of context" so much as it is "being wrong," though.

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

#88

Post by TeMPOraL »

pc86 wrote: post #53
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.".

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 .

I'd prefer to have it say both, but if I were to chose only one, I'd want Mars/future for everyone.

> Not a deadline or a board presentation or an earnings report. An event.

As others said, it's not clear what the "event" was and what was the context of the message. I'd be surprised if Musk really turned out to be so inconsiderate as some people assume here.

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

#89

Post by silencio »

greglindahl wrote: post #59
fingerprinter wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Even if you give people at work a heads up at week 24, that's still a lot of weeks left to go in the ideal case. I caused my mother to get an emergency C-section 4 weeks early and it still wreaked havoc with everything - most importantly, my father missed my birth because he had to go pick up my grandmother flying in from halfway across the world, who thought 4 weeks was plenty early.

Besides, this kerfuffle says volumes about how some people would still react to an unexpected emergency. Death or severe illness in the family? Immediate medical emergencies? Taking care of myself and my immediate family comes before any corporate bullshit, personally. I wouldn't have it any other way.

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

#90

Post by chrisbennet »

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.".

Neither of those things will matter to people who love you but I suppose it would help a selfish person rationalize loving their jobs more than their family.
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