If true that would be hard to not shape my perspective of the man. I can't respect the Daniel Plainviews of the world.
Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
21–30 of 168 posts
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#22If this is true it's a little bit sad. If a person isn't present in the most important moments of a family is "changing the world" of the family for worse and not for better.
> is "changing the world" of the family for worse and not for better Hypothetical counterexample: What if he were busy curing cancer and thus making sure that the future world of that very family would be a nicer place, one where the children would never have to experience that disease?
He's probably better motivated and does better work if you give him time away from work to be with his spouse and child.
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
> is "changing the world" of the family for worse and not for better Hypothetical counterexample: What if he were busy curing cancer and thus making sure that the future world of that very family would be a nicer place, one where the children would never have to experience that disease?
He's probably better motivated and does better work if you give him time away from work to be with his spouse and child.
Possibly so, but I was merely trying to dismantle the fairly blunt assertion that it's unconditionally making the world of the family worse.
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#24Musk 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…
>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.
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#25If this is true it's a little bit sad. If a person isn't present in the most important moments of a family is "changing the world" of the family for worse and not for better.
> is "changing the world" of the family for worse and not for better Hypothetical counterexample: What if he were busy curing cancer and thus making sure that the future world of that very family would be a nicer place, one where the children would never have to experience that disease?
That is a classic false dichotomy. You never, ever need to choose between those two things. You can have some semblance of both in nearly ALL cases.
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#26If this is true it's a little bit sad. If a person isn't present in the most important moments of a family is "changing the world" of the family for worse and not for better.
> is "changing the world" of the family for worse and not for better Hypothetical counterexample: What if he were busy curing cancer and thus making sure that the future world of that very family would be a nicer place, one where the children would never have to experience that disease?
Then someone else could take over his position for a few hours while he attended the birth of his child.
With a market cap of 26 billion dollars, Tesla can afford to hire enough employees.
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#271) If true, NONE of us here know under what circumstances this happened. Maybe Elon hadn't slept for days at the time and later apologized, or maybe the employee was really at fault. NONE OF US KNOW. 2) Some of the quotes from the book make me think the author merely went through other people's interviews/articles and compiled them into a sensationalist book.
While this is true, it's also worth nothing that HN places Elon Musk on a pedestal and becomes incredibly defensive when someone criticizes him.
The reality is probably somewhere in the middle: Elon Musk is no doubt an amazing man, but he is not without flaws. I think we do need people pointing out those flaws to balance out all the hype and hero-worship.
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#28Before 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…
"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."
That's an excellent point that I had not considered. When my wife & I had a due date for both our children, I put everybody at work on notice about my possible lack of availability. That's just how I work. But it's entirely possible that the individual in question either flaked out completely or just spaced out about the logistics of the matter.
There are definitely some puzzle pieces missing from the story.
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#29There's not enough information for a fair opinion on the matter, so I flagged the article. It's not the first time that ambiguous sources try to smear Elon Musk. The ex-wife rant was enough.
There are so many variables we are not aware of. Dismissing Elon as a "the bad guy" is giving too much credit to an unknown source.
Re: Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth
#30I'm a fan of Musk and his companies. I own one of his cars (as far as they can be called "his," obviously there are tons of people involved) and it's even better than all the "best car in the world!" people say. I follow every SpaceX launch and am eager to see them pull off their stage recovery attempts soon.
That said, this doesn't surprise me at all. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy I'd want to work for. My admiration is about vision and execution, not personal relationships. He may well be a dick, and it would be no shock if he is.
Maybe this is what it takes to do big things. Maybe it's entirely unnecessary. Either way it reminds me a bit of Steve Jobs, who was undeniably a massive jerk, but who got things done.
I forget exactly what my point was here. I guess it's just that this is a bit of a "water is wet" story mixed in with celebrity gossip. It's highly important for the people involved but not terribly relevant for the rest of us.