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by Jensson 930 days ago
Elon is one of the worlds greatest talent poachers, and that is much better than being a great thinker.
3 comments

Is he, though?

I recently spoke with someone who quit SpaceX because (among other reasons) they felt Elon was a meddling micro-manager. That's just one anecdote, of course, but the Internet is full of them, replete with summary firings (https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-elon-musk-ruthlessly-f...), worker safety issues (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/12/hundred...), and just general bullshit (https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/9e360m/elon...).

I don't deny that his public image, for years, was an overall positive one. I really enjoyed Jill Lepore's digging into it here: https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/elon-musk-the-evening-rocket.

But it seems like people who worked with him knew, for a long time, that he was full of shit. And increasingly, the public seems to as well.

Do you mind explaining what makes him good at it? Pay? Atmosphere? Management style?

From what I heard about SpaceX it seems to be a place grads go to burn out while being paid below market rate simply because they're excited about the idea. Maybe that impression is wrong, so I'd like to hear other perspectives.

Interesting, what makes you think this?