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Praise for Elon tends to diminish the closer you get to him. He’s kind of notorious for being a bad boss; impulsive, poor temperament, and petty. Even if you li

Praise for Elon tends to diminish the closer you get to him. He’s kind of notorious for being a bad boss; impulsive, poor temperament, and petty. Even if you like his achievements, chances are you would very much not enjoy having him as a boss.

Flankk 5y ago
I honestly could not care less. Steve Jobs was the same. I think you are criticizing the very things that made them great.
- Latty 5y ago
  The idea workers have to suffer under "great men" to produce things of value is provably untrue and just an excuse by those "great men" to act in unacceptable ways, while taking credit for the work done by those people. A good CEO can of course provide value, but pretending they are alone responsible for success, and abusing staff is a good way to achieve that success is just wrong. Burning out passionate people is a good way to create short-term profit, it isn't "greatness".
  - Flankk 5y ago
    If it were provably untrue then you would have proved your point. My opinion is not invalidated by your opinion.
    - sethammons 5y ago
      "In the absence of data, I'll take my opinion over yours." - Former Boss
    - Latty 5y ago
      My post wasn't saying that my entire point was provable, just that it was specifically trivial to show you can create great work without that suffering. If you can't think of a single example of a valuable thing being made by a company without an abusive auteur CEO, then I guess we see "value" very differently. The rest of my post argues that there is no way to justify that harm given we know the work can be achieved without it.
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    It’s kind of like how some actors really only get into “method acting” when it allows for them to behave like assholes on set. The idea that one must be a jerk to do “great things” is a self serving lie by rich and powerful people who want to excuse their misbehavior.
  - EricE 5y ago
    Suffer? What are these workers - slaves? Duped cult members? You people are crazy. Since when is hard work and ambition something to be scorned? It's pretty easy for you now, from your obvious position of wealth and privilege, to now ridicule those values which built the very civilization you are now inheriting and trashing. Talk about not having skin in the game.
    - thwayunion 5y ago
      I'm genuinely confused by your post. Do you personally know the person you're responding to? Nothing about his public information seems to warrant this level of vitriol, but maybe I'm missing something.
    - Latty 5y ago
      I'm not sure how you read any of that into my post, but it doesn't follow at all from what I said.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
memish 5y ago
Working for someone who transforms industries? Many do enjoy that very much, clearly. Amazing engineers, who can work anywhere they want, choose to work at SpaceX and Tesla. And we all benefit from the electrification of the grid and advances in space.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- paulryanrogers 5y ago
  Bad human beings can still contribute good things. That doesn't excuse bad behavior.
  - EricE 5y ago
    Hard work and ambition is now bad behavior? I weep for the future of humanity if this is the best we now have to offer each other :p
    - ribosometronome 5y ago
      Where did the person you are replying to indicate that "hard work" and "ambition" are the issues he is faulting? It seems like you're being rather disingenuous. Musk's bad behavior includes things like forcing Tesla employees back into office, against local health restriction, mocking trans-folk because an ex started dating a trans-woman, pumping and dumping cryptocurrency, posting multiple tweets that violate laws (stock and union related), repeatedly lying about his products, etc.
    - jawarner 5y ago
      Don't worship the man. Hard work and ambition are aspects of his character deserving respect, no doubt. But he's not perfect. Not all aspects of his character are worth emulating, and he has his blindspots like everyone else.
panick21_ 5y ago
This is flat out not true. JB, Shotwell, Mueller, Riseman and I could name many more are mostly positive on him.
jfoster 5y ago
From what I'd heard, he's the perfect boss; adverse to workplace politics, interested in truth & results above all else.

Flankk 5y ago

I honestly could not care less. Steve Jobs was the same. I think you are criticizing the very things that made them great.

Latty 5y ago
The idea workers have to suffer under "great men" to produce things of value is provably untrue and just an excuse by those "great men" to act in unacceptable ways, while taking credit for the work done by those people. A good CEO can of course provide value, but pretending they are alone responsible for success, and abusing staff is a good way to achieve that success is just wrong. Burning out passionate people is a good way to create short-term profit, it isn't "greatness".
- Flankk 5y ago
  If it were provably untrue then you would have proved your point. My opinion is not invalidated by your opinion.
  - sethammons 5y ago
    "In the absence of data, I'll take my opinion over yours." - Former Boss
  - Latty 5y ago
    My post wasn't saying that my entire point was provable, just that it was specifically trivial to show you can create great work without that suffering. If you can't think of a single example of a valuable thing being made by a company without an abusive auteur CEO, then I guess we see "value" very differently. The rest of my post argues that there is no way to justify that harm given we know the work can be achieved without it.
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  It’s kind of like how some actors really only get into “method acting” when it allows for them to behave like assholes on set. The idea that one must be a jerk to do “great things” is a self serving lie by rich and powerful people who want to excuse their misbehavior.
- EricE 5y ago
  Suffer? What are these workers - slaves? Duped cult members? You people are crazy. Since when is hard work and ambition something to be scorned? It's pretty easy for you now, from your obvious position of wealth and privilege, to now ridicule those values which built the very civilization you are now inheriting and trashing. Talk about not having skin in the game.
  - thwayunion 5y ago
    I'm genuinely confused by your post. Do you personally know the person you're responding to? Nothing about his public information seems to warrant this level of vitriol, but maybe I'm missing something.
  - Latty 5y ago
    I'm not sure how you read any of that into my post, but it doesn't follow at all from what I said.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

memish 5y ago

Working for someone who transforms industries? Many do enjoy that very much, clearly. Amazing engineers, who can work anywhere they want, choose to work at SpaceX and Tesla. And we all benefit from the electrification of the grid and advances in space.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
paulryanrogers 5y ago
Bad human beings can still contribute good things. That doesn't excuse bad behavior.
- EricE 5y ago
  Hard work and ambition is now bad behavior? I weep for the future of humanity if this is the best we now have to offer each other :p
  - ribosometronome 5y ago
    Where did the person you are replying to indicate that "hard work" and "ambition" are the issues he is faulting? It seems like you're being rather disingenuous. Musk's bad behavior includes things like forcing Tesla employees back into office, against local health restriction, mocking trans-folk because an ex started dating a trans-woman, pumping and dumping cryptocurrency, posting multiple tweets that violate laws (stock and union related), repeatedly lying about his products, etc.
  - jawarner 5y ago
    Don't worship the man. Hard work and ambition are aspects of his character deserving respect, no doubt. But he's not perfect. Not all aspects of his character are worth emulating, and he has his blindspots like everyone else.

panick21_ 5y ago

This is flat out not true. JB, Shotwell, Mueller, Riseman and I could name many more are mostly positive on him.

jfoster 5y ago

From what I'd heard, he's the perfect boss; adverse to workplace politics, interested in truth & results above all else.