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> Every time Elon says or does something I remind myself that the real genius at the head of SpaceX is Gwynne, and hope that Elon continues to let her be aweso

> Every time Elon says or does something I remind myself that the real genius at the head of SpaceX is Gwynne, and hope that Elon continues to let her be awesome.

dotnet00 3y ago
Gwynne is not involved in Starship. She handles the customers and related requirements, while Musk handles R&D and related requirements. For example, Musk wanted to cancel Falcon Heavy when it started to become clearer how tiny its impact would end up being relative to cost (since F9 had improved so much as to eat up most of the demand they had expected FH to take). It was pretty fair reasoning, but Gwynne insisted that they keep FH development going because they had already started trying to sell it to customers and she felt that cancelation would affect how seriously customers take future offerings from SpaceX for rockets which haven't been fully built ahead of time.
panick21_ 3y ago
This is what Musk haters have to tell themselves I guess. Of course Shotwell was the sales person during the Falcon 1 days and only later took over more of a leadership roll. And even if she is 'the genius' then Musk is the guy who recruited her, promoted her multiple times and put her in the position she is in now. But its also just the reality that Shotwell job is made 10x easier because she has a reusable rocket to build, sell and launch, while the others do not. Shotwell is awesome, no question. But the Musk hater story line of 'she is the real hero while Musk hits himself in the head with a hammer' is just nonsense. SpaceX has many super smart super talented people, and of course in any company the leader can only do so much, by definition most of the work is not done by the leaders, Musk or Shotwell. But on the other hand we also no that leadership is incredibly important. And there is no question who is leading and has lead SpaceX since Day 1.
- bumby 3y ago
  >But on the other hand we also no that leadership is incredibly important. I was with you until this part. The general common sense and MBA consensus is that leadership is important. And I suspect that it is more so with smaller companies. But the data seems mixed with large companies and some research seems to point out that high level leaders don’t have an appreciable impact.
  - panick21_ 3y ago
    Hard disagree. If you turn around the question, and ask how many amazingly successful companies that are at the very front of technology development and have strong growth, do it with bad leadership. Also there is a difference between short term and longterm. Most companies don't have the same leadership for 20+ years. Musk has been leading SpaceX for 20+ years and SpaceX has been consistently growing and consistently amazing track record of execution and technology development. I don't really think there are companies like that who have terrible leadership.
    - bumby 3y ago
      Look, you can have a personal opinion on the subject. I’m just saying the actual research is far from definitive. I’m always a little worried when someone has a very strong conclusion based solely on their personal feelings rather than data.
lupusreal 3y ago
If Starship works, then Gwynne did it. If Starship fails, then Elon did it. Amirite?

> Every time Elon says or does something I remind myself that the real genius at the head of SpaceX is Gwynne, and hope that Elon continues to let her be awesome.

dotnet00 3y ago

Gwynne is not involved in Starship. She handles the customers and related requirements, while Musk handles R&D and related requirements. For example, Musk wanted to cancel Falcon Heavy when it started to become clearer how tiny its impact would end up being relative to cost (since F9 had improved so much as to eat up most of the demand they had expected FH to take). It was pretty fair reasoning, but Gwynne insisted that they keep FH development going because they had already started trying to sell it to customers and she felt that cancelation would affect how seriously customers take future offerings from SpaceX for rockets which haven't been fully built ahead of time.

panick21_ 3y ago

This is what Musk haters have to tell themselves I guess. Of course Shotwell was the sales person during the Falcon 1 days and only later took over more of a leadership roll. And even if she is 'the genius' then Musk is the guy who recruited her, promoted her multiple times and put her in the position she is in now. But its also just the reality that Shotwell job is made 10x easier because she has a reusable rocket to build, sell and launch, while the others do not. Shotwell is awesome, no question. But the Musk hater story line of 'she is the real hero while Musk hits himself in the head with a hammer' is just nonsense. SpaceX has many super smart super talented people, and of course in any company the leader can only do so much, by definition most of the work is not done by the leaders, Musk or Shotwell. But on the other hand we also no that leadership is incredibly important. And there is no question who is leading and has lead SpaceX since Day 1.

bumby 3y ago
>But on the other hand we also no that leadership is incredibly important. I was with you until this part. The general common sense and MBA consensus is that leadership is important. And I suspect that it is more so with smaller companies. But the data seems mixed with large companies and some research seems to point out that high level leaders don’t have an appreciable impact.
- panick21_ 3y ago
  Hard disagree. If you turn around the question, and ask how many amazingly successful companies that are at the very front of technology development and have strong growth, do it with bad leadership. Also there is a difference between short term and longterm. Most companies don't have the same leadership for 20+ years. Musk has been leading SpaceX for 20+ years and SpaceX has been consistently growing and consistently amazing track record of execution and technology development. I don't really think there are companies like that who have terrible leadership.
  - bumby 3y ago
    Look, you can have a personal opinion on the subject. I’m just saying the actual research is far from definitive. I’m always a little worried when someone has a very strong conclusion based solely on their personal feelings rather than data.

lupusreal 3y ago

If Starship works, then Gwynne did it. If Starship fails, then Elon did it. Amirite?