3 ms·

> I think Musk should open an engineering management consulting firm, and hire a few smart people to analyze SpaceX and transfer some of its engineering managem

> I think Musk should open an engineering management consulting firm, and hire a few smart people to analyze SpaceX and transfer some of its engineering management methodologies into a set of training modules. It's a nice idea, but it wouldn't make any sense. Big institutions are arranged a certain way because of the incentives. You're not going to change the incentives because the people at the top fundamentally don't understand the way R&D works. Further, big organizations tend to reward a track record of successes no matter how small, rather than rewarding herculean efforts that only succeed halfway (or fail). The culture is generally anathema to taking risk. Because the organizations are the way they are, nothing will change unless you change management to the highest ranks and empower people at all levels to make things better. Sadly that rarely happens in big companies; people manage to claw their way up and they're not going to risk that job, power or prestige unless it's a sure thing. Which R&D never is.

FD3SA 12y ago
I completely agree, and if you look at my past posts, I am quite cynical with most modern companies precisely because I understand that human primal impulses, such as the insatiable drive for status and wealth accumulation, tend to completely sabotage any potential for innovation. Musk's companies are two of the very few exceptions to this universal empirical reality, and as such underscore the need to try and understand what makes them (SpaceX and Tesla) different, right down to the psychology of the executive team and founders. In my opinion, nothing is more important for the success of a company than the psychological foundations of the executive team and investors. They set the incentive structures, and their subordinates do their best to carry them out. In most companies, the incentive structure is to get paid as much as possible by playing office politics. Hence, we get golden parachutes, "cost-centers", and an obsession with stock price and quarterly profits.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  There is one possible answer that is both obvious and unfortunate (for businesses) - it's because they actually care. For most of the companies, profit is the primary goal and the thing they do is an afterthought (I like to call such entities "toilet-paper companies", because they'd happily drop whatever they're doing and start selling toilet paper if that was more profitable). For SpaceX and Tesla, making humanity multiplanetary and electrification of transport seem to be the primary, terminal goals, while profit is only instrumental. I don't know how many employees care about those goals the way Elon does (but I suspect many, at least in SpaceX - from what people are telling, you wouldn't be able to stand working there otherwise), but if there is enough of them, if that forms the company culture, then it's quite easy to see how the operations will be mostly immune "insatiable drive for status and wealth accumulation". I bet many would love to work for them even for free. I know I would. Why is this answer unfortunate (for other businesses)? Because you can't really fake caring about something. Many of the problems you see in most modern companies stem from the very fact that they exist primarily to make money, and they comprise of people thinking mostly profit - looking at their company through IAbstractMoneyMakingEntity interface, without really caring about what services or goods the company actually provides.

FD3SA 12y ago

I completely agree, and if you look at my past posts, I am quite cynical with most modern companies precisely because I understand that human primal impulses, such as the insatiable drive for status and wealth accumulation, tend to completely sabotage any potential for innovation. Musk's companies are two of the very few exceptions to this universal empirical reality, and as such underscore the need to try and understand what makes them (SpaceX and Tesla) different, right down to the psychology of the executive team and founders. In my opinion, nothing is more important for the success of a company than the psychological foundations of the executive team and investors. They set the incentive structures, and their subordinates do their best to carry them out. In most companies, the incentive structure is to get paid as much as possible by playing office politics. Hence, we get golden parachutes, "cost-centers", and an obsession with stock price and quarterly profits.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
There is one possible answer that is both obvious and unfortunate (for businesses) - it's because they actually care. For most of the companies, profit is the primary goal and the thing they do is an afterthought (I like to call such entities "toilet-paper companies", because they'd happily drop whatever they're doing and start selling toilet paper if that was more profitable). For SpaceX and Tesla, making humanity multiplanetary and electrification of transport seem to be the primary, terminal goals, while profit is only instrumental. I don't know how many employees care about those goals the way Elon does (but I suspect many, at least in SpaceX - from what people are telling, you wouldn't be able to stand working there otherwise), but if there is enough of them, if that forms the company culture, then it's quite easy to see how the operations will be mostly immune "insatiable drive for status and wealth accumulation". I bet many would love to work for them even for free. I know I would. Why is this answer unfortunate (for other businesses)? Because you can't really fake caring about something. Many of the problems you see in most modern companies stem from the very fact that they exist primarily to make money, and they comprise of people thinking mostly profit - looking at their company through IAbstractMoneyMakingEntity interface, without really caring about what services or goods the company actually provides.