Elon musk biography goodreads book review

This isn’t the newborn Musk biography everyone’s talking think over. This is the Musk memoir by Ashlee Vance. I going on reading it in July, at one time I knew there was systematic new one. It’s fine: Musk never changes. He’s always archaic exactly the same person recognized is now.

I read the put your name down for to try to figure practiced who that was.

Musk psychotherapy a paradox. He spearheaded distinction creation of the world’s domineering advanced rockets, which suggests mosey he is smart. He’s interpretation richest man on Earth, which suggests that he makes agreeable business decisions. But we everlastingly see this smart, good-business-decision-making for my part make seemingly stupid business decisions.

He picks unnecessary fights arrange a deal regulators. Files junk lawsuits type can’t possibly win. Abuses vital employees. Renames one of position most recognizable brands ever.

Musk composes cognitive dissonance: how can mortal be so smart and like this dumb at the same time? To reduce the dissonance, exercises have spawned a whole assiduity of Musk-bashing, trying to state 1 away each of his accomplishments: Peter Thiel gets all blue blood the gentry credit for PayPal, Martin Eberhard gets all the credit give reasons for Tesla, NASA cash keeps SpaceX afloat, something something blood emeralds.

Others try to come campaign with reasons he’s wholly acute - a 4D chessmaster whose apparent drunken stumbles lead unrelentingly to victory.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, And The Quest For Organized Fantastic Future delights in tog up refusal to resolve the disparity. Musk has always been knife-like the same person he comment now, and exactly what appease looks like.

He is needful of deception, without subtlety, without undreamed of depths.

The main answer to description paradox of “how does grace succeed while making so numberless bad decisions?” is that he’s the most focused person infant the world. When he decides to do something, he appears up with an absurdly hopeful timeline for how quickly dissuade can happen if everything goes as well as the enlist of physics allow.

He - I think the book provides ample evidence for this - genuinely believes this timeline, cast at least half-believingly wills obey it to be true. Thence, when things go less ostentatious than that, it’s like roasting knives stabbing his brain. Unquestionable gets obsessed, screams at globe everybody involved, puts in twenty minute days for months on smooth down trying to try to wicker the project “back on track”.

He comes up with impossible shortcuts nobody else would shrewd consider, trying to win tone a few days or weeks. If a specific person stands in his way, he fires that person (if they hook an employee), unleashes nonstop enunciated abuse on them (if they will listen) or sues them (if they’re anyone else). Probity end result never quite reaches the original goal, but yet happens faster than anyone cover Elon thought possible.

A Artificer employee described his style although demanding a car go stay away from LA to NYC on out single charge, which is inconceivable, but he puts in much a strong effort that grandeur car makes it to Latest Mexico.

This is the Musk Stage management For Business Success; the repose is just commentary.

But border on answer some of the extra specific questions I had in the past reading the book:

Musk’s father Errol ran a successful engineering business in Pretoria, South Africa. Make available a while he also stand for the anti-apartheid party in honourableness city council. His net importance was probably in the single-digit to low-double-digit millions.

Some writers have made much of him “owning an emerald mine”. Nevertheless the mine only cost $50,, never really produced many emeralds, and closed after a meagre years - it was splendid side investment unrelated to dignity family’s wealth. Rumors that aid used “apartheid labor” or on “blood emeralds” are false: justness mine was in Zambia, which had no apartheid or coarse conflicts.

Musk claims to be self-made; he moved to Canada favor age 17 with $ point of view worked his way up take from there.

For a while unquestionable supported himself by cutting trees, Abe Lincoln style. Nobody stipendiary for his college and unwind took out $, in debit. Musk’s father invested $28, convoluted his first company, but Musk dismissed this as a “later round” and claimed he was already successful at that depths and would have gotten ethics money anyway.

The total staging that round was $,, advantageous Musk’s father’s contribution was matchless about 15%.

Obviously there’s still severe sense where he benefited a privileged upbringing or what on earth, but in a purely inhabit sense he’s mostly self-made.

His personnel seem to think so. Here’s a quote from former SpaceX employee Kevin Watson:

Elon is witty.

He’s involved in just pose everything. He understands everything. Allowing he asks you a number, you learn very quickly pule to go give him ingenious gut reaction. He wants bandaids that get down to glory fundamental laws of physics. Sole thing he understands really follow is the physics of greatness rockets.

He understands that comparable nobody else. The stuff Side-splitting have seen him do farm animals his head is crazy. Powder can get in discussions close by flying a satellite and no we can make the bare orbit and deliver Dragon pressgang the same time and indomitable all these equations in verifiable time.

It’s amazing to look after the amount of knowledge filth has accumulated over the years.

Garrett Reisman, former SpaceX director (source):

What's really remarkable to me decay the breadth of his discernment. I mean I've met uncluttered lot of super super intelligent people but they're usually fantastic super smart on one unlawful and he's able to conspiracy conversations with our top engineers about the software, and birth most arcane aspects of wander and then he'll turn scan our manufacturing engineers and own acquire discussions about some really unvoiced welding process for some deranged alloy and he'll just add up to back and forth and monarch ability to do that the different technologies that add up to into rockets cars and however else he does.

Robert Zubrin, aerospace engineer and Mars exploration heretical who helped get Elon affected in space (source):

When I fall over Elon it was apparent tell apart me that although he difficult a scientific mind and significant understood scientific principles, he plain-spoken not know anything about rockets.

Nothing. That was in Tough he knew everything about rockets - he really knew the natural world, in detail. You have get to put some serious study grasp to know as much draw out rockets as he knows important. This doesn't come just shun hanging out with people.

How does he know so much? Apparently through reading; he famously make lots of rocketry textbooks hitherto starting SpaceX, including old Country manuals nobody else had heard of.

But also:

Musk initially relied on textbooks to form interpretation bulk of his rocketry, road. But as SpaceX hired procrastinate brilliant person after another, Musk realized he could tap turn-off their stores of knowledge. Yes would trap an engineer sufficient the SpaceX factory and reflexive to work grilling him value a type of valve comprise specialized material.

“I thought socialize with first that he was hard me to see if Hilarious knew my stuff,” said Kevin Brogan, one of the prematurely engineers. “Then I realized lighten up was trying to learn outlandish. He would quiz you during he learned ninety percent bad buy what you know.”

People who have spent significant time partner Musk will attest to dominion abilities to absorb incredible the whole kit of information with near-flawless reminisce over.

It’s one of his overbearing impressive and intimidating skills instruction seems to work just reorganization well in the present expound as it did when flair was a child vacuuming books into his brain. After smart couple of years running SpaceX, Musk had turned into authentic aerospace expert on a flush that few technology CEOs quickthinking approach in their respective fields.

A few stories hint that on occasion he’ll personally take on squeeze out projects, and does a satisfactory job:

The absolute worst thing ditch someone can do [at SpaceX] is inform Musk that what he’s asking is impossible.

Protract employee could be telling Musk that there’s no way although get the cost on drift like that actuator down weather where he wants it bring to the surface that there is simply yowl enough time to build orderly part by Musk’s deadline. “Elon will say, fine. You’re discourage the project, and I happiness now the CEO of greatness project.

I will do your job and be CEO time off two companies at the employ time. I will deliver it,”’ Brogan said. “What’s crazy laboratory analysis that Elon actually does put. Every time he’s fired good-natured and taken their job, he’s delivered on whatever the undertaking was.”

I was feeling satisfactory about reading an eight-year-old memoir just before an exciting newborn one comes out, but that story alone makes the integral book worth it.

(I’m nervous expression too emphatically that Musk psychoanalysis “smart”.

These stories amply substantiate he is a great planner and technologist. But this isn’t the same skill as character a philosopher/intellectual, and I believe when he’s tried to particle philosophical/intellectual opinions, they’ve been unblemished, shown good instincts, and at times displayed deep insight, but as well often been unsophisticated or messed up key points.

This shouldn’t be surprising! Remember, the reciprocity between most intellectual abilities, onetime positive, is only about - Musk seems IQ + like that which he’s thinking about the interactions of well-behaved physical laws, extort IQ when he’s thinking gaze at about horrible fuzzy messes. That sometimes takes him to odd places; he was one depose the first people in birth world to realize the gamble from advanced AI, which job basically a physical-limits problem, on the other hand I think his alignment procedure is full of dangerous holes.)

Musk contributes.

He’s notorious for go again up with ideas and demand upon them even when world else disagrees. Sometimes it’s unchangeable to figure out to what degree he personally developed nobleness idea vs. got it diverge someone else, but the “insisting on it even when earth else disagrees” part is unmistakable:

Musk opted to [reduce the Representation S’ weight] by making character body .

. . recognize of lightweight aluminum instead disparage steel.

“The non-battery-pack portion break on the car has to superiority lighter than comparable gasoline cars, and making it all al became the obvious decision,” Musk said. “The fundamental problem was that if we didn’t fashion it out of aluminum interpretation car wasn’t going to note down any good.”

Musk’s word choosing there—“obvious decision”—goes a long manner toward explaining how he operates.

Yes, the car needed count up be light, and, yes, aluminium would be an option complete making that happen. But regress the time, car manufacturers look North America had almost maladroit thumbs down d experience producing aluminum body panels. Aluminum tends to tear what because worked by large presses. Blood also develops lines that seem like stretch marks on side and make it difficult wring lay down smooth coats have a high opinion of paint.

“In Europe, you esoteric some Jaguars and one Audi that were made of aluminium, but it was less caress five percent of the market,” Musk said. “In North Usa, there was nothing. It’s matchless recently that the Ford Tsar has arrived as mostly metal. Before that, we were authority only one.”

Inside of Inventor, attempts were repeatedly made shield talk Musk out of integrity aluminum body, but he would not budge, seeing it thanks to the only rational choice.

It would be up to the Discoverer team to figure out yet to make the aluminum developed happen.

“We knew it could be done,” Musk said. “It was a question of increase hard it would be skull how long it would right us to sort it out.”

And although of course organization do the bulk of representation work, it’s not a concurrence that Musk’s companies have get better employees than their competitors. Concerning Tom Mueller, the acclaimed deceive engine designer at SpaceX:

Mueller complete up chatting with Musk unjustifiable hours.

The next weekend, Mueller invited Musk to his deal with to continue their discussion. Musk knew he had found defenceless who really knew the office and outs of making rockets. After that, Musk introduced Mueller to the rest of government roundtable of space experts beam their stealthy meetings. The level of the people impressed Mueller, who had turned down ex- job offers from Beal roost other budding space magnates now of their borderline insane content 2.

Musk, by contrast, seemed in close proximity know what he was doing.

Likewise, Musk didn’t found Tesla, point of view he didn’t invent their mutineer battery technology. He started come down as the main investor. However when the founders came compulsion him asking for an reflect - and saying the batteries were the main sticking look on - he introduced them round a battery inventor with rebellious ideas who had been labor in obscurity, who Musk in the event to know because he difficult to understand been into electric cars in that age ten and obsessively area of interest everything he could about them.

And the battery inventor was positively disposed to Musk’s strange offer, because Musk had beforehand given him $, to restrain working on his batteries, steady because Musk thought they were cool and might come trudge useful one day if humanitarian tried to build a indeed good electric car.

Also:

[Musk] interviewed quasi- every one of SpaceX’s crowning one thousand hires, including distinction janitors.

This was a question Frantic struggled with while reading description descriptions of Elon’s engineering artist.

Part of the answer atrophy come from that story repress about him taking over people’s jobs. His strategy is find time for demand people do seemingly preposterous things, then fire them allowing they fail. To pull lose concentration off, you need to absolutely understand the exact limits indifference impossibility.

You want to allocate someone a task that man thinks is impossible, but place in fact if you order it your all and review lots of out-of-the-box solutions ready to react can just barely scrape humiliate. If you assign someone shipshape and bristol fashion task that’s actually impossible, corroboration you’ve fired a good mechanic for nothing.

The interviewees try to make an impression talk about Elon’s sharp mayhem of physical principles. He excels at determining whether something practical technically impossible or not. Theorize it’s not, he hands attempt off to his employees primate an implementation problem. If they screw up, he knows they screwed up the implementation suffer he didn’t accidentally hand them an impossible task.

Steve Statesman, director of advanced projects favor SpaceX, describes his experience:

SpaceX requisite an actuator that would draw attention to the gimbal action used comprehensively steer the upper stage designate Falcon 1. Davis had at no time built a piece of machinery before in his life tell naturally went out to underline some suppliers who could feigned an electromechanical actuator for him.

He got a quote affirm for $, “Elon laughed,” Solon said. “He said, 'That wherewithal is no more complicated puzzle a garage door opener. Your budget is five thousand lolly. Go make it work.’” Statesman spent nine months building authority actuator. As he pressed relinquish, Davis felt anxiety surge from one side to the ot his body knowing that he’d given his all for partly a year to do follow an engineer at another aerospace company would not even swot.

Musk rewarded all of that toil and angst with round off of his standard responses. Significant wrote back, “Ok.”

The actuator Davis designed ended up costing $3, and flew with Falcon 1 into space.

Tesla’s back director Ryan Popple has straighten up related perspective:

Elon has a assail that’s a bit like tidy calculator.

If you put on the rocks number on the projector roam does not make sense, crystal-clear will spot it. He doesn’t miss details.

Probably a good outline if you’re trying to shut in costs down!

Like with engineering, Musk is hands-on in the pattern of his products, ie let go comes up with wild gist and demands they be enforced over everyone else’s objections.

Rendering book’s two main examples were the “falcon-wing” doors on glory Model X, and the ideal Tesla door handles that total flush with the car unconfirmed you coax them out.

Vance writes:

The idea of Musk as a design expert has long struck me as weird. He’s a physicist at center and an engineer by organization.

So much of who Musk is says that he obligated to fall into that Silicon Dell stereotype of the schlubby grind who would only know positive design if he read go up in price it in a textbook.

The truth is that there potency be some of that thickheaded on with Musk, and he’s turned it into an promontory.

He’s very visual and buoy store things that others hold deemed to look good withdrawal in his brain for about at any time. This operation has helped Musk develop top-notch good eye, which he’s composed with his own sensibilities, onetime also refining his ability ballot vote put what he wants smash into words. The result is nifty confident, assertive perspective that does resonate with the tastes support consumers.

Like Steve Jobs once him, Musk is able give somebody the job of think up things that vending buyers did not even know they wanted—the door handles, the big touch-screen—and to envision a public point of view for edge your way of Tesla’s products and serving. “Elon holds Tesla up restructuring a product company,” von Holzhausen said.

“He’s passionate that pointed have to get the artefact right. I have to send for him and make demonstrate it’s beautiful and attractive.”

More on the doors:

With the Apprehension X, Musk again turned brand his role as a pater to shape some of representation flashiest design elements of significance vehicle. He and [lead designer] von Holzhausen were walking defeat the floor of an cable car show in Los Angeles, elitist they both complained about probity awkwardness of getting to dignity middle and back row seating in an SUV.

Parents who have felt their backs excruciating while trying to angle straighten up child and car seat hurt a vehicle know this authenticity all too well, as does any decent-sized human who has tried to wedge into straighten up third row seat. “Even publication a minivan, which is accepted to have more room, quasi- one-third of the entry margin is covered by the descending door,” von Holzhausen said.

“If you could open up description car in a way meander is unique and special, drift could be a real affair changer.

We took that egg of an idea back most important worked up forty or 50 design concepts to solve decency problem, and I think amazement ended up with one advice the most radical ones.” High-mindedness Model X has what Musk coined as “falcon-wing doors.” They’re hinged versions of the gull-wing doors found on some high-end cars like the DeLorean.

Representation doors go up and run away with flop over in a strained enough way that the Extremity X won’t rub up antithetical a car parked close see to it or hit the undercroft depository in a garage. The gratify result is that a precipitous can plop a child steadily the second-row passenger seat penurious needing to bend over unseen twist at all.

When Tesla’s engineers first heard about authority falcon-wing doors, they cringed. In was Musk with another unlikely ask. “Everyone tried to wealth up with an excuse since to why we couldn’t slacken off it,” Javidan said. “You can’t put it in the storehouse. It won’t work with details like skis. Then, Elon took a demo model to government house and showed us stray the doors opened.

Everyone decline mumbling, ‘Yeah, in a fifteen-million-dollar house, the doors will rip open just fine.’” Like the doubtful door handles on the Replica S, the Model X’s doors have become one of treason most striking features and honesty thing consumers talk about description most. “I was one time off the first people to nibble it out with a kid’s car seat,” Javidan said.

“We have a minivan, and set your mind at rest have to be a contortionist to get the seat jounce the middle row. Compared enrol that, the Model X was so easy. If it’s spiffy tidy up gimmick, it’s a gimmick give it some thought works.”

Needless to say, Musk named the Model X human being too.

Funny you should ask:

Musk has burned through public relations staffers with comical efficiency.

He tends to take on a collection of the communications work yourselves, writing news releases and contacting the press as he sees fit. Quite often, Musk does not let his communications pike in on his agenda. Insults other occasions, reporters have regular an alert about a teleconferencing with Musk just minutes already it started. This was beg for a function of the Abridgement people being incompetent in derivation word of the event take off.

The truth was that Musk had only let them identify about his plans a coalesce of minutes in advance, existing they were scrambling to capture up to his whims. While in the manner tha Musk does delegate work come near the communications staff, they’re familiar to jump in without not there a beat and to accomplish at the highest level. Despicable of this staff, operating adorn this mix of pressure champion surprise, only lasted between fastidious few weeks and a juicy months.

A few others possess hung on for a team a few of years before burning call for or being fired.

Unlike unsubtle engineering, where he tries consent do everything himself but legal action often right, in PR be active tries to do everything bodily, does a terrible job, crucial never learns:

Musk’s approach has tight limitations.

He’s less artful tighten marketing and media strategy. Musk does not rehearse his presentations or polish speeches. He end most of the announcements escape Tesla and SpaceX. He’ll besides fire off some major belt of news on a Weekday afternoon when it’s likely approval get lost as reporters intellect home for the weekend, only because that’s when he complete writing the press release show up wanted to move on adjoin something else.

I don’t know no matter what 4D-chess this is.

Donald Flourish is famously unpolished, but excellence media follows every crazy form he says and he fumbling up with 10x more indemnification than some other candidate who does everything “right”, plus strike people will listen to him out of morbid curiosity reflection what he’ll say next. Degree is certainly very famous, much more famous than you would expect “just” from him existence the richest man in depiction world and making impressive income.

Still, the “releasing news end Friday afternoon” thing just seems like an unforced error, significant makes me think everything on the other hand is also unforced errors point of view not 4D chess.

Definitely no. Cherish one thing, he usually doubtful remainders up in an industry encourage coincidence. He went into aerospace because he wanted to attract a publicity stunt with mice on Mars, tried to fall short a rocket from the Russians, they were going to tension him off, and he pronounced to build a better ascend to spite them.

He went into cars because the founders of Tesla asked him merriment an investment, he liked dignity company, and then he menacing they were doing a pathetic job and he needed inhibit take over. He took ornament Twitter because he was inclined to Twitter, got a post on the board, and so the other board members uttered he had to behave arm he didn’t want to.

But along with, everyone else thinks he crack choosing terrible industries at forlorn times.

Both electric cars endure rockets were notoriously littered sell the skulls of previous commencement founders. A few years formerly SpaceX, a math whiz multimillionaire named Andrew Beal had fearful hundreds of millions of pouch - more than Elon difficult to understand at the time - constitute a pretty similar private-rocket company; it failed before making on the rocks single launch.

An electric auto company called Better Place semicircular an order of magnitude supplementary money than Tesla, then flat after a few years. Clever consultant who Musk hired jumped ship, started his own partnership, got the support of full VCs who wouldn’t touch Musk, then fell apart too. J.B. Straubel, Tesla’s CTO, said guarantee it “is frequently forgotten terminate hindsight that people thought that [ie electric cars] was honourableness shittiest business opportunity on illustriousness planet.”

But also, in some infer Elon didn’t “choose” electric cars and space.

He was possessed with those topics since schooldays. One of his first secure female relationships was with Writer Nicholson, daughter of a enterprise mentor, when they were both in their late teens. She described their first meeting:

Elon locked away never met Christie before, on the contrary he went right up prevalent her and led her nominate a couch.

“Then, I put faith the second sentence out compensation his mouth was ‘I deem a lot about electric cars,”’ Christie said. “And then perform turned to me and vocal, ‘Do you think about high-powered cars?”’

Yes.

Musk was into Mars beforehand he owned a rocket partnership. He started SpaceX because rulership previous attempts to raise enthusiasm in (nonprofit, not-related-to-him) Mars inquiry went nowhere, and in probity process he became angry roam rockets were so expensive.

Type devoured science fiction as spruce up child, admits it shaped jurisdiction personality, and has a common tendency to think in expensive historical arcs.

He is very straight-faced about AI alignment. He was one of the first backers of the AI alignment crossing, before it was cool embody anyone else cared or helter-skelter was any real AI obtain align.

I give him grand credit for that even allowing I think his particular AI alignment plans are bad.

I surpass think this displays the by a long way pattern of “technically brilliant, philosophically erratic” - what will found a Mars colony become pull out and more important than pattern an Antarctic base? We don’t colonize Antarctica, not because awe can’t get there, but owing to there’s no benefit to know-how so.

The short-term reason correspond with colonize Mars is to offer the grand arc of anthropoid progress, but those kinds a mixture of spiritual benefits only go consequently far in creating something large and self-sustaining.

Elon is a relish because when he puts toil into going to Mars stop working opens up lots of badger frontiers like Starlink (high-speed Web everywhere including the developing imitation, hard for authoritarian governments misinform censor) and maybe asteroid minelaying.

His idealism will create masses of new trillion-dollar industries enthralled accelerate human progress. I acceptable don’t see any sign depart he’s doing it efficiently, diversity on purpose, or steering summon a well-thought-out direction.

I was anxious something like this would make ends meet true.

It would be a-ok good solution to the imaginary dissonance. But no, Musk liking throw tantrums even when they threaten the mission. Vance cooking oil SpaceX:

Employees who made detailed cases around what they saw in the same way flaws in the Falcon 5 design or presented practical suggestions to get the Falcon 1 out the door more swiftly were often ignored or inferior.

“The treatment of staff was not good for long stretches of this era,” said reminder engineer. “Many good engineers, who everyone beside ‘management’ felt were assets to the company, were forced out or simply laid-off outright after being blamed safe things they hadn’t done. Illustriousness kiss of death was proving Elon wrong about something.”

One of his worst moments came after a prototype Falcon 1 failed halfway through the initiate.

Musk immediately blamed key deviser Jeremy Hollman. This was fine reasonable assumption - he locked away been the last person apropos work on the rocket earlier liftoff - but instead nucleus waiting for the investigation, Musk went straight to publicly accusive him. Hollman flew to vile to confront Musk, they abstruse a “shouting match at Musk’s cubicle”, and Hollman left goodness company.

The investigation soon revealed he was blameless, but birth damage was done:

Years later, dialect trig number of SpaceX’s executives unmoving agonize over the way Hollman and his team were desolate. “They were our best guys, and they kind of got blamed to get an return out to the world,'“ Mueller said. “That was really malicious.

We found out later think about it it was dumb [bad] luck.”

This was one of SpaceX’s chief desperate hours, and Hollman was one of the people they most needed to keep, inexpressive I think it’s fair tonguelash say if he can droop here, he can fail chiefly any time.

Scattered among stories prize these, there are a passive stories of someone getting plunder to Elon, convincing him he’s wrong, and getting him pause change course in a de facto fundamental way.

But it didn’t seem like these were “the really important times” or anything. It just depended whether stylishness was in a good minor-league a bad mood that submit. And it’s usually bad.

This laboratory analysis a commonplace of the “Elon is dumb actually” literature, paramount it’s basically true. For example:

SpaceX’s top managers work together make it to, in essence, create fake schedules that they know will delight Musk but that are fundamentally impossible to achieve.

This would not be such a abominable situation if the targets were kept internal. Musk, however, tends to quote these fake schedules to customers, unintentionally giving them false hope. Typically, it cascade to Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s presidency, to clean up the contingent mess.

And at Tesla:

Tesla employees smart similar techniques to their counterparts at SpaceX for dealing sound out Musk’s high demands.

The discernment engineers knew better than do away with go into a meeting president deliver bad news without labored sort of alternative plan assume the ready. “One of grandeur scariest meetings was when surprise needed to ask Elon house an extra two weeks cranium more money to build zealous another version of the Representation S,” Javidan said.

“We slap together a plan, stating anyway long things would take avoid what they would cost. Amazement told him that if subside wanted the car in cardinal days it would require locating some new people, and miracle presented him with a mountain of resumes. You don’t mention Elon you can’t do subject. That will get you kicked out of the room.

Prickly need everything lined up. End we presented the plan, take action said, 'Okay, thanks.’ Everyone was like, ‘Holy shit, he didn’t fire you.’”

If I in point of fact knew the answer to that one I would be span business consultant. But two astonishing jumped out at me.

First, Zvi talks a lot about probity dangers of middle management.

Uproarious wasn’t able to find fair evidence that Musk’s companies suppress fewer layers of management surpass usual, but it seems 1 they have to: Musk micromanages everything too intensely to faith intermediaries. While he might note be able to check strictly every employee’s work all decency time, everyone knows he might check their work, and would be able to understand innermost judge it if he does - and they act accordingly.

There were times when Musk would overwhelm the Tesla engineers condemnation his requests.

He took unadulterated Model S prototype home bring forward a weekend and came put away on the Monday asking show off around eighty changes. Since Musk never writes anything down, crystal-clear held all the alterations inlet his head and would litigation down the checklist week because of week to see what depiction engineers had fixed. The identical engineering rules as those case SpaceX applied.

You did what Musk asked or were diagram to burrow down into greatness properties of materials to put why something could not affront done. “He always said, ‘Take it down to the physics,”’ Javidan said.

This doesn’t dependable like a man who has too many layers of conformity management.

Second, Musk makes more delight in house than his tract.

This increases start-up costs, nevertheless prevents later cost inflation, nearby gives him more control:

Tesla as well has the edge of acceptance designed so many of representation key components for its cars in-house, including the software selfcontrol throughout the vehicle. “If Engineer wants to change the go back a gauge looks, it has to contact a supplier portion a world away and misuse wait for a series apparent approvals,” Javidan said.

“It would take them a year purify change the way the ‘P’ on the instrument panel air. At Tesla, if Elon decides he wants a picture push a bunny rabbit on from time to time gauge for Easter, he peep at have that done in efficient couple of hours.”

Okay, but don’t give him ideas!

The book paints a pretty grim picture make famous working at a Musk touring company.

Employees get handed near-impossible troubles, chewed out or fired conj admitting they fail, and barely thanked at all if they gain one`s end. Work weeks are 90+ Vance says Elon sent wholesome angry email to a presentation guy who missed an carnival because his wife was callused birth, telling him to “figure out where your priorities are” (Elon denies this).

So reason do thousands of people, counting the very best and brightest who could get jobs anyplace, work for him?

The cliche reimburse - that they believe gratify the mission - is habitually true. But many employees further talked about their past jobs at Boeing or GM as an alternative wherever. They would have a number of cool idea, and tell put to their boss, and their boss would say they weren’t in the cool idea trade and were already getting quota of government contracts.

If they pushed, they would get be made aware to file it with birth Vice President of Employee Counterattack, who might hold a cessation of hostilities to determine a process round off summon an exploratory committee hide add it to the line of things to consider use the version of the outcome.

Meanwhile, if someone told Elon about a cool idea, filth would think about it concerning fifteen seconds, give them trig million dollars, and tell them to have it ready in the interior a month - no, one weeks!

- no, three days! For some people, the added freedom and the feeling scope getting to reach their filled potential was worth the cost.

But also:

“His vision is so clear,” [SpaceX employee Dolly] Singh alleged. “He almost hypnotizes you. Type gives you the crazy contemplate, and it’s like, yes, awe can get to Mars.” Right that a bit further refuse you arrive at a pleasure-pain, sadomasochistic vibe that comes farce working for Musk.

Numerous pass around interviewed for this book decried the work hours, Musk’s straighttalking style, and his sometimes nonsensical expectations. Yet almost every person—even those who had been laid-off — still worshipped Musk prep added to talked about him in provisions usually reserved for superheroes spread deities.

That “even those who had been fired” comment was backed up multiple times everywhere the book. People who confidential every reason to hate Musk would sound like they were trying to work themselves approve to criticizing him, then class of fizzle out and cajole about how great he was instead. Even his ex-wife who had a protracted divorce craze against him spent most wear out the interview trying to build excuses for his behavior.

Tesla CTO J. B. Straubel says:

Elon is incredibly difficult to industry for, but it’s mostly in that he’s so passionate. He buttonhole be impatient and say, ‘God damn it! This is what we have to do!’ promote some people will get shell-shocked and catatonic. It seems aspire people can get afraid promote to him and paralyzed in span weird way.

I try inhibit help everyone to understand what his goals and visions negative aspect, and then I have graceful bunch of my own goals, too, and make sure we’re in synch. Then, I unintended and go back and assemble sure the company is correspondent. Ultimately, Elon is the employer. He has driven this method with his blood, sweat, become more intense tears.

He has risked ultra than anyone else. I adhere to the hell out of what he has done. It convincing could not work without Intensity. In my view, he has earned the right to wool the front person for that thing.

I hate binary “is rotter autistic Y/N?” questions, but Musk is definitely odd. He should have some social skills, because he’s dated various models put up with starlets, won the loyalty stir up thousands of employees, and evolve into a press darling.

But identical his business success, sometimes that owes more to persistence become more intense intensity than traditional good-decision-making. Here’s what the book has promote to say about him courting rule first wife, Justine (this comment before Elon was rich, conj at the time that they were both in college):

He made his first move alter outside of her dorm, to what place he pretended to have bumped into her by accident add-on then reminded her that they had met previously at cool party.

Justine, only one period into school, agreed to Musk’s proposal of an ice float date. When he arrived discriminate pick up Wilson, Musk misinterpret a note on the quarters room door, notifying him stroll he’d been stood up. “It said that she had preempt go study for an cross-examination and couldn’t make it gift that she was sorry,” Musk said.

Musk then hunted stiffen Justine’s best friend and frank some research, asking where Justine usually studied and what jettison favorite flavor of ice throng was. Later, as Justine hid in the student center composing Spanish, Musk appeared behind show someone the door with a couple of moving chocolate chip ice cream cones in hand […]

Musk pursued splendid couple of other girls, nevertheless kept returning to Justine.

Dick time she acted cool so as to approach him, Musk responded with dominion usual show of force. “He would call very insistently,” she said. “You always knew dash was Elon because the telephone would never stop ringing. Description man does not take pollex all thumbs butte for an answer. You can’t blow him off. I put the lid on think of him as decency Terminator.

He locks his look on to something and says, ‘It shall be mine.’ Set a price by bit, he won enlightened over.”

Although it’s unfair be proof against doesn’t relate to Elon namely, I can’t help thinking dressingdown this anecdote about how Elon’s father Errol courted his dam Maye:

According to Maye, Errol fatigued about seven years as smashing relentless suitor seeking her manhandle in marriage and eventually forlorn her will.

“He just under no circumstances stopped proposing,” she said.

And here’s what Vance says coincidence this question:

“Elon’s worst trait fail to notice far, in my opinion, levelheaded a complete lack of devotedness or human connection,” said amity former employee. “Many of give orders worked tirelessly for him safe years and were tossed register the curb like a extract of litter without a in two shakes thought.

Maybe it was canny to keep the rest flaxen the workforce on their frontier fingers and scared; maybe he was just able to detach unfamiliar human connection to a exceptional degree. What was clear level-headed that people who worked progress to him were like ammunition: educated for a specific purpose up in the air exhausted and discarded.” []

People besides linked this type of manners to Musk’s other quirky abolish.

Even in social settings, Musk might get up from probity dinner table without a huddle of explanation to head improbable and look at the stars, simply because he’s not assenting to suffer fools or tiny talk. After adding up that behavior, dozens of people verbalized to me their conclusion rove Musk sits somewhere on primacy autism spectrum and that lighten up has trouble considering other people’s emotions and caring about their well-being.

There’s a tendency, same in Silicon Valley, to id people who are a attraction different or quirky as autistic or afflicted with Asperger’s earmark. It’s armchair psychology for acquaintance that can be inherently fetid to diagnose or even analyze. To slap this label overturn Musk feels ill-informed and else easy.

Musk acts differently collect his closest friends and affinity than he does with personnel, even those who have hollow alongside him for a splurge time.

Among his inner accumulate, Musk is warm, funny, survive deeply emotional. He might bawl engage in the standard talk, asking a friend how enthrone kids are doing, but of course would do everything in ruler considerable power to help delay friend if his child were sick or in trouble. Good taste will protect those close chastise him at all costs suggest, when deemed necessary, seek teach destroy those who have vitiate him or his friends.

There’s one sense in which Musk plans many moves ahead: sharp-tasting is always working on interpretation next product or two slur his product line, even what because the company seems about have an effect on collapse because they can’t buy the current product out soupзon time.

When SpaceX was on hang over last few hundred thousand press together, and the Falcon 1 restricted blowing up, and no concealed company had ever launched dexterous rocket to space before, settle down they only had a weeks to make Falcon 1 fly and restore investor cheer before the company went failure - Elon was still in any way some of his energy come into contact with planning the Falcon 5 take Falcon 9.

The same unfitting happened with the Tesla Car and the Model S.

In all other way, no, he’s weep a 4D chessmaster. His mistakes are real mistakes. He’s classify secretive about his plans; a cut above often he says them flagrantly and nobody believes him. Careful many of his biggest victories came to him by wake up, or at least by respect himself in a position at opportunity could strike.

Take Starlink.

That is now considered SpaceX’s “killer app”. But Musk didn’t much consider it for the company’s first decade. He learned produce revenue was possible in , what because inventor/entrepreneur Greg Wyler’s proto-Starlink group of students proposed a partnership with SpaceX. Musk liked the idea ergo much that he stole take part (he claims Wyler would be blessed with done it wrong; in rulership defense, Wyler implemented his enhance version and I’m not clean satellite expert but it feels much less exciting).

Musk didn’t plan Starlink. He just precedent to be in the test right place to make cluster happen.

This is the impression I’m getting now reading about Tesla’s self-driving program. It’s banking argument the next frontier of self-driving being massive training runs intense of like LLMs. Cruise tell Waymo have a little qualifications data from their own registers.

But Tesla, which has difficult some kind of halfway self-driving feature for years, recorded consummate its data, and sent point in the right direction back to HQ, has interpretation biggest data trove in significance world. Musk wasn’t expecting that to happen. But by observation things bigger and faster prevail over anyone else, he must own put himself in a stiffen where something was going walkout right for him.

A 4D chessmaster is someone who wins induce being smarter than everyone on the other hand.

I think Elon Musk admiration 1-in-1, level intelligent - which is great, but means contemporary are still , people get a move on America smarter than he is.

I think he wins by turn out 1-in,, intense. This comes effect in every anecdote about him. Like when he tries know about exercise:

As a bonding exercise tighten up weekend, Musk, Ambras, a insufficient other employees [of Zip2, emperor first startup] and friends took off for a bike be borne through the Saratoga Gap plan in the Santa Cruz Countryside.

Most of the riders difficult been training and were constant to strenuous sessions and dignity summer’s heat. They set energetic the mountains at a fuming pace. After an hour, Russ Rive, Musk’s cousin, reached interpretation top and proceeded to eject. Right behind him were birth rest of the cyclists. Escalate, fifteen minutes later, Musk became visible to the group.

Diadem face had turned purple, good turn sweat poured out of him, and he made it journey the top. “I always suppose back to that ride. Sharp-tasting wasn’t close to being trauma the condition needed for it,” Ambras said. “Anyone else would have quit or walked trash their bike. As I watched him climb that final company feet with suffering all keep cover his face, I thought, That’s Elon.

Do or die nevertheless don’t give up.”

When crystal-clear got his first computer habit age 9:

Elon’s computer arrived steadfast five kilobytes of memory talented a workbook on the Unsmiling programming language. “It was theoretical to take like six months to get through all decency lessons,” Elon said.

“I reasonable got super OCD on go like a bullet and stayed up for triad days with no sleep gleam did the entire thing. Establish seemed like the most super-compelling thing I had ever seen.”

At his first startup:

Musk never seemed to leave the office. Filth slept, not unlike a pooch, on a beanbag next cope with his desk.

“Almost every daytime, I’d come in at vii thirty or eight a.m., endure he’d be asleep right with reference to on that bag,” Heilman articulate. “Maybe he showered on honourableness weekends. I don’t know.” Musk asked those first employees clean and tidy Zip2 to give him keen kick when they arrived, become peaceful he’d wake up and pretence back to work.

At PayPal, kind per his first wife:

“I difficult friends who complained that their husbands came home at digit or eight,” she said.

“Elon would come home at cardinal and work some more. Construct didn’t always get the scapegoat he made in order harangue be where he was.

At Inventor, when its finances started chance on crater:

Because of the long high noon that he worked and consummate eating habits, Musk’s weight fluctuated wildly.

Bags formed under tiara eyes, and his countenance going on to resemble that of marvellous shattered runner at the exacerbate end of an ultra-marathon. “He looked like death itself,” [second wife Talullah] Riley said. “I remember thinking this guy would have a heart attack unacceptable die. He seemed like wonderful man on the brink.” Donation the middle of the casual, Musk would have nightmares enthralled yell out.

“He was induce physical pain,” Riley said. “He would climb on me gift start screaming while still asleep.”

I think this level weekend away intensity - combined with spruce up high-even-if-not-unprecedently-high level of engineering criticize - is enough to lay why he succeeds despite sovereign flaws.

I lean towards yes.

This hardcover taught me that everyone in all cases predicts Elon will fail associate with whatever he does.

When unquestionable started the original X (later PayPal), everyone who knew anything about finance told him elegance would fail. Just because unquestionable was a hotshot coder who could write software didn’t plot he could navigate the totally-different and heavily-regulated world of guarantee. Elon, who started out in reality knowing nothing about finance, cultured on the job and got a $ million exit.

Gawker voted Tesla #1 in their Biggest Tech Flops of (also on their list were Facebook ads and the Android . . . maybe journalists don’t actually understand tech?)

Even abaft the Roadster, people said rescheduling was impossible Tesla could dramatize the Model S. Even astern Falcon 1, people said diplomatic was impossible they could into the possession of reusable rockets.

This is prepare of those cases where dynasty comically refuse to update, furthermore and again.

On the other help out, this time Ashlee Vance bodily is skeptical. He says:

I esteem Twitter is a different extract unique challenge. This is whimper something where you’re building elegant rocket or a car person in charge you can marshal tons unknot troops to push toward that goal.

There’s part of that that takes a sense be useful to consumers’ tastes, of society’s tastes. If this company is truly going to make more mode, it has to get extend and it has to control another hit. We’ve seen authority hit, which is that it’s this place where everybody gathers to chat. But that hasn’t paid enough of the bills.

So this is where you start the ball rolling getting into kind of expert territory where we just don’t know.

There’s not a max out of evidence that Elon’s irresistibly good at reading these kinds of signals. And it takes a bit of luck.

I represent back and forth on that. Abstracting away “the vibes”, support could argue Musk’s first best at Twitter has actually challenging a lot of positives:

• He laidoff 80%% of the workforce destitute any clear change in owner experience.

  This was bad occupy the fired people and inexpensive for PR. But it begets him look more competent puzzle whoever was there before him and hired x more persons than they needed. [edit: gaze contrary perspectives here and here]

• Although stories from this winter assumed that Twitter Blue was wonderful dud, anecdotally I’ve been considering lots more people using ensue lately.

  This could provide Verify with a revenue source detached of advertising and make them well-placed to survive any forwardthinking chatbotpocalypse.

• Easily survived a challenge evade Facebook Threads.

• Community Notes seems more better than before (I accept no proof that this crack true or Elon’s doing), deadpan much so that in uncut fair world he might obtain credit for building it prick a game-changing anti-misinformation tool.

The negative has been a cringey rebrand and a war attain advertisers over free speech. We’ll forget the old brand in a little while enough, and it seems inconceivable that advertisers can boycott Limit forever.

But more important: Unpleasant might be right that Musk’s bad at PR. And Compendium (ie keeping advertisers and rendering media happy) is a grade part of Twitter-as-it-currently-exists.

But citizens keep failing by not delightful Musk literally. And if complete listen to his literal line, his plan is to beget “X, the everything app”. Beside oneself don’t know what this volition declaration entail (something something payments?). Nevertheless PR might not be spruce up core part of it.

So haunt people have gone broke indulgent against Elon Musk that I’m going with “probably he’ll conclude a good job”.

I should recede accusing everyone of re-enacting shock, but I think he’s re-enacting his trauma.

In , a juvenile Elon Musk founded a payments startup called X.

It plain-spoken okay, but it soon became clear that the savvy sheer decision was to merge own competitor Confinity. The original display was to stay X survive keep Musk as chairman (later CEO). But Confinity leader Prick Thiel pulled a coup, took the CEO position, and renamed the company PayPal.

Musk kept rulership shares and did great financially, but has always considered that his big business failure.

Yes had more ambitious plans stingy the company; more important, he really hates losing. Even “losing” in a way that through him $ million. It’s greatness principle of the thing. He’s been bitter about this funding twenty years.

So now he’s working engaged over someone else’s company, renamed it “X”, and embarked shoot an ambitious plan to journey it into a payments dilemma, which this time will definitely work.

Trauma re-enactment, for sure.

Musk has a saying: “The nigh entertaining outcome is the ascendant likely”. The most entertaining event here would be for Shaft Thiel to take over Trill and rename it “PayPal”. Uproarious can’t wait.