Elon Musk is considered one of the most brilliant visionaries of our time and has thus become the richest man in the world. His estimated net worth is $218 billion. But the 51-year-old is also highly controversial. Again and again he causes confusion with erratic statements, not least on Twitter. Genius or madness, that’s the question with Elon Musk again and again – and the answer is probably: both, constantly changing.
Former Musk employees, who have their say in the new BBC documentary “The Elon Musk Show”, also convey this impression. In it, the companions give insights into everyday work with the Tesla boss, describe his leadership qualities and how he deals with his employees. However, the descriptions and ratings differ quite widely.
Dolly Singh, who worked at Musk’s space company SpaceX from 2008 to 2013, seems very enthusiastic about her former boss. According to Business Insider, she says in the documentary, “I think he’s an incredible gift to the world. He’s probably the best leader on the planet.” Above all, Singh remembered his ambition and perfectionism: Musk was “never satisfied”, that made him “who he is today”.
In addition to his genius, Musk also has his downsides, but you have to accept both. If you wanted to change anything about him, his “magic” would be lost, Singh told the BBC show. She too had her disagreements with the billionaire, “but he probably thought it through in a different way than I did.” Musk’s brain just works “fundamentally different” than other people’s. Singh concluded, according to Business Insider, “If he asked me to jump, I would just ask him how high.”
Other former employees looked more critically at Elon Musk. Colette Bridgman, Tesla’s longtime head of marketing, reported that the company boss had tantrums. After he yelled at her for the third time, she decided to leave Tesla. Bridgman described Musk as a “toddler throwing a tantrum or getting angry about something”. “I didn’t see Elon — I saw this person who got angry. It was so bizarre,” Bridgman said.
She also overheard Musk sleeping in the office several times. He wanted to show the other employees how important it is to find a solution to the respective problem: “Because if Elon Musk finds the time to sleep there and be there 24 hours a day, then everyone should others take the time,” quotes “Business Insider” from the documentary.
Jim Ambras knows Elon Musk from his early days in Silicon Valley, he was Vice President at Zip2, which Musk founded with his brother in 1995. Even then, his demands on the employees were extremely high. Musk demanded long working hours and sometimes checked in the evenings whether the employees were sitting in their seats. At one point, according to Ambras, the head of the company “got really angry that the entire company wasn’t in the office at 9 p.m.”.
Sources: “Business Insider” (1) / “Business Insider” (2)
