We can criticise the on premise policy but at least Elon walks the walk, I find it inspiring. He lives in the factories!
> "Employees knew about such rampages. Sometimes Musk would terminate people; other times he would simply intimidate them. One manager had a name for these outbursts—Elon’s rage firings—and had forbidden subordinates from walking too close to Musk’s desk at the Gigafactory out of concern that a chance encounter, an unexpected question answered incorrectly, might endanger a career."
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-life-inside-giga...
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reportedly-terrifi...
Sounds like same ol' behavior as the narcissistic Ballmer and Jobs. Being perceived as "dangerous" is part of being an alpha male, but it goes too far when you get to the top, it seems.
I don't think 'number of applicants' is a good way of measuring 'best recruitment', or that 'best recruitment' is a meaningful counter when talking about conditions of people currently employed there.
End of sarcasm.
It’s not like Elon needs more money to afford a bigger house or something. The the things he wants are things that, as of now, no amount of money can buy. He is, like everybody, motivated by a desire to overcome limitations. But the limitations he perceives are likely very different from yours.
Elon dated Amber Heard. It was revealed in a trial that he donated 1 million USD on her behalf to charities of her choice, we presume to impress her during their courtship.
> It’s not like Elon needs more money to afford a bigger house or something. The the things he wants are things that, as of now, no amount of money can buy.
He wanted Twitter, which had a very specific price tag (44 billion USD), and his wealth allowed him to purchase it.
There are plenty of examples where additional wealth has benefited Elon.
> Sure. But it's not like he wants it for personal consumption. You gotta ask what is "reason why" is. What is he after? And I'd say it's something like a better nervous system for the human species as such.
My reading is he wanted Twitter because it's an influential, chronically under performing platform that he enjoys using. It'll give him incredible power to shape narratives and impact how many get information.
Respectfully: Elon is not a saint, and taking him at face value has never been worthwhile.
And with the Amber Heard thing, we really don't know anything, do we? Not in the trial. And certainly not why Elon did step in with his money. It's easy to speculate that he wanted to buy her affection. And perhaps it's true. He sometimes does foolish things, and he might be especially vulnerable to foolishness when it comes to relationships. But then again, we know nothing.
I don't see Elon as a saint, at all. I just think many people are quite bad at interpreting Elon's actions - and, because of that, terrible at predicting what he will or won't do. For instance, I think Elon is not interested at all about "shaping narratives". I would argue that that's a foreign concept to him. He believes, I think, that in order to change the public's opinion on something, you have to provide "precedents and superlatives". And that's what he's doing: Tesla, SpaceX, Boring, Neuralink... I really think he does believe in free speech. He sees that principle at work in his companies. He has done so many things that, when interpreted based on the assumption that he's motivated by increasing his wealth just for the sake of it, appear terribly foolish, and even reckless. Yet they immediately start making a lot of sense once you refine your mental model of what is really driving him.
Maybe he could pick up a superyacht (I suspect one could get a lightly used model at a really good price right now!), and spend a month each quarter deeply relaxing. Delegate more internal and external responsibilities (like talking to the public) to other people. This might increase Tesla's success, improve his public image, and ultimately add another half-trillion to his net worth.
Citation? AFAIK All employees get stock and the ESPP lets them also buy at the lowest price per quarter, which given the volatility is a huge boon.
They had enormous offices, a lounge, a bar, food (and just about everything) brought to them on demand, hired all their friends to work with them, had drivers if they wanted, secretaries who took care of personal tasks, flew first class... paid a ton.
I had a tiny cube that was falling apart under an ever blowing air vent, next to a way tpo small walk way (everyone walking by couldn't help but bump my cube / look directly in it).
Must be rough for those guys to work all those hours... /s
In general, there is a huge difference between working many hours when you can decide on a whim what to work on vs. having to work many hours on something you have been put on. When working on things I decide to work on, I often have put in enormous amounts of hours, but that cannot be compared with the typical paid work. (I am quite lucky to have a job with relative freedom, but the more I notice it, when there are projects which limit this freedom)
I work for a small company now. The "extra" time I put in is stuff I WANT to do. It's so much more fun / easier to work extra on the thing I want to do, especially when it is optional as it is for me now.
Optional and what I want = energy to do it.