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Comment by deltree7 | Hacker News Reader

I know HN hates him, but Elon Musk has figured this out and that's why he will always deliver outstanding returns compared to others.

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How exactly has he figured this out? I see an egomaniac that drives his employees as if they're just cogs in a machine.

Per this thread, this seems preferable to letting managers spend all their time building empires.

Also, if you're working for any large company, you are a cog in the machine.

I think both you and the GP are missing the essence of what Elon is. He is neither an amazing operator and businessman, nor is he a slave driving demon. He does have a huge ego and need for attention, I'll give you that, but fundamentally he is someone who cares more about solving big problems than he does about money or people. The push to deify or villify him is all about satisfying ones own judgement, but personally I find those reductive opinions to be far less interesting than actually looking at the various things he's done and evaluating them on their own merits.

Not sure.

He seems like a ‘slave driving demon’. Best example how he treated the folks at Twitter or his other companies… demanding ‘hardcore’ hours and exactly like you said… he doesn’t care about people… doesn’t care whether they burn out or creating a culture where bullying is accepted.

I don’t think he really cares about solving big problems, it’s just a front to feed his big ego… he wants be seen as real life Tony Stark.

If he really cared about solving big problems like the climate crisis etc he wouldn’t have wasted his time with Twitter.

He wouldn’t have come with a stupid idea like the hyperloop and trying to derail a high speed rail project.

What he has achieved is he inspired more people to become engineers and problem solvers and have a positive vision of the future. But his big ego and narcissistic traits have ruined it and more and more folks see what he really is.

No argument with what you said, but I give him credit for Tesla and SpaceX. Those are more ambitious than the vast majority of SV companies funded over the past couple decades.

Yes true, that’s what I meant by he inspired others.. to join him to solve humanity’s problems.

At the beginning his ambitions were probably more aligned to this vision, but he probably got more jaded over the years, realised it’s effin hard and his narcissism got the better of him.

It’s a shame the way he treated the Tesla founders. Also I never saw him credit his various teams, it’s always about him.

Tesla and SpaceX are successful despite his involvement, because ppl care about creating more sustainable solutions for humanity… it’s a great mission.

/rant over ;)

One thing he figured out was that he could cut 75% of the dead weight employees and still have a product that 95% of the users are just as, if not more, satisfied with (despite all the predictions of imminent destruction).

I would argue that administrative and organizations bloat is a very real problem across virtually every large business. The bigger the business, the worse the bloat problem.

So the tactic is stock market manipulation and PR?

You can't do it, but you can fool idiots on the internet that you can!

His company hasn’t delivered outstanding returns as far as profits. Tesla’s stock is mostly hype.

Twitter is private, but Elon definitely destroyed value when he took it over.

Well, he did overpay by at least 50%.

He also paid 4x the price. And took out his frustration and vindication on employees. Doesn't come across as someone with sound judgement or vision

> outstanding returns compared to others.

Like this? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/03/twitter-s...

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