
Elon Musk email to Tesla employee about missing an event to witness the birth - mrfusion
http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-email-tesla-employee-2015-5
======
stevecalifornia
My first day at SpaceX I ran into a friend. I asked him how he was doing and
he said he just had a kid. "How old is she now?" "Oh no, like, my wife just
gave birth an hour ago."

The guy was working through the birth of his first born. The story continued
for months afterwards and it's not a good one.

That and many other stories are what led me to quit. I took the summer off and
didn't work. I hung out with my dog and got my pilot's license. A few months
later my dog unexpectedly passed away one night. I was so, so happy I spent
the last months of his life with him instead of at SpaceX.

I get working on big goals, I get working hard. I don't get throwing away
everything else. It's not just your life it's the people who need a father and
a friend.

~~~
at-fates-hands
>> I get working on big goals, I get working hard. I don't get throwing away
everything else. It's not just your life it's the people who need a father and
a friend.

Agreed.

The quote which finally got me to realize my family was more important than my
job:

 _" When you’re gone would you rather have your gravestone say, ‘He never
missed a meeting.’ Or one that said, ‘He was a great father'."_

~~~
TeMPOraL
I agree that family is important and it's especially important to be there for
other people, but regarding your quote, to the two gravestone inscriptions
above I'd much prefer: "He helped mankind make its first steps on Mars.", or
"He helped ensure the world is a good place to live for generations to come.".

~~~
pc86
The question is about whether you'd have it say that _or_ that you were a
great father. It's rare to be able to do both, particularly if the company's
CEO says having a child is "no excuse" to miss an event. Not a deadline or a
board presentation or an earnings report. An _event_.

~~~
gclaramunt
Pretty sure the ppl of Nasa/JPL who actually put a man on the moon, worked
reasonable hours and almost never missed dinner with family. So, I don't think
they're mutually exclusive

EDIT: So, everybody was screwed then? I must have mixed anecdotes :)

~~~
waterlesscloud
"The room, the hours that we worked were incredible. I don't think anyone ever
worked anything less than 10 to 12 hours each day. Saturday was a normal day
of work; in fact, that's the way we felt it should be. We were given this
impossible dream by President Kennedy, and we were living it. We were doing
the kinds of things that engineers would kill for. And as part of this
process, we'd go and open up our pay—we were surprised we were getting paid by
this thing here. As long as we had enough money to make things meet, that's
all we needed. The job was our life, and we lived this literally every day."

\- NASA Flight Controller Gene Kranz

[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tothemoon/kranz.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tothemoon/kranz.html)

~~~
harimau
10 - 12 hours a day is pretty typical in the entertainment business. Most tv
shows do 12s for an entire year, movies about the same for less, and VFX
workers during crunch time (which is near permanent for some) 12 is usually
the minimum. Plus your weekends are gone.

At least the guys in the Space Program were doing for a far more valuable
reason.

------
paulrpotts
The wording the article uses is offensive. A dad isn't in the delivery room
just to "witness" the birth, or at least he shouldn't be. He's there to
support the mother, advocate for her, help her make decisions regarding how
the birth goes, support the newborn baby, advocate for him or her, and (maybe)
make very difficult medical decisions if either is compromised.

Most of my children were born without a lot of complications, and I didn't
have to do much decision-making or advocacy, just support my wife, talk to
her, hold her hand, rub her back, cut the cord, take pictures, hold the baby,
and all that. My baby girl responded immediately to my voice in a way that she
didn't respond to other voices, because she had heard my voice a lot while she
was in the womb.

My most recent turned into a difficult birth, with both mother and baby very
sick with a rare infection, and an emergency C-section, and then with my
newborn son in the hospital for ten days of IV antibiotics. Because my wife
was in recovery I had to immediately provide "kangaroo care" \-- that is, skin
to skin contact with my newborn son, to help him adapt. Also, to hold him as
much as possible in the neonatal ICU, while he had IVs stuck in and medication
pumped in. My wife was not very mobile at that point.

Once she was a little more mobile the friends we had tapped to watch our other
kids were all tapped out and so I had to be a stay-at-home dad for them.

Parenting responsibilities and spouse responsibilities are not like work
responsibilities. They just aren't. Anyone who says or behaves otherwise is a
sociopath.

~~~
sktrdie
> A dad isn't in the delivery room just to "witness" the birth, or at least he
> shouldn't be.

But I mean, surely the "witnessing" is important on its own, no?

~~~
Zelphyr
We went through the Lamaze classes where they tell you all the things you'll
be doing to help your wife birth your first child. Then we went to the
delivery room where the nurses pointed next to my wife's head and said, "you
stand here" while they did all the things I thought I was supposed to do.

And, honestly, I didn't mind. It was nice letting the professionals do their
jobs and I could sort of be a cheerleader (bad term but its the best I can
come up with at the moment) and witness the birth of my child.

~~~
DrJosiah
Hospitals and experiences differ, neither of my kids' births were like that.

------
mindcrime
_Musk even scolded a Tesla employee who missed an event to witness the birth
of his child_

If true, that diminishes my respect for Elon just a touch. I mean, OK, I get
it... when you're trying to change the world, you want passion, you want
commitment, etc. Fine. But here's the thing: in the end, you're just as dead
either way. Change the world, you're still dead. Don't change the world:
You're dead. The only thing that _really_ counts in many ways (if such a thing
can be said to even exist) is what happens "between the goalposts" so to
speak.

If I were working for Elon and he said something like that to me, I'm pretty
sure my answer would be "bugger off". You only get to witness the birth of a
child once, ya know?

It's also important to remember that, as a founder, you'll _never_ find people
who are exactly as committed to your project and your ideals as you are. You
just can't. It will always be _your_ baby, and it will always hold
significance to you that it will never hold for anyone else in the world. You
may find people who are committed and passionate, but they still won't be you.
To expect otherwise is folly.

~~~
fingerprinter
If this statement is true and in the proper context (who knows), this all but
kills my respect for Musk. It basically puts him at the same level as Jobs,
Ellison and others who are just egotistical, sociopathic assholes.

Look, Musk /is/ out to change the world. His employees might not be, at least
to the degree and level as he is. And, if they are, they'll likely not be
remembered along with Musk. There is often only one, maybe two names attached
to great achievements. If I'm an employee at a company like that (and I have
been, and I have killed myself with long hours making someone else rich when I
was young and dumb, before I realized what it was all about), I would do my
job very, very well and make sure I have the balance in life /I/ want.

You don't want me to see the birth of my child? Sorry, fuck off. It's my time,
my life, my family, my kid. And we aren't talking about a tee-ball game. This
is the BIRTH. We aren't talking about kindergarten parent-teacher conferences.
This is the birth, where you support your wife and see your child for the
first time.

And, sadly, Musk probably doesn't realize because he is so wrapped up in his
own world, but having a child IS changing the world for a few folks. But, ya
know, sociopaths don't care about other people, just themselves.

I'm continually saddened that we put people on pedestals who so clearly aren't
deserving of it. Musk is just another example of someone who /really/ is out
for theirs and want to get it any way possible. I think we all thought, or
maybe hoped, he was different. I don't know that he is.

~~~
mikeash
I'm mostly just happy that we've largely figured out how to channel driven
sociopaths into relatively productive pursuits like building rockets (and,
yes, less productive things like finance) instead of conquering, pillaging,
and salting the earth.

~~~
fingerprinter
This is easily the best 'glass half full' statement on corporate sociopaths
I've ever seen.

Thank you!

~~~
mikeash
Heh, you're welcome!

I truly do think that one of the keys of modern civilization is that we've
figured out a system where the best way to get ahead is to give people
something they want, rather than by killing and stealing.

These people might be the ones tossing books into the Tigris until it runs
black with ink, but instead they're "just" abusing people because of their
family obligations, bending labor laws, etc.

Not to defend that sort of behavior in any way, but it's better!

------
mikeash
I'm a fan of Musk and his companies. I own one of his cars (as far as they can
be called "his," obviously there are tons of people involved) and it's even
better than all the "best car in the world!" people say. I follow every SpaceX
launch and am eager to see them pull off their stage recovery attempts soon.

That said, this doesn't surprise me at all. He doesn't seem like the kind of
guy I'd want to work for. My admiration is about vision and execution, not
personal relationships. He may well be a dick, and it would be no shock if he
is.

Maybe this is what it takes to do big things. Maybe it's entirely unnecessary.
Either way it reminds me a bit of Steve Jobs, who was undeniably a massive
jerk, but who got things done.

I forget exactly what my point was here. I guess it's just that this is a bit
of a "water is wet" story mixed in with celebrity gossip. It's highly
important for the people involved but not terribly relevant for the rest of
us.

~~~
senorito
Jobs made fancy white electronic devices - he just sold a lot of them - to
justify rude behavior with something that trivial simply doesn't seem right to
me.

~~~
mikeash
I'm not saying that anything justifies rude behavior. I'm just commenting on a
case where rude behavior and success occurred together.

------
boomzilla
That's over the line if it's true in my opinion. But again, all we have here
is some anecdotal quotes that might be really out of context. It could just be
just on a status update meeting on Monday 10am and the guy who's responsible
for a critical component did not show up and no one knows why.

------
tna
From Justine Musk, Elon Musk's wife during those times:

"Extreme success results from an extreme personality and comes at the cost of
many other things. Extreme success is different from what I suppose you could
just consider 'success', so know that you don't have to be Richard or Elon to
be affluent and accomplished and maintain a great lifestyle. Your odds of
happiness are better that way. But if you're extreme, you must be what you
are, which means that happiness is more or less beside the point."

...continued at: [http://www.quora.com/How-can-I-be-as-great-as-Bill-Gates-
Ste...](http://www.quora.com/How-can-I-be-as-great-as-Bill-Gates-Steve-Jobs-
Elon-Musk-and-Richard-Branson) (answered by Justine herself)

~~~
Omniusaspirer
This is a thought I've been having myself a lot lately. None of the successes
I have actually leave me happier at the end of the day, they just kind of
exist. Trying to balance success with happiness is a curious dilemma since to
so many people the two are intertwined.

Very interesting read though- I appreciate you linking it here.

~~~
tna
Following Justine's thesis: Do you mean that you feel you're an extreme
person, like Musk, you must be what you are, which means that happiness is
more or less beside the point? Or the opposite: that you're a non-extreme
person, and feel that you're focusing too much on success and not enough on
happiness?

------
MrZongle2
If true -- that is, Musk was criticizing an employee _specifically_ for being
at their child's birth instead of work -- then he's an ass, and he's _wrong_.
I would expect somebody with 5 children would know better.

 _Every_ man or woman put on a pedestal will inevitably disappoint their
admirers in some regard. Steve Jobs, despite his skill at pushing Apple into a
highly profitable and desirable direction, appears from most accounts to be a
horrid, miserable human being. Same with every politician and celebrity.

I doubt this will change much; Musk's goals and reputation hinge on technical
delivery, not interpersonal skills.

------
StavrosK
I don't care about Musk either way, so I doubt this is too biased in his
favor, but I don't think many people would knowingly say something like the
phrase in the article to someone who went to his child's birth. I consider it
more likely that Musk didn't know that the person was missing because of the
birth, or something similar, than that someone would say "yeah this company
event is more important than your child being born".

~~~
troisx
I've heard him talking before, and this doesn't surprise me at all. He has a
definite mean streak, and he's almost gleeful about being nasty.

------
run4yourlives2
A good number of "world changers" prioritize their work over everything else
in their lives, including themselves and the people around them. They expect
their team to do nothing less, so if he did say that, I'm not exactly
surprised.

This wouldn't work for me, and I'd imagine it wouldn't work for a lot of
people who prioritize their families over whatever project they may be working
on. I still like Musk and the things he does, but I have no desire to work for
him if that means working 24/7 like he does.

~~~
wordbank
History repeats itself and people who are trying to "change the world" don't
care about any casualties on their way.

Ironically, world could change so much by everyone being kind and grateful to
others. No invention or conquest can bring this kind of change.

~~~
TeMPOraL
You're saying it as if Elon was Genghis Khan. He's not conquering anything,
he's just trying to solve two of the big problems of humanity, and he invites
volunteers to help him. You don't believe in his mission? Don't join, and
don't take places because you want to "build a resume" (it seems to be a
recent trend now). It's not like he doesn't keep saying that Tesla and SpaceX
are not ordinary jobs.

~~~
wordbank
No, I didn't say this. I'm saying that he's making the same mistake as
thousands of leaders before him: placing achievements first and people second.

~~~
Caprinicus
How is that a mistake? His companies both had periods where they barely
survived, and now they are driving forces in solar power, electric cars, and
private space operations. Had the people there not been as dedicated as they
were, some or all of them might not still be here.

~~~
wordbank
It would not be a tragedy for me. Well-being of these people is more important
than an imaginable entity named "company".

------
cwyers
To everybody who is talking about this being out of context: in what context
is the alleged behavior okay?

~~~
sjm-lbm
The article makes it sound like "That is no excuse" is referring to taking
time off work to see your child born - in other words, there is nothing that
could excuse someone taking off time for that. It's possible that he's merely
saying that taking time off for something so important is no excuse for
failing to request the time off with HR, failing to ensure that a different
team member could be present in a meeting, or something along those lines - in
other words, not that taking time off for important family reasons isn't OK,
but rather that things still need to be handled properly even for things as
important as taking time off to be with your partner while she was giving
birth. Something like that might not be the kindest thing to do, but I can at
least understand the logic behind it.

~~~
cwyers
The alleged e-mail seems to mitigate against that reading:

> That is no excuse. I am extremely disappointed. You need to figure out where
> your priorities are. We're changing the world and changing history, and you
> either commit or you don’t.

"Figure out where your priorities are," not follow procedure. "Commit or you
don't." There is not a terrible lot of ambiguity here.

------
lasky
...just when you start think there might be someone in Silicon Valley who is
worth working for and learning from... it turns out he is also a flawed human
being who can and will wreak havoc on this employees' personal lives.

If this is true, and not taken out of context, Musk has some serious soul
searching to do.

------
Delmania
While it's not unbiased, his ex-wife's article on their marriage and this
comment makes me think Musk has NPD. I was going to say he's a psychopath, but
he has exhibited no signs of antisocial disorder. Rather, he's exhibited a
lack of empathy and illusions of grandeur.

Seriously, it's more than possible to achieve great things while having an
enriching family life. It's about involving your family in your dreams while
working on having healthy relationships. It's possible, it takes a lot of
work, but most worthy things are.

------
Cshelton
Before anybody jumps to conclusions about Musk, we need to first know the
source is accurate and the email is real, and also we need to know the context
of the email.

It could be very well that the employee failed to communicate the fact his
wife may go into labor prior to the event, and with no heads up of any kind,
he gave the excuse after missing the event. In which case, I completely agree
with Musk, if any employee is expecting to be out soon, they need to make it
known. And let's face it...you have quite a few months notice on when the baby
is due.

~~~
fingerprinter
Yes, you have a rough idea when babies are due. My middle child was born 5
weeks early, however. My last was born 3 weeks early. I've had employees send
me a note a day after saying 'sorry, baby came early. more later'.

If you have any reaction other than "oh, ok, hope everyone is healthy", you
are probably a terrible human being.

~~~
greglindahl
Huh, my coworkers who have had pregnant spouses generally gave us a heads-up
around week 24... unlikely to be that premature, but it helps everyone plan
for that possibility.

~~~
silencio
Even if you give people at work a heads up at week 24, that's still a lot of
weeks left to go in the ideal case. I caused my mother to get an emergency
C-section 4 weeks early and it still wreaked havoc with everything - most
importantly, my father missed my birth because he had to go pick up my
grandmother flying in from halfway across the world, who thought 4 weeks was
plenty early.

Besides, this kerfuffle says volumes about how some people would still react
to an unexpected emergency. Death or severe illness in the family? Immediate
medical emergencies? Taking care of myself and my immediate family comes
before any corporate bullshit, personally. I wouldn't have it any other way.

------
pmcpinto
If this is true it's a little bit sad. If a person isn't present in the most
important moments of a family is "changing the world" of the family for worse
and not for better.

~~~
the8472
> is "changing the world" of the family for worse and not for better

Hypothetical counterexample: What if he were busy curing cancer and thus
making sure that the future world of that very family would be a nicer place,
one where the children would never have to experience that disease?

~~~
fingerprinter
That is a classic false dichotomy. You never, ever need to choose between
those two things. You can have some semblance of both in nearly ALL cases.

~~~
the8472
I was thinking of a generalization. Choosing between working on something
important in the future for many people vs. spending time in the now with a
few people you value.

I.e. if you don't single out the event "birth of a child" but look at the more
generalized category "spending time with family and friends" then the response
may be more understandable.

If Elon truly convinced himself that he's basically trying to do his own
contribution to saving the world (climate change and such) then in his mind he
may be working to save countless future lives at the expense of some personal
time of his own and his employees. And thus "birth of a child" and "going
bowling with friends" don't seem all that different.

It's basically a side-effect of convincing himself absolutely of his own
mission.

Also note that scolding is not necessarily the same thing as punishment. It's
just a harsh way of stating a preference. I.e. that he would prefer if they'd
spend more time on saving the world.

~~~
chrisbennet
That's just a rationalization. I really doubt Elon cares about anything but
his own driving ambition. People who can't prioritize their own loved ones
over their jobs, surely don't care for "humanity". They are the very
definition of selfish. They simply do what they want first and then
rationalize it afterwards.

On top of that, these selfish people expect/demand that their employees work
infinitely harder than they do on a ROI basis. Example: A start up founder may
worked twice as many hours as the founding engineer but the founder stands to
make a _lot_ more than twice as much when the company has it's liquidation
event.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _I really doubt Elon cares about anything but his own driving ambition.
> People who can 't prioritize their own loved ones over their jobs, surely
> don't care for "humanity". They are the very definition of selfish. They
> simply do what they want first and then rationalize it afterwards._

No, I think what you wrote is selfish and is a typical rationalization of
having a botched moral compass. I should prioritize my own over the rest of
the world, so it's ok to fuck everyone over as long as I and my family are
happy. This is how a lot of world seems to operate. You wouldn't have
companies polluting rivers, or shoppers cheating you on every occasion
possible, if those people were not prioritizing themselves and their families
over other humans. It's easy to rationalize the harm by saying to yourself, "I
have kids to feed, so fuck those other people, I need that money".

> _On top of that, these selfish people expect /demand that their employees
> work infinitely harder than they do on a ROI basis. Example: A start up
> founder may worked twice as many hours as the founding engineer but the
> founder stands to make a lot more than twice as much when the company has
> it's liquidation event._

While this may apply to many startups, it doesn't apply to SpaceX and Tesla,
and it's disingenuous to discuss them in such terms. The ROI on
electrification of transport, switching everyone away from fossil fuels and
enabling life on another planet is _fuckton lot for every single human being_.
It dwarfs most of the personal sacrifices you could make. And still, no one is
telling you to do it; people who join those companies know up-front what's the
goal, and how much dedication is required.

~~~
cmsj
" I should prioritize my own over the rest of the world"

It feels like you're suggesting that a job such as SpaceX is automatically
beneficial to the rest of the world.

I suggest that you are assuming too much. Could SpaceX usher in a golden age
of transport and colonisation? Sure. It might also fail.

I suggest that you are also assuming too much by suggesting that parenting
your children is selfish and (implicitly) doesn't benefit the world. It's
possibly that SpaceX takes us all to Mars and none of the kids/descendants of
its employees were ever going to achieve world changing things without their
mum/dad being around more. It's also possible that some of those kids would
have achieved greatness if only they had a more present mum/dad in their life.

You can't bail the future down, it's made of unrealised possibilities that we
make real with our choices. Those choices are either implicit or explicit and
we have no way of knowing what will actually happen.

------
MrGando
-it true-

I don't know how people here are deffending this kind of attitude. If you
decide to bring another person to this planet, you have a huge responsibility.
You can balance things out and work a lot and have a family. But if you really
want to work 23 hours a day without paying proper attention to your family,
for the sake of your children and spouse, just don't form a family. The damage
you'll do, is irreversible.

You can't have it all in life... And one has to make hard choices.

~~~
Zelphyr
That "23 hours a day" part is what strikes me as suspect. Unless they're being
hyperbolic--and it doesn't seem like that's what they're trying to do--then
its not sustainable for anyone.

------
dreamdu5t
"Changing the world." The world is bigger than the technology in it. The world
consists of relationships too. I didn't learn this early enough. While you're
out building rocketships don't forget to build relationships.

What a lonely world it would be if we had everything but nobody to care about
us.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Not everyone has to build rocketships. Let the few who want to take one for
the team, and the rest can enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice.

------
AYBABTME
Not excusing the comment, it's pretty harsh.

It seems that everyone praises the prioritization of family over work. The
quote that's brought up goes like:

"When you’re gone would you rather have your gravestone say, ‘He never missed
a meeting.’ Or one that said, ‘He was a great father'."

This supposes that the acceptable thing to do for any human being is to desire
having a family and caring for your own kind. It also supposes that work can
only be a succession a meaningless events.

I see another take on this. I see that some projects can be life projects.
Some of those life projects can happen to be 'work'. Desiring the completion
of a life project, as your mean to live your humanity, is as valid in my
opinion, as the desire to fulfill your humanity through the experience of
family.

When you look at someone like Elon Musk and criticize him for not caring about
family, you criticize him for having a different set of priorities than yours.
The argument is an appeal to emotion and some assumed higher truth. It's not
valid. There's more than one way to focus your life. You don't _have_ to focus
on having and raising children. You might want to do that. Or not.

    
    
       ---
    

That said, it's pretty rude to expect other people to focus their life on a
project instead of their families. However, I can understand that a leader
desire that their company be formed of people likely focused and minded.

------
fsloth
Whatever the truth of the matter I think this highlights a specific thing
people should pay attention to when they choose their employer: different
companies have different values and when considering joining, it's good to
make sure those values are aligned with ones personal values. Having a
strongly disaligned value base can lead to burnout and depression.

Tesla values seem to be in the extreme end of the spectrum. I am not saying
that this is good or bad, just that they are not necessarily aligned with the
values of all.

But all in all, having a car is pretty pointless if there is no-one to drive
them. Hiring clever people and then hindering their pro-creation is not really
helping the society as talented parents usually get talented children, and for
children the most important time of their development is their first years.
Screw those, and the person is considerably worse off. A healthy child might
get well of and by a fancy Tesla in 30 years. I'm not saying slave laboring
the father would make the infant a mental patient and a destitute, but
discouraging healthy parenthood is hedging the bets towards worse outcomes.

The same argumentation can be said of space travel. What's the point of
traveling to Mars unless the needs of future of the species are taken care of
as well. This includes resources for nurture and care.

------
ezl
Imagine a world where that level of insensitivity was inextricably coupled
with the sort of accomplishments he produces for humanity.

I'm not saying they are, but if asshole-ness and makes-awesomethings-ness were
linked, would it be preferable for him to be "a nice guy" and not "a guy who
drove plausible solutions to global online payments, solar power, electric
cars, and space travel"?

Or would we rather have another nice guy that didn't do those things?

It's hard to imagine that anyone who continues to work for Elon Musk's
companies right now doesn't have alternatives. So they're _CHOOSING_ that, for
whatever reason. Maybe they tolerate his behavior to be a part of what he
does. But nobody is really trapped there without options.

Maybe (probably) it's possible to be nice and be awesome. But it's not
important to me that Elon Musk is nice. If I have to pick between his creation
and his compassion, I pick creation.

------
padrian2s
Father of two kids I will not trade the moment of my kids birth for anything
in the world. As for Mr Elon Musk, go home... you are another psycho CEO from
america crime corporate

------
7Figures2Commas
For possible context, Elon Musk's first wife wrote about their relationship
during the midst of her divorce[1].

[1] [http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-
love/advice/a5380/millionaire...](http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-
love/advice/a5380/millionaire-starter-wife/)

------
thieving_magpie
If true that would be hard to not shape my perspective of the man. I can't
respect the Daniel Plainviews of the world.

------
steego
People will justify this sort of abuse because they see it as a necessary cost
for a bright future.

Do you really think we'll create a bright future by continually setting the
precedent it's ok to abuse people to get there? Won't tomorrow's leaders
simply use their own visions of the future to justify their own abuse?

------
thoman23
Well, isn't Elon Musk one of those guys who thinks he's going to live forever?
He probably figures he can spend time with family 1000 years from now after
things settle down a bit.

~~~
TeMPOraL
He said he plans to die on Mars ("just not on landing"). I guess he plans to
do it being happy that the civilization is no longer facing imminent collapse
because of energy and climate problems, and that humans are multiplanetary
species.

------
dennisbest
I'm changing the world. I'm changing history. I'm fully committed. His name is
Theodore and he turns three in July.

------
Red_Tarsius
There's not enough information for a fair opinion on the matter, so I flagged
the article. It's not the first time that _ambiguous_ sources try to smear
Elon Musk. The ex-wife rant was enough.

There are so many variables we are not aware of. Dismissing Elon as a "the bad
guy" is giving too much credit to an unknown source.

------
anonbanker
There's a constructive dismissal lawsuit if I've ever seen one.

------
dageshi
Is it me or is this post disappearing off the front page rather quickly?

~~~
TeMPOraL
It's probably being flagged, because with its lack of context, it's more of a
smearing job than an actual revelation.

------
kelukelugames
John Chambers seems nice, and Cisco did okay.

------
comrade1
Changing the world through government grants, subsidies, and prison labor...

------
senorito
> That is no excuse. I am extremely disappointed. You need to figure out where
> your priorities are. We're changing the world and changing history, and you
> either commit or you don’t.

What an idiot - he became rich - so what ...

------
hauget
1) If true, NONE of us here know under what circumstances this happened. Maybe
Elon hadn't slept for days at the time and later apologized, or maybe the
employee was really at fault. NONE OF US KNOW.

2) Some of the quotes from the book make me think the author merely went
through other people's interviews/articles and compiled them into a
sensationalist book.

~~~
enraged_camel
While this is true, it's also worth nothing that HN places Elon Musk on a
pedestal and becomes incredibly defensive when someone criticizes him.

The reality is probably somewhere in the middle: Elon Musk is no doubt an
amazing man, but he is not without flaws. I think we do need people pointing
out those flaws to balance out all the hype and hero-worship.

~~~
hauget
Agreed. I just get angry when people think it's a good idea to chime in on
"gossip". This isn't Gawker.

------
AstroChimpHam
All the negative press and comments about this miss the point. The guy has
very specific, very ambitious goals that he has a track record of achieving.
He prioritizes those literally above everything and expects the same from key
employees.

Working at Tesla, which has already done a ton to change the entire car
industry is a huge privilege, and no one's making you do it. If you can get a
job there, you can get a job elsewhere, but if you do want to have your job
there and help reshape the world behind someone with a track record like Elon
Musk's, yeah, you're going to have to play by his rules. If other stuff is
more important to you, go work at like 95% of other companies.

~~~
AceJohnny2
I am reminded of this famous Stallman incident, where he basically scorns at
another developer for having a baby:

[http://edward.oconnor.cx/2005/04/rms](http://edward.oconnor.cx/2005/04/rms)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Which reminds me of this RMS classic:

[http://www.art.net/Studios/Hackers/Hopkins/Don/text/rms-
vs-d...](http://www.art.net/Studios/Hackers/Hopkins/Don/text/rms-vs-
doctor.html)

I can't say I disagree with RMS. Having a child is really nothing special.
Every other person on the planet does that. And while I respect that for many
parents, having their own kid is the best moment of their lives, I think RMS
is right to point out that except said parents, no one else cares. It's a huge
problem on social media now; one of the most annoying things is people
continuously spamming everyone with photos of their newborns.

~~~
cmsj
_You_ might not care, RMS might not care, but please don't assume that "no one
else cares". I don't know you, and I don't know RMS, but he doesn't seem like
the most emotionally intelligent person, perhaps you aren't either. Nothing
wrong with that, you are who you are.

Some people are capable of responding very strongly to the emotions of others.
I'm not saying they're better than you, just that they're different to you,
and that they exist :)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Ok, I might overstated it for dramatics, but what I'm complaining about is
that being considerate should go both ways. I'll be happy for you that you
have a kid and congratulate you, but please don't assume that it's in any way
as important for me as it is for you.

It reminds me a thing my friend told me once, that she sometimes wonder
whether if she'll have a kid, will she be as obnoxious about it on Facebook as
many of her friends.

