Reports of Elon Musk’s brash behavior are nothing new, but a book suggests the outspoken executive was downright abusive to some employees.
According to Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century, the executive had a habit of going off on employees ranging from hourly workers to top executives.
These episodes were reportedly so common that members of the executive committee would joke about “Who would he be devouring this week?” In another incident noted by Business Insider, Musk reportedly screamed “I don’t believe you!” at then Model S chief engineer Peter Rawlinson.
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As Tesla struggled to get the Model 3 into production, Musk’s outbursts reportedly became “increasingly unpredictable, indiscriminate and public.” During one of these incidents, he reportedly told engineers their work was “complete sh*t” and then had each person on the call tell him “who the f*ck you are and what the f*ck you’re doing to fix my godd*mn [assembly] line.” That meltdown reportedly caused someone to quit on the spot.
The Daily Mail also noted other episodes mentioned in the book, including one where Musk allegedly told employees they didn’t have any right to complain because “I can be on my own private island with naked supermodels, drinking Mai Tai’s – but I’m not.”
Furthermore, Musk reportedly told Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard to fire an entire team of engineers because he was upset with them. Eberhard didn’t follow through, but he was eventually shown the door and given the option of leaving Tesla with nothing or leaving with $100,000 (£72,072 / €85,010) and the option to buy 250,000 shares of stock. Needless to say, he opted for the latter.
Musk is also said to have become enraged by a senior sales manager who, presumably, gave Tesla his two weeks notice. Musk reportedly found him and started screaming obscenities, before telling him to leave. The crazy behavior didn’t stop there as Musk reportedly followed the man to the parking lot, and the incident was “ugly and public enough” that Tesla’s board felt the need to investigate.
Those are just a handful of reported incidents, but it’s worth noting that Musk has denied some of the claims in the book.