Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

by Ashlee Vance

‘The longer you wait to fire someone the longer it has been since you should have fired them,’”

Rarely did Tesla get hung up overanalyzing a situation. The company would pick a plan of attack, and when it failed at something, it failed fast and then tried a new approach.

“Elon got fired up and said we were going to do this intense cost-down program,” said Popple. “He gave a speech, saying we would work on Saturdays and Sundays and sleep under desks until it got done. Someone pushed back from the table and argued that everyone had been working so hard just to get the car done, and they were ready for a break and to see their families. Elon said, ‘I would tell those people they will get to see their families a lot when we go bankrupt.’

Marketing people who made grammatical mistakes in e-mails were let go, as were other people who hadn’t done anything “awesome” in recent memory.

If you told him that you made a particular choice because ‘it was the standard way things had always been done,’ he’d kick you out of a meeting fast. He’d say, ‘I never want to hear that phrase again. What we have to do is fucking hard and half-assing things won’t be tolerated.’

“Don’t worry about the methods or if they’re unsound. Just get the job done.

Check out this quote.

The guiding principle at SpaceX is to embrace your work and get stuff done. People who await guidance or detailed instructions languish.

“Like Jobs, Elon does not tolerate C or D players,”

“Good ideas are always crazy until they’re not.”