How is Musk spitting in their face? By shitposting on twitter? By voting for the wrong candidate? These people need to get over themselves. Not everything is about them. They're free to leave.
You're asking questions that were answered in the letter:
"Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks... As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values."
His behavior devalues their work and denigrates the image of the companies they work for.
Then they should go work elsewhere if it bothers them that much. Nobody is forcing them to work for a company ran by Elon Musk.
And I don't know about you, but many people don't just run away when faced with a difficult situation - they face it head on and try to improve it.
Furthermore, if I spent years of my life contributing to a mission that I believe in, giving a company my best work, I'm not going to just walk away because of the actions of a single entitled individual, no matter how rich he is.
And how do you not apply this to Musk, who fired people after a bit of critique?
I would argue it was a good move. Like I said, its a distraction and completely out of line. Imagine you were managing someone and they think its okay to arbitrarily go above your head and call you out publicly. This is incredibly toxic and not a person living in the real world.
Also, you're comparing complaints about the company's double standards with a cleaner complaining about shitty interior design? Do you really think those two things are equivalent?
1. https://wccftech.com/elon-musk-now-owns-less-than-half-of-sp...
People don't have to like him, but it doesn't seem he's actually done anything other than make people work hard at their jobs...
"At SpaceX, we have a 'no a--hole' policy," Shotwell said in a virtual speech to graduates in Northwestern University's 2021 commencement ceremony. "These kinds of people — a--holes — interrupt others, they shut down or co-opt conversation, and they create a hostile environment where no one wants to contribute," Shotwell said. She is also SpaceX's chief operating officer.
Interrupting others stifles innovation and stops people solving difficult problems, Shotwell said.
"In short, the best way to find solutions to hard problems is to listen harder, not talk louder," she said. "Embrace the ideas of your fellow workers, especially when they differ greatly from yours."
https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-president-gywnne-shot...
Why does it matter whether his actions are in the context of SpaceX? He is associated with his companies (and vice-versa) to a greater extent than probably any other current head of business. Separating Musk from his companies in the minds of the public would be an exercise in futility, and his personal branding and thirst for public attention seem designed to encourage this. Therefore, every public action he takes has an effect on each of his companies, including SpaceX, regardless of whether said action took place "in the context of" those companies.
With that said, here are some of Musk's "greatest hits":
1. The tweet comparing Bill Gates to the pregnant man emoji [1]
2. referring to the guy who rescued the Thai cave divers as a "pedo" [2]
3. committing securities fraud [3]
4. tweeting that he'd start a STEM school called Texas Institute of Technology & Science (aka TITS) in an industry already rife with casual sexism [4]
5. implying that Tesla employees would lose their stock options if they unionized [5]
6. branding Tesla's driver assist technology as "autonomous", implying it requires no human intervention and therefore meets the criteria for full self-driving. [6]
The above actions range from needlessly trollish to outright illegal. One could argue that you don't build multiple billion-dollar companies without being an asshole to some of the people some of the time, but you'd be hard-pressed to argue that these are not the actions of an asshole.
1. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1517707521343082496
2. https://time.com/5339219/elon-musk-diver-thai-soccer-team-pe...
3. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/elon-mu...
4. https://qz.com/work/2082746/elon-musks-tweet-captures-everyd...
5. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/998454539941367808
6. https://screenshot-media.com/technology/ai/tesla-autopilot-u...
Well it does matter, because these people consciously came to work at HIS company.
It's like people that move into a noisy neighbourhood and then start to complain about the noise.
Elon is eccentric, yes he tweets some things that people don't like, but he's also built friggin SpaceX...
Unless he's specifically done something to the people at SpaceX then I really don't think they've got anything to complain about... it smells of entitlement and the outrage culture that's appeared in recent years.
Workers (especially the average HN reader) have incredible power to fight back… find a new job and switch companies. Lots a companies are hiring even with the macro economic issues.
From an employee perspective it’s insane to me that one would put so much energy into fighting their leadership rather than just leaving the company for a better one.
Outside of the tech industry (and even then), this ain't anywhere near as easy as you assert. Lots of companies are "hiring"... for positions with shit pay and inflated qualifications.
> From an employee perspective it’s insane to me that one would put so much energy into fighting their leadership rather than just leaving the company for a better one.
From an employee perspective it's insane to me that one would be entirely oblivious to both the risks inherent in quitting (especially given the current economic conditions) and the notion that maybe people might like everything about their company aside from one or two things that need changed.
It's something you use when trying to address a delicate subject whilst minimizing the blowback. Calling out the head of your organization publicly via a scathing open letter would not be it.
First paragraph of the article.
And of course there is also this, "In an email, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president, said the letter had made other employees “feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied.”"
I find the entire notion of calling for the CEO's ouster with "tact" a bit disingenuous.
I bet you'd be fired.
I said the same thing by the way about the guy who got fired from Google for circulating a misogynistic rant about female engineers. That was also stupid and unprofessional at the very least.
Politics at work can be generally problematic. Political rants at work that criticize leadership or coworkers or are broadly offensive are probably going to get you fired.
Yes, I know Tim is gay.
And someone isn't entitled to spit in your face just because they pay you. Respect for people should go both ways, and the view that just because someone is rich, above you in the ladder, you should just shut up and take it, isn't a good one too.
Workers have very little power to fight back, yes there might be consequences but they wouldn't have written this letter if they didn't feel they weren't already living under the consequences of bad leadership.