Tesla CEO Elon Musk: extreme micro-manager



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It was late 2016. Elon Musk, President and CEO of Tesla, had told investors that his company would create 500,000 electric cars a year by 2018.


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This anecdote is emblematic of Musk's management style, insiders told Tesla at CNBC. Interviews with 35 past and present employees portray an ambitious CEO whose willingness to do everything from scratch has sometimes hindered his decision-making, leading him to approve expensive projects that have failed and have delayed the production. They also described occasions when Musk refused to consider methods developed by other builders and ignored the advice of industry veterans in the ranks of Tesla.

The future of Tesla as a consumer car manufacturer is based on an automated and efficient production of the model 3. Tesla Colin Langan, badyst at UBS, loses $ 6,000 for each model 3 sold for $ 35,000 . It only breaks if the car sells for more than $ 41,000. Tesla has not yet produced the basic model of Model 3, worth $ 35,000.

Tesla has achieved the goal of producing more than 5,000 model 3 vehicles in one week during the third quarter. It manufactured 80,142 vehicles (including 53,239 models 3) exceeding the expectations of Wall Street badysts. But the company is far from reaching the 500,000 marks promised by Musk in 2016. By the end of the third quarter, Tesla had produced 167,975 cars this year. To put this in context, Ford makes as many cars every ten days

. Tesla has promised investors that it will generate positive cash flow and profitability in the second half of 2018. But some investors and badysts are deeply skeptical about it. Tesla's debts are expiring rapidly: the company is expected to pay about $ 230 million in November, part of a debt of over $ 1.3 billion maturing in March 2019.

Faith is tested like never before. . Investors are wary of social media, legal battles, attitudes toward regulators and recreational drug use.

Many employees believe that Musk is essential to the success of the company. They boast of his creativity, his sense of humor and his inspirational speeches. Some attribute to his practical management style the creation of a large company. Spencer Gore, a former employee of Tesla and SpaceX, who is now the CEO of Impossible Aerospace, explained: "

" Elon Musk is in a position that most will never know – trying to provide a decisive product for his industry with He can not afford to make decisions slowly, or even always with compbadion.If he involves himself in the low level details, it 's all about. Improving the speed of execution For some engineers, this can be frustrating, sometimes heartbreaking – but the unconventional style of Elon is what Tesla built, we all chose to join. "

But other employees describe how the Musk management style has increased the costs and complexity of the factories.

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