Andrej Karpathy, former Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) AI director and founding member of OpenAI, once shared a rare glimpse into Elon Musk's unconventional, high-intensity approach to leading his companies.
Elon Musk Believes In Small, Highly Technical Teams
Speaking at Sequoia Capital's AI Ascent in March 2024, Karpathy spoke about Musk's preference for small, highly technical teams.
"Elon was always like a force against growth. I would have to work and expend effort to hire people, I would have to basically plead to higher people," Karpathy said. "I like to say that he runs the biggest startups."
Karpathy said Musk is “friendly by default” when it comes to removing low performers. “I actually had to fight for people to keep them on the team because he would, by default, want to remove people.”
He also said that Musk's approach minimizes middle management and focuses on technical expertise over hierarchy.
Musk Prefers People Pacing Around In The Workspace
Karpathy said that when Musk enters the office, he expects to see people actively engaged — pacing, brainstorming, coding or mapping out projects.
He dislikes stagnation and large, drawn-out meetings, often urging employees to leave if they aren't contributing or learning.
Unlike many large corporations that focus on comfort and perks, Musk's environment focuses on intensity and high-level technical execution.
The culture, Karpathy suggested, centers on doing one's best technical work rather than seeking convenience or downtime.
Tesla CEO Likes To Directly Engage With The Source Of Truth
Unlike traditional CEOs, Musk regularly engages directly with engineers. He talks to the team, not just VPs or directors. Engineers and their work are "the source of truth," Karpathy explained.
Karpathy also spoke about Musk's decisive style: if an engineer flags a problem, Musk will remove obstacles personally and demand immediate results.
"He’s connected with the team and not something remote is also unique," he said.
Tesla Engineer Criticizes Elon Musk's Leadership
Last month, a Tesla engineer criticized CEO Musk's leadership, accusing him of misleading the public and influencing public narratives.
Giorgio Balestrieri, who spent more than eight years working on Tesla's Autobidder — the company's real-time trading and control platform for energy storage systems, alleged that Musk's leadership had become "seriously compromised."
His comments came shortly after Tesla introduced a new compensation plan for Musk, a package that could make him the world's first trillionaire if Tesla meets specific performance milestones.
During the same time, Tesla chairperson Robyn Denholm described Musk as a "once-in-a-generation visionary," noting that under his leadership, Tesla has the potential to become the most valuable company in history.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings show that TSLA demonstrates strong price momentum over short, medium and long-term timeframes. Additional performance details can be found here.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
