I consider one of my core responsibilities as CEO is to have an environment where great engineers can flourish.251
I don’t think I manage smart people; they manage themselves. If someone is smart and talented, they can go anywhere and do anything, anytime.252
I say, “Look, this is the goal we’re after. Do you agree with this goal? If you do, then let’s try to get it done.”
I’ll provide my opinion along the way. But it’s rare for me to actually insist on a particular thing. Once in a while I’ll say, “You have to trust me on this one. We have to do this, and if it turns out to be a bad decision, we can all hold it against me in the future.”253
Another important principle: You want everyone to be able to think like the chief engineer. They need to understand the system at a high level, well enough to know when they are making a bad optimization.254
Since a company is a group of people assembled to create a product or service, the ability to attract and motivate great people is critical to the success of a company. That’s the purpose of a company. People sometimes forget this elementary truth.
If you’re able to get talented, hard-working people to join the company, work together, and have a relentless sense of perfection toward a common goal, you will end up with a great product. If you have a great product, lots of people will buy it, and the company will be successful.255
That’s why our most important consideration is recruiting the best people. The output of any company is the vector sum of the people within it. If we attract the most talented people over time and our direction is correctly aligned, we will prevail.256
A small group of technically strong people will always beat a large group of moderately strong people.257
What you see at SpaceX is the result of an incredible team. Supertalented people who work like crazy to advance technology. They make this happen. My role is to make sure they have an environment where their talents can come to the fore. I can’t tell you how honored and grateful I am to work with such a great team.258
Do everything you can to gather great people.259
Many companies suppress their talented, driven engineers. Some are suppressed by being so comfortable they don’t produce much. There are a few places in Silicon Valley with good engineers—but what are they producing? The output of that engineering talent seems low, though maybe they are enjoying themselves.
Tesla is not like that. We’re demanding. You’re going to get a lot done and it’s going to be cool work, but it’s not going to be easy. At Tesla, a superb engineer’s talents are used to a greater degree than anywhere else.260
Tesla has been like a whole series of startups. So far almost all have been quite successful, so we must be doing something right.261
Only exceptional performance constitutes a passing grade.262