Another Iceberg, Right Ahead 224
perfect CEO – it was bold and out-there.”^222 While Elon
might have been the perfect CEO, the question was if he
really had the time to be the CEO and CTO of SpaceX and
the CEO of Tesla. But Elon didn’t have any other choice. “I
had to choose to either let Tesla die or run it personally,” he
said. “At considerable personal sacrifice, I decided to do the
latter. It is a great hardship to run two companies at once –
and harder with their headquarters separated by 400 miles
[640 km] and in the middle of the worst recession since the
Great Depression.”^52
“Don’t shield me from emergencies,” Elon told his
employees. “I want to know the split second they occur,
and have the option of taking a hand.”^59 He told them he
was available 24/7 and they could call at 3 AM on a Sunday
morning if they felt it was necessary.^331 “I went from
working hard to working ridiculously hard,” Elon said.^59
Not strange Justine thought Elon worked too much. “Elon
is not afraid of breaking things – he will break himself if
he has to,” Justine said.^278
Automotive news interested most Tesla engineers. When
they woke up one morning in October 2008, they went
to their computers, opened an Internet browser, went to
their favorite automotive blog, and read that Tesla would
reduce the number of employees. “There will also be some
headcount reduction due to consolidation of operations,”
the message said. “In anticipation of moving vehicle engi-
neering to our new HQ in San Jose, we are ramping down
and will close our Rochester Hills office near Detroit. Good
communication, tightly knit engineering and a common