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Hey everybody. 
Welcome back to the Elon Musk 

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Podcast. 
This is a show where we discuss 

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the critical crossroads, the 
Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The 

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Boring Company, and Neurolink. 
I'm your host, Will Walden. 

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Elon Musk is losing top 
executives across Tesla and XAI,

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and the exits are piling up 
faster than replacements. 

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Why are so many of his closest 
lieutenants bailing on roles 

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that once gave them influence 
over some of the world's most 

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valuable companies? 
Over the past year, Musk has 

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seen a steady churn of senior 
leadership from nearly every 

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part of his empire. 
Key figures from Tesla's U.S. 

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sales team, the battery 
division, public policy office, 

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and AI units have walked out on 
him. 

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Now X AI the pace is even more 
aggressive with both the CFO and

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the general counsel quitting 
within days of each other. 

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These aren't mid tier managers 
leaving for a better position 

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after a few years. 
Many of them are the same people

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must personally tapped to drive 
Tesla's long term bets and XA is

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newest experiments. 
Now the reasons behind the 

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departure split into two camps, 
fatigue and friction. 

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Some left after years of intense
work, saying they wanted to 

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build something new or take some
time off. 

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But others are leaving 
completely burned out, fed up 

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with Musk's politics, are 
unwilling to keep pace with 

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constant layoffs and sudden 
shifts in strategy. 

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Several who recently quit 
described a culture of 

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instability where priorities 
change without warning and 

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Musk's personal feuds bleed into
daily work expectations. 

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Now inside Tesla, Musk sudden 
shift away from EVs toward 

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robotics and AI has left 
veterans of that company 

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confused and frustrated. 
In April 2024, the company laid 

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off 14,000 people and cancelled 
its low cost EV program, known 

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internally as NV 91 or Model 2. 
And that project was seen as 

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essential for Tesla's original 
mission of global 

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electrification. 
It's shut down triggered exits 

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from Daniel Ho, the executive 
who led the initiative, as well 

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as other longtime leaders in 
charging, powertrain and battery

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systems. 
Now at XAI, Musk's approach to 

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competition and leadership has 
created a lot of tension. 

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CFO Mike Libertar, he quit after
only three months and moved to 

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Open AI, the company that Musk 
also Co founded and now sees as 

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a threat. 
He publicly said he worked more 

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than 120 hours a week and spent 
every day in the office. 

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That's not a way to live, 
people. 

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General Counsel Robert Kiel left
after 16 months, posting an AI 

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generated video of a man 
shoveling coal while screaming. 

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Both were among a string of 
senior staff who questioned 

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whether Musk's intensity had 
crossed into dysfunction. 

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The multiple recent exits at X 
AI said the rivalry with Open AI

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had become a complete obsession 
from Musk. 

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Since chat GP TS release in 
2022, Musk has pushed his teams 

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to match or surpass it at all 
costs. 

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Now, some insiders believe the 
obsession drives rushed feature 

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launches and creates a culture 
where dissent is punished. 

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Over the summer, Grok, which is 
XA is chatbot generated pro 

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Hitler content after Musk 
ordered it to be less woke. 

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How that change led to public 
criticism and more internal 

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resignations. 
People don't want to be 

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associated with that. 
That's disgusting. 

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So I would leave too. 
I don't want any part of that. 

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Nobody wants any part of that. 
And if you do, you're a loser. 

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Now saying that working there 
makes you a loser, but having 

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anything to do with pro Hitler 
content makes you a loser. 

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That's all I'm saying. 
Let me know in the comments of 

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whatever podcast platform you're
on if you think that makes you a

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loser to be associated with a 
company. 

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Even if it was a flaw and it was
just a programming error, you 

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don't want any part of that, 
right? 

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I wouldn't want my family. 
I wouldn't want anybody involved

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with me to have any part of 
that. 

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It's not the right thing. 
Now there's also politics here. 

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They play a role in attrition. 
Musk's public support for the 

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president, Donald Trump and far 
right provocateurs has made 

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internal conversations difficult
for some employees. 

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Several said they didn't want to
keep defending Musk to their 

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families. 
A veteran of the company who 

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recently left said every team 
meeting now carries political 

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weight. 
And those who feel morally 

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conflicted about Musk's behavior
are already just trying to find 

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another job. 
They're halfway out the door. 

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They're waiting for that 
opportunity. 

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Tesla has also lost 
institutional knowledge in areas

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Musk once prioritize. 
The lead on Optimus AI Ashish 

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Kumar left for Meta. 
Milan Kovac, who oversaw the 

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overall humanoid robot program, 
also left. 

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Vineet Matad, who spent 18 years
in Tesla's battery group, left 

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in April. 
Those aren't roles that can be 

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filled quickly though. 
Those are roles that you need to

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be a senior in, you need to have
knowledge and there's just a few

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people that can do those things.
Many of the people walking out 

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helped shape the long term 
technology road map that Musk is

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still trying to execute now. 
Others, like Amid AFSAR, weren't

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just employees, they were close 
confidants. 

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Had Musk's ear ran sales and 
operations in North America was 

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also described as Musk's 
executioner. 

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His exit in June, followed by 
his deputy Troy Jones, marked 

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the end of a 15 year stretch of 
operational continuity. 

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Other exits came after Tesla's 
sales numbers fell and many 

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inside blame Musk for pushing 
away liberal customers with this

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political posts. 
The chaos isn't limited to Tesla

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and XAI. 
Engineers X has seen an entire 

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layer of product and comms 
leadership vanish. 

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Linda Yaccarino resigned the 
CEO. 

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She resigned in July after 
growing tired of being 

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sidelined. 
The Co founder of XAI quit a 

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month later to start an AI 
safety nonprofit. 

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What happened there to make that
happen? 

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Product heads Hefei Wang and 
Patrick Tribert. 

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I'm sorry about the names. 
I'm probably butchering them. 

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I don't know exactly who these 
people are, how to pronounce 

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their names. 
So, you know, they left as well.

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Engineering leaders were also 
poached by open AI. 

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So loyal members matter to Musk 
more than the structure of the 

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company. 
He's going to find other people 

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to fill those roles. 
And according to former 

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executive Musk's, he makes all 
the critical calls and surrounds

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himself with people willing to 
just go along with it. 

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You know, if he makes a 
decision, all right, let's do 

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it. 
That sounds like a great idea. 

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Mr. Musk 1 described the 
environment as rigid with no 

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tolerance for dissent. 
He's the boss, he's the alpha. 

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Anyone who doesn't treat him 
that way finds a way to get 

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deleted now. 
Despite the turnover though, 

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Musk keeps going on. 
He recently installed a hologram

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of Annie and which is a 
flirtatious AI character whose 

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in app behavior sparked 
criticism in the lobby of XAIS 

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office. 
Musk plans to keep building his 

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vision of the future, even if 
many of the people who helped 

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him get this far and make his 
multiple billions of dollars are

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no longer around to see it 
through. 

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They made their paydays too, of 
course he made a lot more than 

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they did. 
Robert Denham, who is the chair 

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of Tesla, said people focus too 
much on exits and not enough on 

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new hires, but the pace and 
pattern of these departures 

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suggests something deeper than 
normal attrition. 

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They're not isolated. 
Things have changed. 

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The warnings from inside the 
machine that the machine may be 

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changing. 
Elon Musk is still in control 

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there, but the foundation is 
definitely shaking. 

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The bones are getting rattled. 
We'll have all the information 

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about what's going on in his 
companies, so stay tuned and 

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subscribe to the show. 
Hey, thank you so much for 

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listening today. 
I really do appreciate your 

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support. 
If you could take a second and 

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hit the subscribe or the follow 
button on whatever podcast 

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platform that you're listening 
on right now, I greatly 

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appreciate it. 
It helps out the show 

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tremendously and you'll never 
miss an episode. 

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And each episode is about 10 
minutes or less to get you 

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caught up quickly. 
And please, if you want to 

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support the show even more, go 
to patreon.com/stagezero and 

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please take care of yourselves 
and each other and I'll see you 

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tomorrow.