Musk reinvents old GE

Source: Paypal employee’s key takeaways from working with Elon Musk | EVANNEX Aftermarket Tesla Accessories

Former VP of Finance at PayPal Jason Portnoy noted on the “Tim Ferriss Show” podcast that Musk and fellow former PayPal executives Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman “were never only doing one thing at a time,” according to a report from Business Insider. Portnoy pointed out that all three of the PayPal executives had their hand in many other companies besides their own — all coming back regularly with new approaches.

"I feel like they got a lot of benefit out of doing that because they would be getting exposed to different ideas, or solving different problems, or meeting different people," Portnoy said. "There was just all this stuff that they were interacting with. And then they would bring that back with them into the PayPal office."

To be sure, the claim adds up if you look at Musk’s current plate. Musk is facilitating several high-level business operations from Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company and Neuralink, along with a near-takeover of the social media platform Twitter. While some shareholders wondered if buying Twitter would have a negative impact on Musk’s attention to Tesla (a problem that solved itself with Musk backing out of the deal) others like Portnoy may simply notice how one company can serve the other, and vice versa.​

When I first started at GE before 'neutron' Jack Welch, GE was a huge conglomeration of many divisions tied together with a research lab at Schenectady, NY. Then Jack decided each division had to be #1 or #2 or be sold ... he and his followers sold a lot division. For example, Black and Decker came from GE. But the cross-fertilization of ideas meant divisions could draw on the best and brightest to solve difficult problems and advance. GE is much smaller today.

I would enjoy working for/with Musk.

Bob Wilson

 

Bob Wilson