Business of ego or real trouble in the company? The debate on the personality of Elon Musk is in any case not likely to calm down after the dismissal of several SpaceX employees, accused of preparing an “open letter” criticizing him. A decision that Gwynne Shotwell, director of operations of the space exploration company, tries to justify by the disruption that this mail would cause within the company, and therefore in the work produced.
A “small group” of employees sent this letter to all their colleagues asking for their possible signature and their participation in a survey, writes Gwynne Shotwell in her email sent Thursday at the end of the day to all staff. Some felt “uncomfortable and intimidated and/or angry because the letter urged them to sign something that did not reflect their opinion” or because the letter “interfered with their ability to concentrate on their work “, adds the manager. However, she believes, “we have too much essential work to do and do not need this kind of excessive activism”.
Is it Elon Musk or the SpaceX boss tweeting?
The open letter in preparation, revealed by the website The Verge, criticized Elon Musk’s behavior in the public sphere, as well as recent accusations of sexual harassment against him, as “a frequent source of distraction and shame for us “. “As CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is considered the face of SpaceX,” the signatories recall, “every tweet he sends is considered a de facto public statement from the company, particularly those last weeks. »
The boss of SpaceX, but also of the electric car manufacturer Tesla and several start-ups, is a regular in controversies on Twitter with regular virulent messages, sometimes cryptic, sometimes insulting. But it has taken on a new dimension since announcing in April that it wanted to buy the social network.
