Elon Musk's former Twitter lieutenant says he needs to 'hear hard truths' and not fire everyone who goes against him
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Grace Kay
Jul 27, 2023, 04:47 IST
Esther Crawford said Elon Musk is too surrounded by "yes men."Patrick Pleul/Pool/AFP via Getty Images; Courtesy of Robert Cowherd
Former Twitter lieutenant Esther Crawford warned Elon Musk is surrounded by "yes men."
Crawford said it was frustrating that Musk listened more to his gut than to others' expertise.
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Esther Crawford, Elon Musk's former lieutenant at Twitter, voiced some of her concerns with the billionaire's leadership at the social media company in 14-minute video on Wednesday.
The former director of product management at Twitter, now X, warned that the billionaire is "living in an echo chamber" and said Musk is surrounded by "yes men."
"At times it felt like the inner circle was too zealous and fanatical in their unwavering support of everything he said." Crawford wrote on X. "Everyone needs to hear hard truths sometimes and if you fire all the people who speak up, then the reality distortion field may just turn into a vortex," she added.
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The ex-director said she found it frustrating that Musk appeared to rely more on his gut instincts than data or other workers' expertise.
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"Instead he'd poll Twitter, ask a friend, or even ask his biographer for product advice," Crawford wrote. "At times, it seemed he trusted random feedback more than the people in the room who spent their lives dedicated to tackling the problem at hand. I never figured out why and remain puzzled by it."
Despite his close personal circle of friends, Crawford said she saw the billionaire as "isolated."
"I found myself frequently looking at Elon and seeing a person who seemed quite alone because his time and energy was so purely devoted to work, which is not the model of a life I want to live," Crawford said.
Crawford, who famously slept at the Twitter's headquarters in order to meet one of Musk's deadlines, said it can be challenging to deal with the billionaire's personality which can "turn on a dime going from excited to angry."
"Since it was hard to read what mood he might be in and what his reaction would be to any given thing, people quickly became afraid of being called into meetings or having to share negative news with him," Crawford posted on X.
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The former lieutenant said that her view of Musk is nuanced and also appeared to praise some aspects of his leadership, including his "exceptional talent for tackling hard physics-based problems."
Crawford's sentiments echo those of others. Last year, venture capitalist and early Twitter investor Chris Sacca warned Musk needed to surround himself with more people that would challenge him.
"One of the biggest risks of wealth/power is no longer having anyone around you who can push back, give candid feedback, suggest alternatives, or just simply let you know you're wrong," Sacca wrote in a Twitter thread in November.
Since then, she has said she's taking a career break and has gone on to travel the world.
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