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- Elon Musk explains why he slept on the Tesla factory floor for 3 years
Elon Musk explains why he slept on the Tesla factory floor for 3 years
“I was living in the factory in Fremont and the one in Nevada for three years straight. That was my primary residence. I’m not kidding. Literally. I slept on a couch, and at one point a tent on the roof, but for a while there, I was just sleeping under my desk which was out in the open in the factory.”
As Elon explains, he did this for an important reason:
“I slept on the floor under my desk so that during shift change, the entire team could see me. This is important because if the team thinks their leader is off somewhere having a good time, drinking Mai Tais on a tropical island [it’s demoralizing]… Since the team could see me sleeping on the floor during shift change, they knew I was there. That made a huge difference, and they gave it their all.”
This principle that leaders must be visible is something Elon emphasized in a memo to Tesla employees ending remote work and requiring a minimum of 40 hours per week in person:
“The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence. That is why I lived in the factory so much – so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt.”