4 min read
Carl Medlock, a former Tesla employee, who worked as a territory manager for 4 years, from 2009 to 2013, was invited to the podcast “The Iced Coffee Hour” last week. Graham Stephan and Jack Selby are the hosts of the podcast and they did a very good job as they were able to get some juicy insides from the man about the tech business magnate Elon Musk and his office habits.
Medlock said that it was an overall great experience to work for the billionaire and he didn’t share any underworld or astronomical conspiracy about him. But there were some odd habits and incidents of Tesla and Elon Musk that he mentioned.
Here are some of the things that were mentioned in the podcast by Carl Medlock;
1. He Immediately Liked Tesla Better Than Ferrari
He said that in 2009 before he was employed, he used to drive a Ferrari 360 and when an employee of Tesla gave him a test drive of the Tesla Roadster, he immediately know that this was a better car than his own. He said that he was impressed by the power that the Tesla Roadster generates off the hook and despite being an electric vehicle, it beats many petrol-engine cars. Medlock said;
“Ferrari has only 70mph in the first gear before it actually has some power, Tesla Roadster has power right off the bottom, as soon as you turn it on it’s just fast.”
2. Elon Musk Actually Works Really Hard
Medlock said that Elon Musk tells the truth when he says that he works a lot. He said that Musk had often slept in the factory and don’t go home for days. He once found Musk sleeping on his desk and snapped an image of it and later deleted it thinking that he might get fired for this.
3. Elon Musk Has A Versatile Knowledge
Medlock had to go through a long interview process to get hired, and Musk did 5-6 interviews. Medlock mentioned that he was impressed by Elon Musk’s car knowledge and didn’t expect someone who was not previously from the car industry to have such good job-interview questions. And when Medlock started working at Tesla, he came to know that not just about cars, but Musk has knowledge about a lot of things that he didn’t expect some Physics degree holder to have.
4. Elon Musk Had a Close-Knit Relation With His Family
Elon Musk has nine kids, but whenever someone from his family was around, he always welcomed them and entertained them. Medlock said that Musk prioritized his family over his work. Medlock said;
“When he was with his kids, nobody disrespected him. Nobody went over to talk to him.”
5. Elon Musk Is A Very Straight Forward Person
Medlock said that Musk was a very disciplined and hardworking person and was a hands-off style boss. Elon Musk didn’t interfere with other people’s jobs too much and said that he was just like a “regular guy” at the work. But he did not mess around wasting his and others’ time. Medlock said that Musk didn’t do any boss chat before meetings and went straight to the topic.
He said that Musk was open and respectful to everyone’s opinions and try to learn about his mistakes but once he has decided something no one could argue with him. Medlock said that;
“When Elon stands up at the end of the meeting and says ‘this is the direction we are going to go’, you stand up from your chair and you better head that direction. Because he’s not one for people backtalking, he’ll just let you go”
There was much other interesting stuff in that podcast, so make sure you go and watch it for more details.
