For Elon Musk, chaos may be more than a management style: his ex-wife says it’s where he feels comfortable.
Justine Musk described the billionaire’s appetite for intensity in a teaser released Tuesday for Kara Swisher’s interview with her and filmmaker Alex Gibney ahead of the release of Gibney’s documentary “MUSK.”
“I once described him as someone who can jump off the edge of a cliff and, you know, invent a parachute on the way down,” Justine Musk told Swisher of her ex-husband, “I think he thrives on chaos.”
Justine Musk, author and mother of Vivian Jenna Wilson, said Tesla CEO language often presents challenges as existential emergencies, with an element of performance.
“Everything is life and death,” she said. “And I think he really lives like that. He really lives with that intensity.”
This description echoes within Elon Musk’s companies.
At xAI, current and former employees told Business Insider that Musk’s growing involvement led to abrupt shifts in priorities, intensive “war rooms,” and a group discussion of more than 300 engineers. Researchers would pause ongoing work to address reported concerns.
“Because the company is so small, everything is a fire drill,” one former employee told Business Insider.
Musk’s willingness to make sweeping changes and quickly reverse some of them predates his AI startup. After downsizing Twitter following its 2022 takeover, he said some cuts had gone too far.
Justine Musk said her ex-husband’s intensity can attract others before they realize what’s happening.
“He brings it with him, and he has a way of drawing you in, and at first it can feel a lot like excitement,” Justine Musk said. “I always suppose there’s a method to his madness, you know, a lot of sleight of hand sometimes.”
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