Elon Musk and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad coddled tech worker

Sustain issue #60 (Get Sustain in your inbox next Thursday)
I’ll get right to it. I really don’t like Elon Musk.
Recently as he attempted to take over Twitter, stories about Elon’s past emerged. He threatened to fire interns simply for chatting over the coffee machine. Ane he’s leading a movement against woke and coddled tech employees.
“Tech employees who were once encouraged to bring their whole selves to work are publicly mocked as woke crybabies by venture capitalists who see Musk as the leader of a righteous cleanse.”
As somebody who has worked in both tech and the public sector, I’ll be the first to say that yes tech employees are coddled. I’ll never forget the glee of my public sector co-workers the single day leaders handed out free granola bars for a snack. I’ve participated in conversations at present where people would need a better lunch to come to the office that’s different than the normal already-free lunch – in addition to endless free snacks and beverages.
But being accused of being coddled hits a little differently when it’s coming from the richest person in the world. Elon, no doubt has several assistants running around for him all day fielding requests I can only imagine, a private jet where he allegedly exposes himself, and no worry in life.
I had planned to write about just this as a standalone issue of Sustain. But the internal emails he sent this week sent me to a new level.
So today, I’m helping Elon rewrite each of the emails he sent to Tesla employees this week to help him better communicate his real feelings.
Email 1: Sent to exec staff
Email 2: Sent to all staff
I can’t help but think that timing of other big – and now overshadowed – tech news this week is related. Sheryl Sandberg, long seen as the moral compass and adult of Silicon Valley, is departing Meta/Facebook.
Yes, some really bad stuff happened under her watch. But imagine what she kept from happening?
Even though layoffs are picking up, still the best form of making your voice heard is where you choose to work (or don’t).
Ready to downsize your relationship with work and quit burnout?
Hi, I'm Grant Gurewitz. I'm on a mission to eliminate burnout at work. I've been in tech for 10 years (ex-Zillow, current: Qualtrics) and suffered deep burnout and came back from it even though I never found a playbook for doing so. So, I'm writing it myself.
✉️ Want my top tips? I share my full step-by-step playbook in How I Quit Burnout, my premium newsletter. Get the next one delivered straight to your inbox >
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