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If the company is in a time of chaos, one has an opportunity to be an agent of order. This may come in the form of stepping into managerial or leadership roles or stepping into gaps in the talent pool as an individual contributor. These opportunities can often represent shortcuts in a career track, where in simpler times one may have faced more competition for a position or longer delays waiting for vacancies to open up.

Further, these are great and rare times to learn about aspects of the business to which one has not hitherto been exposed, which in the long term is incredibly valuable practical education. When filling the breach, during mergers or downsizing, one finds many opportunities to wear multiple hats outside of what one’s traditional qualifications would warrant.

I can’t speak about Musk, obviously, but some people will leave because they feel Musk does not sufficiently “care about them”. Others will step forward into those vacancies potentially because they don’t need Musk to care about them, but recognize that Musk cares about the job being done, and they are in a position to get it done, and are willing to do it particularly if getting the job done represents some measure of reward (promotion, accelerated career, exposure, etc).

My own career advice would be that Musk “caring about you” is a ridiculous distraction in the short term, and that you should look at the professional skill development, education, and trial by fire opportunities with very lusty excitement. Truly, IME these are some of the most exciting times in a career if you can stand the heat and they produce very long lasting professional relationships and bonds that may pay dividends down the road.

Alternatively, a boring job with a CEO who pretends to care about you is an option too, but “wherever you go, there you are.” If one has issues with high blood pressure, anxiety or has a busy life outside of work, this may very well be a better option.




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