“It’s hard to see the long-game.”
Model Employee
Tesla’s head of product launches Rich Otto announced this week that he’s left the EV maker after seven years — the latest in a string of key executive resignations.
Unlike other outgoing leaders who have left the company on publicly good terms, Otto slammed the company in a since-deleted post on LinkedIn that seems to criticize CEO Elon Musk’s gutting of the company’s workforce.
“It’s a company I love and that has given me so much, but has also taken its pound of flesh,” Otto wrote. “Great companies are made up of equal parts great people and great products, and the latter are only possible when its people are thriving.”
Otto took a stab at Musk’s leadership, arguing his recent decisions to let go of entire departments have left significant scars.
“The recent layoffs that are rocking the company and its morale have thrown this harmony out of balance and it’s hard to see the long-game,” he added. “It was time for a change.”
Great Resignations
Otto joins a growing list of executives that have since left the company, including Drew Baglino, the company’s now-former senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, public policy executive Rohan Patel, Tesla vice president of investor relations Martin Viecha, top HR executive Allie Arebalo, and senior director of EV charging Rebecca Tinucci.
The tone of Otto’s departure letter, however, stands out — and highlights growing disillusionment with Musk’s abrasive and chaotic leadership style.
Tacitly, others may feel similarly. Baglino, who worked at the company for 18 years, working his way up the ranks to report directly to Musk, sold a staggering $181.5 million worth of Tesla shares when he exited.
The former executives are leaving a growing mess behind. Tesla is in crisis mode and sales are in freefall. A surge in the company’s competition is also signaling tough days ahead.
Just this week, the company removed almost every single US job listing in a major contraction in the company’s workforce beyond the four weeks of brutal layoffs.
And with this many key executives leaving, the company will likely look considerably different moving forward.
In short, whether Tesla can survive this major impasse remains to be seen. For now, the company is still solvent — despite Musk’s unpredictable management.
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