Musk

This^^^ is what I hate to hear about companies. I worked for one pharma for 30 years. They treated me very well, and I retired well. But, I retired from them earlier than I wanted because the changes to come would have slashed my retirement expectations. Never the less, I did well enough. Retired and went to work for a biologics company, with whom I earned a lot of money. Then retired for good.
One has to follow what the retirement benefits are every year one is with a company, because they are now changing so fast, one can get screwed. This change started in 1997, when laws changed allowing employers to see you as an "at will" employee. It was then that loyalty to employer and employers loyalty to an employee changed. It then became, what you can get away with.
BTW, I gave them 150% as well, because I enjoyed what I was doing.

 

Henry Ford was a major dikk

 

You are exactly right...my dad (being a half a generation+ older than you) got caught up in a merger that cut his retirement by about 15% net net. Never saw it coming (he was VP status at time).

 

I'm expecting a "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out" comment when I'm done here and that's about it.

 

Sorry about your dad. Sounds like he was loyal to a company that was not so loyal to him. I have zero loyalty to any company, unless of course if i'm seeing 1:1 profits.

If the company is hurting, and I had something to do with the hurt, sure I'll take my licks. But if the company is hurting because of poor management while i'm still making my sales numbers, I'll jump ship quicker than you can say IDGAF.

Maybe I wasn't clear in my last post. I'm not getting any of that "believe in the mission" or "you should work hard because it feels good" BS anymore. This was years ago when I didn't have any choice but to put up with it.

I entered the job market at the height of the recession. In 2009 I started at the BOTTOM with NOTHING but the (exceedingly rare in my generation) ability to hustle. I worked for some severe a$$holes just to make ends meet. It was scary just how close I was to homelessness despite working 60+ hours a week.

Those a$$holes held my employment over my head like they were doing me some kind of favor. I remember one of them cut my commission, "because times are tough and I should care about the company" but that MFer shows up 2 weeks later in a brand new Mercedes SL. Before that there was the uneducated drug addict, and he got off on calling me stupid and degrading me everyday. Only later did I realize that he was threatened my by intelligence and especially my sobriety.

Maybe you already had something established, but being in my early 20's during the recession f****** sucked and I'm still feeling the ramifications. Flipside is that I learned to live on virtually no money and with little to no debt.

Fast forward to today. My skills (sales/finance) are in high demand, especially with how young I am. I will NEVER again let some PRICK act like they are doing me a favor while I make them rich. Not self employed yet (2 to 3 year plan already in motion), but my manager understands that I make the company $$$, so he compensates me fairly and treats me with respect.

TL : DR - I like Musk, but feeling good about your work doesn't pay the mortgage, so he can go f*** himself.

 

I hear you bro. Love the passion you have to be independent and not have to answer to anybody...eat what you kill.

My dad has been retired for 19 years and worked for a large Corp with 20k+ employees. “Making a company money” versus getting paid what you are worth is not always a simple calculation. Most any position is results oriented but how each affects profitability is relative (ie hard to quantify how much money my dad made his company over time). He did well, and it wasn’t easy for him to just bail and walk down the street to a new position.

Comparing working for a large Corp (like Tesla) that isn’t really profitable and an incentive based sales job is sorta different anyway.

Totally agree, if you have the skill set and ambition, and can pull it off then by all means, go for it. Other factors hinder leaving a job you are not making your value...young family, risk of failure, etc.

The recession did suck...I can imagine especially in a commission based environment. Most Tesla employees are either salaried or hourly...as are most folks working. This dynamic of work:$ ratio is very relative.

 

Every generation had it tough unless you were born w silver spoon in mouf.

There were “no jobs” during the 70’s. Oil embargoes, Jimmy Carter & his “National malaise,” you couldn’t get gasoline on certain days, blah blah blah. And bad hair, lots of it.

In the 80’s it was a huge jump in homelessness, cost of living jumped, Russians, drugs in sports, no jobs.

In the 90’s it was wars in Europe & Middle East, dot bomb implosion, govt shutdown, cost of living jumped, Russians.

Always a struggle. Until, it isn’t. Every generation thinks it had it worse than any other generation.

 

Altruism and business are like oil and water. Very rarely does an employer meet what an employee thinks they deserve.

 

You're right.

I kinda went off the rails in my post. Going to blame it on low blood sugar ha.

Someday I hope I can treat my own employees the way I want to be treated. I still have a lot to learn.

NO, my life really is harder! Just kidding.

 

Nah dude, I totally get it.

Personally you couldn't pay me enough to be in sales. You gotta hustle waaaay too hard, there's no way I could survive if I had to rely on my skills and moxie. But man, if you're good at it (and your employer isn't a snake), a lot of people make really good money in sales/finance.

I decided a long time ago that I was better off being a slug and working for The Man lol.

 

My folks (small business owners) taught me how to work endless hours, but I was born with the gift of gab. Growing up my teachers called me a smartass and said I would never amount to anything, but now it's my most valuable trait.

Where I got burned was working for a salary. I didn't understand exactly what I was doing and I got taken advantage of, but I learned some powerful life lessons. One is that as a salesmen I can essentially be my own entity within a company, while the owner bears the risk.

I have tried to get out of sales but every time I get settled into a normal 9 to 5 someone from the company says, "we need someone like you on our sales team" and the whole process starts over again.

 

I think if you are going to work and be motivated for a "cause", perhaps you are better off working for a non-profit. That way nobody is leveraging and making big coin off your passion, or enslaving you totally in their fifedom with noncompensatory motivations. If you are passionate about a cause, you're typically not in it for the money, at least as a primary motivation. I realize w/in nonprofits there may be communications to remind folks of the vision and impact, but unless the organization is cultic, they tend to be positive and tame. I realize this is full of generalizations, and your mileage may vary.

 

Umm...non-profits are known for taking advantage of their employees more what are corporations. They take advantage of exactly "cause" motivation of employees. Executives at non-profits have huge salaries, while employees are basically volunteer wages. Bottom line- non-profits are no different than corporations.

 

As far a Musk goes, he appears to be one of those eccentric visionary types (like Jobs), who was very demanding to carry out their vision.

On a lighter scale I have worked for such types, and like a hard coach, was able to get results by pushing and leading the team to places they would not of gone on their own. I have heard it said that leadership "is getting people to go where they would not ordinarily go". I often thought that the same results could have been achieved w/o some of the "tactics", as some people tended to get "burned out" as well as the suffering of health, family, and life balance. I think people are better led than being pushed.

 

Agreed. This can be a problem. "Cause" motivation can be abused, especially in the scenario you describe, as they already have an audience captivated by the cause in most instances.

 

The key is you are motivated to be successful. I think you will be....

 

Let the door hit you in the ass, then sue 'em.

 

https://gizmodo.com/foxconn-admits-its-not-building-a-factory-in-wisconsin-1832193977

At least Nevada actually got the Gigafactory out of their deal with Tesla

 

Tesla reports after the bell today, things might get very interesting...

 

Funny local tidbit about Tesla, don't know if I've already mentioned it:

Our area has been in decline for decades due to the Spotted Owl phenomenon. Old buildings have been vacant and dilapidated, some of which are being torn down.

The mayor, a kid in his 20's, used city funds to tear down a couple of old buildings and promptly had a 10-bay Tesla charging station installed.

Turns out he has stock in Tesla lol.

Paid a $100 dollar fine. He's still Mayor.

I don't know if he's Repub or Dem lol