Elon Musk believes CEOs can get caught in ‘spreadsheets’ and lose sight of creating ‘awesome’ products and services.

FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X (REUTERS)

If one wants to be hired by Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX, and the owner of social media platform X, MBA may not be a good option. He has repeatedly called out “MBA-ization of America” in interviews.

In 2023, in an interview with the American Physical Society, Musk said, “I hire people in spite of an MBA, not because of one.”

He repeated this in a 2020 interview.

“I think that there might be too many MBAs running companies,” he said during the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit, according to a report by Hindustan Times.

The reason behind this? Musk believes CEOs can get caught in “spreadsheets” and lose sight of creating “awesome” products and services.

Musk says that the “biggest” mistake he made at SpaceX and Tesla was spending “too much time” at spreadsheets.

He also says that leader should get involved in the day-to-day activities of their team.

“Get out there on the goddamn front line and show them that you care, and that you’re not just in some plush office somewhere,” he said.

How to get hired by Elon Musk?

Fortune in January reported the hiring process at X. It had talked about 6 steps.

The jobs for X cannot be found on LinkedIn or other job sites because it has its own job board. One can apply for the job there.
In the application, one must describe “what exceptional work” have they done for the company.
If the application is accepted, X will reach out to you for an interview. It will be followed by technical screenings and on-site interviews.
The interviews are likely to be random as X does not follow any predetermined script.
On creative questions, try to focus on creating big features.
The final selection is done by Musk himself. He prefers candidates who haven’t been laid off ever.