between madness and genius
When Elon Musk called Joe Kaiser in the middle of the night and yelled, “Get your butt over here…”
Joe Kaiser, former Siemens boss.
Source: Peter Kiefel/dpa/archive images
As head of the biggest German technology company Siemens, Jo Kaiser, now 65, was among the most important global business leaders between 2013 and 2021. He always sought proximity to the big leaders of the world and sometimes created a stir in politics by tweeting provocative statements regarding the situation in the world. Kaiser, who still chairs the supervisory boards of Daimler Trucks and Siemens Energy, has since calmed down.
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In “OMR” Podcast With Philip Westmayer, Kaiser tells how he received a late-night call from Tesla boss Elon Musk. They met years ago when Musk was looking for automation solutions for his first Tesla plant in the USA. “I remember him calling me in the middle of the night and yelling at me,” Kaiser said.
“Get your ass over here, I want to see you tomorrow,” Musk shouted (“Get your butt over here, I want to see you over here tomorrow.”) But he didn’t go there, but it turns out that Where was the problem? , “It quickly became clear that organized production was not possible with its way of dealing with people and problems,” Kaiser told the newspaper.
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That’s the dividing line between genius and insanity. There’s no buffer in between, no neutral.
Joe Kaiser in “Welt” interview
He knows Musk “relatively well,” the former Siemens boss said. “Elon Musk is an incredibly interesting personality because there is a dividing line with him: above the dividing line is genius and below the dividing line is chaos or something negative,” Kaiser describes the new Twitter owner. “That dividing line is between genius and madness. There is no buffer in between, no neutral in which to walk. He is either brilliant in it or he is in such a way that it is astonishing that such people can be successful.
willing to risk everything
However, he praises Musk for still being willing to put everything on one card. “And Elon really has a lot to lose,” Kaiser said. “There was no art in the early Tesla years of burning back other people’s money, half a billion every quarter. In theory, almost anyone could do it.”
This willingness to take risks is now evident in the acquisition of Twitter as well. Kaiser says, “Elon Musk always wins his games 8: 6 and sometimes 1: 0.” podcast, “Because he also does a lot where you say: Nobody understands.” However, Kaiser’s verdict on Musk’s current behavior on Twitter is clear: “He is currently below this dividing line.”
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