Biographer: Musk lacks empathy in ‘demon mode’

Musk biographer Walter Isaacson says Musk can enter into “demon mode” to become highly productive. After shadowing the entrepreneur for two years at home and in the workplace, Isaacson says Musk has a “maniacal sense of urgency” and a “dark streak” that can intimidate his employees. He thinks Musk’s criticism of employees is “problematic” about 20% of the time. Isaacson says going into “demon mode” causes Musk to be “dark” and act “with a real lack of empathy,” and says Musk told him that prioritizing empathy to a single person over a larger goal at hand is “egotism.”

He’d go dark and I’d know that he was just going to rip that person apart.