Lee Horner

Back when I worked at Tesla, I had two meetings total with Elon. Both part of sharing best practices from the field and working out how to deliver more cars. Each Manager, had to present 3 practices of what we were doing in our region to deliver more cars. I was second in line. The first manager was totally unprepared. She stuttered, didn't really know what to say, came up with some suggestions. I don't think she lasted very long after that. It was my turn. I said my part, Elon listened, nodded a few times. We had a short discussion about advertising and influencer marketing, specifically the twitter interactions Elon was having with @waitbutwhy back then. Elon made it absolutely clear that we weren't paying influencers and never would. When I'd finished, I stood up, relieved as hell to be finished and walked over to the long buffet lunch table to grab a coffee, while the Manager next in line was talking. As I poured my coffee, a colleague came over and stood next to me. Rather than reach for the milk at the other end of the table, I said quite directly "Pass the milk, mate". As I realised who I was talking to, Elon said "Oh sure" and passed me the milk, without missing a beat. Of fuck ,I thought. Elon didn't flinch, as I thought I'd be fired immediately for being insubordinate or some such reason. As he walked back to his chair, he said "send me a follow up e-mail with your points". I sent it that evening, and got a reply the following morning. "Good, carry on"...which is kind of a win from Elon. I slept well that night. One of my most memorable experiences at Tesla. $TSLA