Elon Musk ‘tells the same stories and jokes over and over’ and ‘seems quite lonely’, ex-Twitter chief claims
- Esther Crawford joined Twitter when it bought her startup before Musk takeover
- Former head of product development lost her job in the February Twitter cuts
Elon Musk tells the same jokes and stories ‘over and over’ and ‘seems quite alone’, a former senior executive at Twitter has claimed.
Esther Crawford, whose picture sleeping on the floor of Twitter’s office while trying to meet a tough deadline set by Musk went viral last year, shared her thoughts on Wednesday in a lengthy post on the social media platform.
Crawford joined Twitter, now called X, when it bought her startup in 2020, before billionaire Musk took over the social media platform in a staggering $44 billion deal last year.
Speaking out about her time at Twitter, the former head of product development – who was one of 200 workers sacked in February – said: ‘Elon is oddly charming and he’s genuinely funny. He also has personality quirks like telling the same stories and jokes over and over.
She added: ‘The challenge is his personality and demeanour can turn on a dime going from excited to angry.
Elon Musk (pictured) tells the same jokes and stories ‘over and over’ and ‘seems quite alone’, a former senior executive at Twitter has claimed
Esther Crawford (pictured), who was let go in February amid job cuts, shared her thoughts on Wednesday in a lengthy post on the social media platform
‘Since it was hard to read what mood he might be in and what his reaction would be to any given thing, people quickly became afraid of being called into meetings or having to share negative news with him.’
READ MORE: Twitter’s blue bird comes crashing down: Cops called as Elon Musk has sign removed from firm’s San Fran HQ ‘without notifying security’ – as he changes company’s name to X after 18 years
Twitter employees feared being called into meetings with him or having to deliver negative news, according to Crawford.
‘At times it felt like the inner circle was too zealous and fanatical in their unwavering support of everything he said,’ Crawford wrote.
‘Product and business decisions were nearly always the result of him following his gut instinct, and he didn’t seem compelled to seek out or rely on a lot of data or expertise to inform it.
‘I saw a person who seemed quite alone because his time and energy was so purely devoted to work.’
Crawford added that Musk seemed to trust random feedback and Twitter polls more than employees working to solve problems at the company.
‘His boldness, passion and storytelling is inspiring, but his lack of process and empathy is painful.’
Musk has proven success tackling engineering problems, but a social networking platform requires emotional intelligence, Crawford said.
Esther Crawford was seen sleeping on the office floor in November 2022. The picture went completely viral
Esther Crawford (pictured) was one of around 200 workers axed by Twitter back in February
San Francisco police arrive on scene as a worker removes letters from the Twitter sign on July 24
She did not spare the previous management, calling it ‘bloated’ and ‘soft and entitled’ where ‘teams could spend months building a feature and then some last-minute kerfuffle meant it’d get killed for being too risky.’
Musk – who was pictured with on-and-off-again ex Grimes in Portofino this week – has recently killed off the Twitter logo, replacing the world-recognised blue bird with a white X.
Police were briefly called to Twitter ‘s San Francisco HQ after a worker began tearing down letters from the building’s iconic sign a day after Musk rebranded the platform.
After buying Twitter, Musk had said that he wanted to create a super-app inspired by China’s WeChat, which would function as a social media platform and offer messaging and payments.
Since Musk bought Twitter last October, the platform’s advertising business has collapsed as marketers soured on Musk’s management style and mass firings at the company that gutted content moderation.
In response, the billionaire has moved toward building a subscriber base and pay model in a search for new revenue.
Many users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the social media site’s new charges for previously free services, its changes to content moderation, and the return of previously banned right-wing accounts.
While Musk rebrands Twitter, rival companies are starting to consider alternative text-based social media platforms.
TikTok, known for its short videos, now allows users to post text updates, while Meta’s Threads on Instagram has become the fastest growing app in history.
On Tuesday, Meta launched a big update so that users can see a timeline just made up of people they follow – one of the most requested features since its launch.
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