Dilbert’s boss is lazy, Musk is full of passionate intensity.

My first gig out of college in the Valley was working with (later for) a relatively charismatic “I know better” untreated bipolar guy. This dude actually had the chops, he was actually smarter than you. His demos and product ideas were amazing, legit visionary. Inspirational.

But gods it was soul-destroying to try to work for the guy, he kept pulling exactly this kind of “it’s not that complicated!” stunt, changing plans on a whim, editing history to make himself consistent, hair-trigger switching between praise and abuse…

It got a lot of good work out of me, I learned a lot, I was well-compensated, but I now that I know the signs I’m never working for a person like that again.

(see also: the subject of another fawning Isaacson hagiography, Steve Jobs)