MILWAUKEE — Elon Musk is the most talked about man in the country right now, the richest man in the world, and President Trump’s most powerful advisor.
So what’s it like to work for Musk? A Milwaukee native knows firsthand.
Randy Knaflic was the Vice President of Human Resources at SpaceX in 2012. He left his job at Google to take the gig.
“Many people thought I was crazy. [Elon], at the time, really was only known within the tech community,” Knaflic explained during an exclusive interview on Wisconsin’s Midday News.
Going from Google to SpaceX was quite the shift for Knaflic—a shock, really.
“Elon was very intense, very different, and a level that I had quite frankly never seen before in a leader,” Knaflic said.
Everything was very mission-driven at SpaceX.
“We talked about [Musk’s] goal to colonize Mars. He would see individuals on the team and people who work there – you’re either helping us get to Mars or you’re not,” he said.
It wasn’t anything personal. It was simply about whether the person was going to help accelerate Musk’s mission.
“So turnover was much higher than I had experienced before at Google. And, definitely, there was a culture of high intensity when you’re dealing with a founder who could get to a level of granularity that I had never seen before,” Knaflic explained.
Musk was hands-on at SpaceX. Knaflic says you had to perform extremely well whether you were a recruiter or a welder.
“His ability to go so deep on any topic just blew my mind. So you always had to be on your game. If you weren’t, watch out.”
You can hear the entire interview with Randy Knaflic, former VP of HR at SpaceX, on the Wisconsin’s Midday News podcast. He also talks about what he believes was the real intent behind Musk’s “five accomplishments email,” his reaction to Musk’s level of fame now, and why he left his position at SpaceX.
