Elon Musk’s biographer saw him fly into highly productive ‘demon mode’
Published on Jun 28, 2023 at 8:47 PM (UTC+4)
by Adam Gray
Last updated on Jun 30, 2023 at 12:23 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Elon Musk’s biographer certainly didn’t hold back in a recent interview.
During the Twitter Spaces interview, Walter Isaacson claims he saw the Tesla CEO go into ‘demon mode’, something which frightened his workers.
That’s not all Isaacson had to say either.
READ MORE! Twitter co-founder reveals what he thinks of ‘reckless’ and ‘impatient’ Elon Musk
To give some context, Isaacson spent two years observing Musk day-to-day.
He’s also writing a biography of Musk, which he plans to release in September.
In the interview, Isaacson said that the billionaire could be like ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’.
He even went as far to say that Musk once ‘chewed out’ an employee whose child had died two weeks earlier.
According to Isaacson, who observed Musk through the fraught days of his takeover of Twitter, he has a ‘manial sense of urgency’ that frightened employees.
This isn’t his first biography; the writer has also published biographies of Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci.
Rubbing salt into the wounds, Isaacson said Musk would often fly into rage at employees during his early days at Twitter when he fired more than half the workforce.
“He’d go dark and I’d know that he was just going to rip that person apart,” he recalled.
The term ‘demon mode’ was coined by Musk’s girlfriend, the music artist Grimes, Isaacson told the Twitter Spaces event.
Apparently, she told him that while it can be “unpleasant” to be around Musk when he’s in demon mode, it’s also the mode that “get sh*t done.”
The writer had plenty of other things to say about Musk, but you’re probably best reading them for yourself when the biography comes out.
In the meantime, Isaacson said his upcoming book will aim to balance Musk’s controversial moments with his ‘incredible’ work at Tesla and Space X.
It will also argue that many brilliant inventors’ complex characteristics often made them effective visionaries.
Sounds like Musk’s biography is set to be a good one.
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Adam Gray is an experienced freelance motoring journalist and content creator based in the United Kingdom. Using his media accreditation with manufacturers’ press offices, Adam test drives the latest cars and attends new vehicle press launches, producing written reviews and news pieces for a variety of lifestyle and business publications. Here at Supercar Blondie, Adam applies his journalistic skills penning social-first content around current news and trends. When he’s not behind the wheel of the latest car or writing up another viral story, Adam can be found at his local rink playing ice hockey or at the Riverside Stadium supporting his beloved Middlesbrough FC.
