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IBM built a cloud of suits to make sure the CEO never talked to anyone actually doing the work. @elonmusk does the opposite. "Elon's method is extreme focus on substance. Extreme focus on getting to the truth. In any organization with multiple layers, there's compounding lies. Each layer wants to look good. Each layer puts a little spin on things. If one layer lies to the next layer above it, maybe that's okay. When that happens two or three times, the lies compound. If that happens six times, the lies really compound. If that happens 12 times, the CEO has no idea what's happening. That was IBM. By the time I got there as an intern, I calculated there were 12 layers of management between me and the CEO. They even had a term for it: the great cloud. A cloud of men in gray business suits who followed the CEO around and prevented him from ever talking to anybody who was actually doing the work. When he would come to visit, it was like a visit from the king. A completely impervious bubble. That's the polar opposite of the Elon approach." — @pmarca