Elon Musk's need for speed in everything he does is what sets him apart, a former Tesla exec says

Elon Musk's need for speed in everything he does is what sets him apart, a former Tesla exec says Elon Musk in 2016. Nora Tam/South China Morning Post via Getty Images Elon Musk's need for speed was key to Tesla's push toward the mass market, and what sets him apart from other CEOs, one of the company's former presidents said."The thing with Elon that separates him from other people is that a lot of people would be like, 'Oh, we'll do that next week.' No. It's like the timing is as fast as you can," Jon McNeill told "The Knowledge Project" podcast in Monday's episode."He believes that speed of all types — speed of decision-making, speed of cash through the business, speed of response time — creates competitive advantage, because your competitors are probably moving slower," he added.McNeill was Tesla's president of global sales, marketing, policy, and services from 2015 to 2018, before leaving to join rideshare platform Lyft as COO.He joined when the company was unprofitable, expanding its stores and charging network while preparing to launch the Model 3 — the more affordable EV that proved pivotal to Tesla's success.Musk's fixation on speed also showed through in his communication style."It has to be concise," McNeill said.The former Tesla exec recounted how Musk once came up with the idea of running the EV maker on three-sentence emails.For example, outline the problem in your first sentence, then suggest a solution, and then outline the next steps, such as requesting resources. "It was really the key to communicating with him," McNeill said, adding that it showed he'd really thought about the solution and next steps before asking Musk.A second key was to give Musk bad news as quickly as possible so it could be addressed before it worsened."He said this to everybody, because bad news only gets worse with time," McNeill said. "The way that you could get on his bad side was saving bad news." Read next Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Pete Syme is an aviation reporter for Business Insider, based in London.He writes about all things related to the industry, from aviation safety and CEO interviews to route reveals and airplane tours. Pete also uses data for industry analyses and to visualize breaking news events.Before joining Business Insider in 2022, he graduated with an MA in Newspaper Journalism from City, University of London, and a BA in English from the University of Exeter. Elon Musk Tesla Careers More Entrepreneur