Esther Crawford, the former Twitter employee who went viral for sleeping on the office floor, is back.
The former Twitter director who went “all in” on Elon Musk’s Twitter 2.0–eventually reporting directly to Musk himself–had taken a sabbatical after getting laid off from Twitter several months ago.
But yesterday, in a lengthy post on Twitter, or X, as the social media app is now known, Crawford broke her silence on what it was like to work for Musk.
Crawford’s post, which is more than 2,400 words long, isn’t bitter. Crawford didn’t always agree with her former boss, but she doesn’t villainize him. Rather, her essay is thoughtful, balanced, and full of nuance.
In short, it’s a master class in emotional intelligence.
I highly recommend you read the post in full, but here are some highlights, along with the lessons I personally appreciated. (If you enjoy this article, check out my free emotional intelligence course, which uses stories and simple frameworks to help you and your team build emotional intelligence.)
Life at Twitter under Elon Musk
Crawford says that while she didn’t know much about Musk before working for him, she was cautiously optimistic.
“I saw him as the guy who built incredible and enduring companies like Tesla and SpaceX,” she wrote, “so perhaps his private ownership could shake things up and breathe new life into the company.”
Crawford says that some changes Musk wanted to make were smart, and others were stupid. “In person Elon is oddly charming and he’s genuinely funny,” she writes. “He also has personality quirks like telling the same stories and jokes over and over. The challenge is his personality and demeanor can turn on a dime going from excited to angry.”
This didn’t deter Crawford, who says she “shared her opinions openly and pushed back often, before and after the acquisition.” She added that she “had no interest in adding to a culture of fear or walking on eggshells around Elon,” and that “either he would respect me for being real or he could fire me.”
She added, “Either outcome was okay.”
But that difficulty in reading Musk’s mood did instill fear in others, says Crawford. Many were hesitant to share critical views with Musk, afraid of his potential reaction.
“At times it felt like the inner circle was too zealous and fanatical in their unwavering support of everything he said,” she writes.
Still, Crawford says, even now after all that’s happened she wouldn’t bet against Musk or count him out.
“He’s smart and has enough money to make a lot of mistakes and then course correct when things go awry,” Crawford writes. “As the largest shareholder he can tank the value in the short-term, but eventually he’ll need things to turn around.”
A lesson in emotional intelligence
“I learned a ton from watching Elon up close–the good, the bad and the ugly,” Crawford shares. “His boldness, passion and storytelling is inspiring, but his lack of process and empathy is painful. Elon has an exceptional talent for tackling hard physics-based problems but products that facilitate human connection and communication require a different type of social-emotional intelligence.”
And then Crawford drops this major truth bomb:
“After having time to reflect I believe more than ever that the very best outcomes flow from great leadership that combines the head and the heart.”
And here lies the most important lesson. Many business leaders go to one extreme or the other: They either lack empathy and are only concerned about reaching goals and deadlines, no matter who gets hurt in the process. Or they’re so soft that they contribute to a culture of permissiveness, even anti-productivity.
Both leadership styles are destructive in the long run.
As for where Musk falls on this scale, Crawford doesn’t say exactly. “Everyone can be seen as both a hero or a villain, depending on who is telling what angle of the story,” she writes. “Elon doesn’t deserve to be venerated or vilified.”
This is what makes Crawford’s take such a master class. She realizes that so much of the narrative is influenced by perspective. And although her perspective is more informed than just about anyone else’s, she refuses to judge Musk as a person–and instead focuses on the lessons she learned from it all, namely:
The best leaders find balance. They exercise their IQ as well as their EQ. And they promote healthy disagreement–not only via lip service, but also in how they react to criticism.
Kudos to Crawford for sharing her experience so openly, for keeping it classy, and for providing an excellent case study of emotional intelligence in the real world.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
