Disagreeing With Elon Musk Will Get You Fired

Last month, Tesla fired Klaus Grohmann over a disagreement with Elon Musk. At the time, little was known about why Tesla fired him, but a new report from Reuters tells the full story.

A little backstory before we dive in. Grohmann Engineering was an independent firm that was known for its genius in factory automation. Tesla needed its input as demand for its vehicles grew, so it simply bought the company and turned it into Tesla Grohmann Automation.

Despite being bought out, Grohmann Engineering continued servicing its legacy customers, including Tesla rivals Daimler and BMW. Elon Musk was not pleased with the company servicing competitors and demanded its attention turn away from these legacy customers and to Tesla, but Klaus Grohmann wasn’t having any of it.

While the details get a little blurry from there, sources tell Reuters that this disagreement was what pushed Musk to can Grohmann. With him out of the way, Musk can run Tesla Grohmann Automation as he pleases, which likely means virtually ignoring the legacy clients.

Reuters reached out to Grohmann for comment on the situation, but he couldn’t get too deep due to confidentiality rules. He did, however, drop a strong hit in saying, “I definitely did not depart because I had lost interest in working.”

So there you have it. Should you ever work at Tesla, remember not to get into a disagreement with him.