Ex-Twitter employee claims Musk driven by instinct not data, guided by sycophants

An ex-employee at Twitter (Now X) has shed light on how US billionaire Elon Musk has handled the operations at the popular microblogging site since taking over in October last year.

In the shocking revelations, Esther Crawford, a product manager at Twitter who was fired following Musk’s takeover, claimed the ‘X’ owner to be driven by instinct, not data. She also claimed that Musk was always surrounded by sycophants and ‘yes men’, who always seemed to agree to whatever Musk suggested.

In a lengthy post on X, Crawford wrote, “I disagree with many of his decisions and am surprised by his willingness to burn so much down, but with enough money and time, something new and innovative may emerge.”

“At times it felt like the inner circle was too zealous and fanatical in their unwavering support of everything he said,” Crawford added.

Elon Musk—A toxic boss?

In her X post, Crawford mentioned that the employees at the company would always fear being called into meetings with Musk, especially when they were supposed to deliver some negative news.

“The challenge is his personality and demeanor can turn on a dime going from excited to angry,” she wrote.

She also mentioned that more than anything else, Musk would rely on the feedback coming from Twitter polls and some random sources. The X owner would never pay heed to genuine feedback coming from employees and backed by strong data, she claimed.

Watch: Elon Musk rebrands Twitter to ‘X’ in brand overhaul

“His boldness, passion and storytelling is inspiring, but his lack of process and empathy is painful,” Crawford warned.

She added that Musk might have proven success tackling engineering problems, but “a social networking platform requires emotional intelligence.”

Musk’s future plans for X

The comments from the ex-Twitter employee come at a time when Musk has taken up the task of overhauling the Twitter brand altogether, by replacing the world-famous blue bird logo with X.

Musk plans to turn X into a WeChat-like all-in-one app which will not only offer people to express their views on the internet but also allow them to exchange messages and payments.

Since Musk took over X last year, advertising revenues have nosedived, prompting concerns regarding its subscription-based model. 

Some have even alleged increased hate speech content on X as some previously banned—mostly right-wing—accounts were reinstated following Musk’s so-called ‘free speech’ campaign.