Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of X, said that Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk’s insistence on immediate action helped define how his companies develop products and operate under pressure.
In an interview with Fortune, published on Wednesday, Yaccarino described the urgency she observed while leading X through its transformation from Twitter.
Yaccarino, who served as X’s CEO from 2023 until leaving in 2025, told Fortune, "The reason his companies are singular in what they deliver is because of the insatiable sense of urgency. There’s not a deadline for a project or to ship something, a product — it’s now," she said.
She said that approach pushes teams toward first-principles thinking, requiring them to identify essential objectives and determine what must happen to achieve them.
Yaccarino had been overseeing about $13 billion in annual advertising revenue at NBC and helped lead its early ad strategy for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Despite her senior role, she accepted Elon Musk’s offer to lead X because she viewed him as "singular in his ability” to transform public conversation and saw the company’s mission as highly consequential.
Musk’s Intense Leadership Approach
Yaccarino’s description follows earlier accounts portraying Musk’s management style as both demanding and unconventional.
In January 2025, biographer Walter Isaacson, who shadowed Elon Musk for two years, described his recurring "demon mode" marked by intense, cold, and demanding leadership. He said the approach can accelerate projects but also leave employees burned out, citing an incident at SpaceX where Musk ordered 100 workers to work around the clock despite no immediate need.
Former Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) AI director Andrej Karpathy offered related context in March 2024, describing Musk’s preference for small, highly technical teams. Karpathy said Musk typically favors removing low performers and described Musk’s management style as lean and technically focused, with little middle management and an expectation that employees remain actively engaged in their work.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image via Shutterstock
Login to comment