A Tesla engineer had something to say against Elon Musk after leaving the electric vehicles company. Giorgio Balestrieri, who worked at Tesla for 8 years as an algorithm engineer, joined Tesla in 2017 and he has now decided to publicly express serious concerns about Musk’s leadership and his political influence.
In a very convincing post in LinkedIn, the Tesla engineer explained why he couldn’t be part of the company anymore. His words reflected professional frustration and uncertainty about Tesla’s mission and its impact on society. So, let’s see what this Tesla worker has to say more in detail, shall we?
Why did the Tesla engineer quit his job?
Balestrieri pointed out what he called ‘’the elephant in the room’’: the main reason for leaving is that he thinks Musk has caused great harm to Tesla’s mission and democratic institutions in several countries.
He also confirmed that Musk’s leadership and decision-making ‘’seem seriously compromised’’, which made it impossible for him to convince himself that Tesla was still the right place to work. What’s more, he highlighted that his decision to leave the company ‘’wasn’t just about politics’’.
Against Elon Musk
The Tesla engineer told several behaviors from Musk that drove him out of the company, so let’s have a look at them:
- Lying to the public.
- Manipulating public discourse.
- Targeting minorities.
- Supporting climate change deniers.
- Backing political forces tied to the oil and gas industry.
According to Balestrieri, these attitudes were against the urgency of fighting climate change. He pointed out that the U.S. Administration was stopping the energy transition and that speed is crucial to avoid worse consequences from climate change.
Political disappointment from Balestrieri
The Tesla engineer also mentioned Musk’s shifting political positions throughout the years. He remembered that in June 2017, Musk tweeted: ‘’Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”
However, with the passage of time, Musk got closer to Donald Trump. At the beginning, he enjoyed the attention at the White House, but their relationship ended very badly. Finally, Musk was pushed out of Trump’s circle, left to express his discontent through social media.
For Balestrieri, this political shift showed a worrying reality: Musk was willing to swing from left to right whenever power and influence were at stake, even if it compromised Tesla’s original mission.
Breaking point for Tesla’s engineer
In his post, Balestrieri clarified that his quit was a very well thought decision. After 8 years in the company, he realized he couldn’t ignore the contradictions anymore. For him, Tesla’s mission (to speed up the world’s transition toward sustainable energy) was being undermined by its own leader.
By linking Musk’s behavior with misinformation, minority targeting, and support for fossil fuel interests, the Tesla engineer argued that Tesla was drifting away from its core values.
A bigger picture
Balestrieri’s resignation is more than that, it reflects a bigger problem: the tension between the clean and sustainable mission of Tesla and Musk’s personal politics. Even though Tesla wants to continue being one of the most popular electric vehicles manufacturers, this Tesla engineer’s words raise some doubts about how leadership decisions and political affiliations can impact the company and global fight against climate change.
So, Balestrieri’s story shows that even inside one of the most influential companies in the world, tensions between engineers and leadership can be crucial for their careers and the progress of the mission that inspired thousands of workers. What do you think about what this Tesla engineer did? Should more workers follow Balestrieri’s steps? It’s very difficult to do these things when you have no power, but it’s very inspiring.