If one wants to be hired by Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX, and the owner of social media platform X, MBA may not be a good option. He has repeatedly called out "MBA-ization of America" in interviews.
In 2023, in an interview with the American Physical Society, Musk said, "I hire people in spite of an MBA, not because of one."
He repeated this in a 2020 interview.
"I think that there might be too many MBAs running companies," he said during the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit, according to a report by Hindustan Times.
The reason behind this? Musk believes CEOs can get caught in "spreadsheets" and lose sight of creating "awesome" products and services.
Musk says that the "biggest" mistake he made at SpaceX and Tesla was spending "too much time" at spreadsheets.
He also says that leader should get involved in the day-to-day activities of their team.
"Get out there on the goddamn front line and show them that you care, and that you’re not just in some plush office somewhere," he said.
Fortune in January reported the hiring process at X. It had talked about 6 steps.