Elon Musk just explained why the best engineers on Earth will never take your call.
Three reasons.
Most companies fail all three.
Elon Musk: “State what’s the mission, what’s the problem we’re trying to solve? And just be clearly willing to pour a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it.”
The top one percent of talent does not care about your office. Your perks. Your free lunches. Your branded hoodie.
They care about one thing.
Does this matter.
If the answer takes more than one sentence to explain, they are already gone.
Musk broke motivation into three layers.
The first is the work itself.
Musk: “Somebody’s got to look forward to coming to work in the morning. Are they enjoying the work itself intrinsically?”
Not the paycheck. Not the title. The work.
Solving problems most people cannot even frame correctly. Alongside people who make you sharper just by being in the room.
If Monday morning feels like a sentence, no salary commutes it.
The best people leave. Not eventually. Within months.
The second is money.
Musk: “They also feel like they will receive fair financial compensation. Like that the financial rewards are good and fair.”
Not charity. Not below-market equity with a four-year cliff.
Fair.
One word. Most companies still get it wrong.
The engineer who knows exactly what they generate does not negotiate. They compare.
When the gap gets wide enough, they vanish. No conversation. No counteroffer window. Two-week notice on a Friday afternoon.
You do not cap the ceiling of someone producing at that level. You match it. Or you fill the desk again in six months.
The third is the one that separates real companies from forgettable ones.
Musk: “For the best people in the world, they’ll want to know: is what they’re doing going to matter? If they spend 10 years doing this, will it make a difference to the world?”
Ten years.
The best engineers on the planet are running a calculation no recruiter has a spreadsheet for.
If I give this company a decade of my life, does the world look different because I did?
If the answer is no, they are not coming. No signing bonus changes that. No recruiter pitch rewrites it. No equity package papers over it.
The mission has to be real. And the person at the top has to be visibly bleeding for it.
Musk: “Be clearly willing to pour blood, sweat, and tears into it.”
Talent watches the founder before they read the offer letter.
If the person running the company is coasting, optimizing for exits, playing it safe, the best people sense it before the first interview ends.
They do not want a manager. They want someone who has bet everything and would do it again tomorrow.
Most companies post a job.
The ones that land the best people alive offer something no job listing can contain.
The work has to be the reward. The money has to be fair. The mission has to be worth a decade of someone’s only life.
Miss one and the person you needed most never even opened your email.
Working with local government on data collection for preparation for land use zoning.
We will release more information about new Land Use Long Term planning for Kampong Sela
🚨🇨🇳 BREAKING: Chinese Professor goes OFF SCRIPT and names the illuminati and other secret jewish and zionist societies run the world and pushing for the war in Iran.
The truth is finally coming out. It’s happening.
New coffee experience coming to town near you soon. We also looking for talented to join our team from barista to operations to social media. Base in Phnom Penh.
@SwedeninTH@SweMFA@MFAThai Compounding this hypocrisy is your cowardly act of blocking comments from Cambodian citizens on your official Facebook pages, silencing our voices as we dare to question your complicity in this bloodshed.
@SwedeninTH@SweMFA@MFAThai How shameless can a nation be to arm a neighbor that has already deployed similar jets in airstrikes on Cambodian soil, resulting in civilian casualties and destruction? You preach solidarity with the oppressed, yet you fuel the oppressor, prioritizing profits over innocent lives
Evidence is mounting out of the Cambodian border province of Banteay Meanchey of Thai military encroachment. Barbed wire, nets, barricades, and car tires have been used to fence off disputed areas, including homes where ordinary Cambodians live. https://t.co/wowLiQPqPK
The Spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense of the Kingdom of Cambodia would like to inform the general public and the international community that, according to received information at 10:49 a.m. on 3 August 2025, the Thai military, in cooperation with Thai authorities, has instructed its remaining civilians in the border area of Surin Province to evacuate by tonight.
The same sources also confirmed that the Thai military plans to launch attacks along the border starting from the Tamone Thom Temple, Ta Krabey Temple, Preah Vihear Temple, up to the Anseh area. These attacks are expected to commence soon, prior to the scheduled meeting of the Extraordinary Meeting of the General Border Committee (GBC) on 7 August 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This planned offensive constitutes a violation of the territorial sovereignty of Cambodia before the GBC meeting, and it is a serious breach of the ceasefire agreement mutually agreed upon by both countries on 28 July 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, with Malaysia, the United States, and China as witnesses.
Cambodia appeals to the international community to help prevent this at all costs and urges the Thai side to immediately stop its planned aggression, if this information is true, and to respect the ceasefire agreement fully for the sake of peace and stability along the border areas of both countries and the entire region.
Press Release from the Spokesperson of theMinistry of National Defense of the Kingdom of Cambodia , Phnom Penh, 3 August 2025
Since US President Donald Trump threw his support behind ceasefire talks between #Thailand and #Cambodia — leading to an end to hostilities on July 28 — Cambodian citizens have taken to social media to express their gratitude. https://t.co/NFGrMokWOY
#StandWithCambodia 📷
Thailand sparked conflict on May 28 by shooting a Cambodian soldier. Despite Cambodia’s calls for peace and a legal resolution via ICJ, Thailand refused.
They’ve since escalated tensions — threatening to cut power, blocking goods, and trespassing into Cambodian land where Thai soldiers triggered old landmines. Still, they blamed Cambodia.
Even after casualties, Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and continues provocations, including firing shots and using F-16s.
Cambodia seeks peace, but must now defend itself. The world should know: Cambodia is the victim — the truth must be heard. 📷
#Cambodia #Thailandstartedthewar #CambodiaSelfDefend #JusticeForCambodia #ថៃជាអ្នកផ្ដើមសង្គ្រាម #Khmer #កម្ពុជា
#The2P