The Trump administration recently announced that billionaire Elon Musk will become the head of the US Department of Government Efficiency. This raises concerns about Mr. Musk's personnel policies, especially after the negative impression from the mass layoffs at X (formerly Twitter).

Competitive environment for the best

The mass layoffs at Twitter (now X) under Elon Musk are a prime example of the billionaire's ruthless, uncompromising approach to human resources. Within months of taking over Twitter, Elon Musk cut nearly 75% of its workforce, from 8,000 employees to just over 2,000, according to journalist Walter Isaacson in his biography of Elon Musk.

The layoffs came just before Thanksgiving 2022, when billionaire Elon Musk emailed 50 engineers to say they would be fired immediately for failing a coding review. The changes transformed Twitter from a pleasant work environment, with amenities like free meals and yoga rooms, into a high-stress, high-performance place reserved for those willing to take on the challenge.

According to Isaacson, Elon Musk believes that a small team of excellent and versatile engineers can be more effective than a large but average team. He compares the remaining employees to a "battalion of Marines" closely coordinated, ready to face any difficulty.

That’s why Elon Musk asked his employees to make a list of average people to cut, while keeping only the engineers with outstanding achievements. This thinking is not only a cost-saving strategy but also a direction to restructure the working culture at Twitter, where technology engineers will replace the role of product managers in leading the company.

To ensure the firings were carried out quickly, Musk required engineers to submit their latest code for review. The leadership team had to review hundreds of emails containing source code overnight to decide who would stay. This policy shows that the SpaceX founder is not afraid to break old structures and is willing to make radical but somewhat harsh decisions.

Twitter's cultural shift has been controversial. Elon Musk has faced criticism with confidence, even mocking the possibility that Twitter could collapse.

However, under the leadership of billionaire Elon Musk and a small team of engineers, Twitter not only continued to operate but also quickly implemented many new features. As author Walter Isaacson commented, Elon Musk really wanted to build a digital platform with technology at its core, and his view was that leaders should understand programming more than social needs.

Elon Musk’s quick and ruthless firings may bring short-term results, but they also create a harsh working environment. Elon Musk’s human resources policy reflects a mindset that values ​​the most talented individuals, willing to sacrifice the majority to ensure the company’s efficiency.

In the SpaceX founder's view, the move is necessary to build Twitter into a technology empire, rather than a conventional media platform.

Is Elon Musk following the "two pizza" rule?

Elon Musk's harsh HR policies at X have some similarities to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' famous "two pizza" rule.

According to this rule, each team within Amazon must be small enough to feed the entire team with just two pizzas, to maximize flexibility and efficiency. The small team model helps businesses save costs and minimize organizational obstacles, allowing small teams to operate with greater flexibility and autonomy, promoting efficiency in all tasks.

Like Mr. Bezos, billionaire Elon Musk is famous for organizing small teams, requiring members to meet large workloads and be able to make independent decisions without waiting for approval from superiors. The 2022 X personnel purge is an example.

"Elon wants his team to be cohesive, not to wait, not to shirk responsibility," a former Tesla employee shared. The above statement shows that Mr. Elon Musk always emphasizes initiative and personal responsibility in working groups. Similar to Amazon, small groups at X also allow billionaire Musk to closely control and monitor the work performance of each member.

In an article in Forbes magazine, the author of the book Future Leaders, Jacob Morgan, also agreed with the “two pizza” point of view. The Forbes writer shared: “Small teams lead to higher commitment and satisfaction from employees, thanks to the clarity and ease of management in the work groups.”

While Elon Musk's approach to managing people may seem more rigorous, in spirit it is similar to Bezos' "two pizza" philosophy: keeping a small, dynamic team that is highly accountable and always ready for tough challenges.