--- title: "Elon Musk Secretly Shared His Number One Priority at Tesla and It Really Says It All" description: "Former Tesla president Jon McNeill says Elon Musk's main focus wasn't electric vehicles, but working as little as possible." date: "2026-04-07" modified: "2026-04-07" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/elon-musk-tesla-mcneill" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" --- # Elon Musk Secretly Shared His Number One Priority at Tesla and It Really Says It All ![Elon Musk is shown in a close-up side profile, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and patterned tie.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Josh Edelson / Getty Images* Tesla's executives might love Elon Musk, lavishing him with massive pay packages to beg him to stay on, but that doesn't mean he loves them back. A recent interview with Tesla's former president of global sales, delivery, and service Jon McNeill [by the *Washington Post*]() revealed new details about Musk's personal motivations as CEO of Tesla. In one particularly bizarre moment, McNeill recalls that Musk once declared that his ideal work week at the electric carmaker involved as little work as possible — so he can maximize his time playing with rocket ships. "When I asked \[Musk\] what success looked like," McNeill told *WaPo*, "he said, 'success is getting me down to one day a week at Tesla so I can get back to my first love, which is rockets.'" That singular goal, McNeill explained in a recently released book called "[The Algorithm]()," would form Musk's true north during the executive's three-year stint as Tesla president. Other issues might rear their heads requiring McNeill to bug Musk, but freeing up time remained Musk's primary motivation, *WaPo* reports. The odd working relationship is exemplified in one of McNeill's first run-ins with Musk, when the president suggested that Tesla sales staff follow up with customers before embarking on new test drives. The suggestion worked, moving units, but McNeill had made it without first consulting the CEO. "I've got to apologize to you," McNeill recalled telling Musk. "I made a decision in your business that's yours to make, not mine." Musk's reaction was telling: "you're going to fit in here just fine." This absentee portrait is in massive contrast with the one Musk previously tried to paint of himself: the workaholic CEO who literally [slept on the factory floor]() when production timelines ran long. He carried that mythic vibe onto the federal government last year with DOGE, whose staffers were said to work [120 hours a week](), even as their billionaire boss publically bragged about the [gaming computer]() he had installed in his office. **More on Musk:** *[Elon Musk Says His Optimus Robot Is So Dope That People Will Forget Tesla Ever Made Cars]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()