Diarmuid Is done

[Gwgan]

Not exactly this morning‘s news but I could not find it mentioned elsewhere
Tesla's vice president of business development leaves
After all his time and effort, a change away from high-intensity a Tesla is not surprising but I am concerned that there is no immediate replacement announcement and there was the mention of family time—makes me wonder if there is about to be some bad news.

 

[boaterva]

The number one excuse that you shouldn't use is 'spend time with family' because it's never true. Even if it is true, make up something else, because no one will believe you (unless you give some details that make it so). So, I guess, waiting for other shoe to drop here!

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Anyone know if Radford Small(former SCTY CFO) is still in the org chart somewhere? I'd love to see him in this role or even be considered for TSLA CFO.

The future of this company's bus dev is total package renewable energy/transport as a service, and I think he understands that best.

 

[bonnie]

Ugh. So some of you are aware of Diarmuid's absolutely crazy travel schedule over the last several years.If you were at the Model 3 Reveal event, for instance, you noticed he arrived a little late -- direct from the airport after flying back from testifying in one of the many state battles. He's built up a substantial regulatory team, up from just a handful of people a few years ago. He was key in the Gigafactory negotiations with the State of Nevada.

My first reaction (and continuing one) is that the man deserves some extended time off. He's been working towards preparing the market for Model 3, it's rolling off the production line, and he probably promised his family that if they just stuck with him til this point, things would change. (We've all been there. )

Best to Diarmuid. I sincerely hope that people don't try to cast his departure in a negative light. That would be a shame.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

While @bonnie knows a lot of Tesla people, her similar initial response to the circumstances of Sterling leaving Tesla were wrong:

You guys are knuckleheads, and I say that in the most endearing way.

Sterling didn't get axed. He's left on good terms. Sometimes new opportunities are presented, you know you're leaving the team in good hands, objectives have been realized & it's time to attack the new challenge. I have it on *good authority* he's been working on something very exciting for a while and may be announcing soon.

Those of us lucky enough to have made his acquaintance wish him well & can't wait to see what's coming next.

Sterling did indeed end up being sued by Tesla (later settled).

I am simply pointing this out to say we don't know what the circumstances are until we know more. We can not exclude negative circumstances in the Diarmuid's case.

That said, personally I wouldn't imagine this being that bad news. But it isn't necessarily good news either.

 

[AlMc]

The reason for his leaving was as simple as being able to enjoy his family/be able to attend his kids birthdays/ballgames/school functions and get off the all 'Holiday Inn Expresses' look the same bus.

Nothing sinister/no other shoe to drop.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

The reason for his leaving was as simple as being able to enjoy his family/be able to attend his kids birthdays/ballgames/school functions and get off the all 'Holiday Inn Expresses' look the same bus.

Nothing sinister/no other shoe to drop.

You know this how?

I ask genuinely. Because there is history that the real reasons may only come over time, they are not told even to close acquaintances.

 

[Todd Burch]

You know this how?

I ask genuinely. Because there is history that the real reasons may only come over time, they are not told even to close acquaintances.

Why do you assume there must be some problem just because someone leaves a company, and after 11 probably very difficult years?

Sounds like you're trying too hard to find drama.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Why do you assume there must be some problem just because someone leaves a company, and after 11 probably very difficult years?

Sounds like you're trying too hard to find drama.

I am not assuming anything. I am looking at the news as objectively as I can.

It certainly is possible this news is just of a person deciding to take time off.

But we have a couple of people saying that it is not to be looked at negatively and I am trying to understand if those views are correct. There have been times when such reactions have not been well founded either.

@AlMc made a very definite statement of fact especially. I would like to understand what it is based on, so that I can understand how likely it is factual.

 

[Todd Burch]

I guess I take the view that if there's drama we'll probably find out, but I'm not going to seek it out as if there must be some.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

I guess I take the view that if there's drama we'll probably find out, but I'm not going to seek it out as if there must be some.

I guess the thing is that a person leaving without an announced next job there is always some chatter. Maybe it is just the family reason, but quite often over time other reasons come up as well. Good or bad or neutral.

 

[bonnie]

While @bonnie knows a lot of Tesla people, her similar initial response to the circumstances of Sterling leaving Tesla were wrong:



Sterling did indeed end up being sued by Tesla (later settled).

I am simply pointing this out to say we don't know what the circumstances are until we know more. We can not exclude negative circumstances in the Diarmuid's case.

That said, personally I wouldn't imagine this being that bad news. But it isn't necessarily good news either.

Not to quibble with you (because I am well aware you catalog every single thing everyone says, including what people I know, etc.) so you can take direct or (what you consider) subtle potshots, but Sterling did leave on his own terms with a very long notice. Nothing I said in that post was inaccurate. It was after the fact that things turned sour. But I know that doesn't fit your agenda, so I won't be correcting your version of events in the future. I just don't have time for that silliness.

See Degradation of the Community.... And, out.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Not to quibble with you (because I am well aware you catalog every single thing everyone says, including what people I know, etc.) so you can take direct or (what you consider) subtle potshots, but Sterling did leave on his own terms with a very long notice. Nothing I said in that post was inaccurate. It was after the fact that things turned sour. But I know that doesn't fit your agenda, so I won't be correcting your version of events in the future. I just don't have time for that silliness.

See Degradation of the Community.... And, out.

Oh, I completely agree Sterling left on his own.

What was inaccurate was how your comment ended up misleading the Sterling conversation at the time. You are a trusted voice and with that power IMO comes great responsibility. I guess I wish a bit more of open door to negative possibilities would have been in these messages of yours, just to note what we can not know.

It made Sterling case sound better than it was and a lot of people ran with that impression, until events overtook that narrative. I was just trying to make sure we don't run into hasty conclusions (either way) on Diarmuid. You dismissed the negative angle and IMO that seemed premature.

To continue the general thread:

@AlMc went into even further and made factual statements. I wonder what info those are based on?

 

[Electroman]

"I have it on *good authority* he's [Sterling] been working on something very exciting for a while and may be announcing soon." - Bonnie

The above quote from Bonnie, to me is a huge red flag. A full time executive - not anyone but the one leading AP work - has been working on the side, not on writing software to help Girl Scouts sell cookies, but on a competing AP technology. !!!

This is like a senior encryption engineer from MS or Google "working on the side" (while still employed for them) on a much better encryption technology and assembling a team to come up with a better competing product.

That is a big NO NO in any industry. Intellectual property rights.

This only tells me this guy never gave his 100%. Look at the current state of AP2. Once he realized that there is a pot of gold on making consumer ready autonomous driving tech, and got a taste of it working at Tesla, and probably learnt the ropes around it, he started "working on the side".

A senior executIve "working on the side" for the same industry is a sign of intellectual dishonesty.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Speculation. i guess they finally found my resume. I applied for a position there years ago. LOLOLOL

 

[AnxietyRanger]

By the way, I am personally of the opinion that there probably is nothing much to Diarmuid leaving. I am not sure I buy the family angle (it is just so worn out as a phrase, with reason), but this might simply be him waiting out a non-compete (speculation) clause for a new, unrelated job for example. Or any number of benign things.

So I am definitely not trying to say anything sinister is going on. Just trying to contribute to a balanced seeking of info.

 

[AlMc]

This will be my last post in this thread on this subject.
Sometimes you just have to take someone'a word on something when it is apparent they wish to end speculation but protect sources of information.

@AR: I will let you have the final word as without trying to be mean spirited but I am of the opinion that entering into a long conversation with you is not only tiring but futile.

We are all entitled to believe, express and discuss/debate whatever we care to on TMC. I choose to leave this discussion but you are certainly entitled to keep it going.

Thank you

 

[AnxietyRanger]

This will be my last post in this thread on this subject.
Sometimes you just have to take someone'a word on something when it is apparent they wish to end speculation but protect sources of information.

This is true, to an extent. Like with Eds.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

To steer back into OPs question and analyzing this departure:

The one issue I have with job change news is that people are understandably secretive about them and their reasons. So the reasons the public gets, but sometimes even the reasons close acquaintances get may be sanitized for a great many number of reasons.

To protect future endeavours, to honor non-disclosure and non-compete clauses, to avoid embarrassments (to someone else or yourself) etc. This is an area of life that is by nature shrouded in secrecy and deflection. It may sometimes be that not even a spouse knows all.

To me it seems only natural that analysts of a company (be they arm-chair or otherwise) would look at notable departures and the reasons given with some suspicion, to see if they might be signs of change, issues, pivots or other news inside the company they are watching.

Seems very natural to me to discuss on a VP level.

And yeah, sometimes some people just leave to stay home more. It happens. It is possible it happened here. Our challenge when analyzing this news is that we can't know that for sure.

 

[AudubonB]

Diarmuid was a keynote presenter at a technology symposium on Sept 8th at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center - one I couldn't attend because of an upcoming hospital visit that was already long-planned (I'm back).

I've not heard from any of the attendees whether his upcoming announcement colored his presentation...or whether (super-unlikely) he was poached by some of the high-powered others present.

Wasn't me! I've a bullet-proof alibi.