Elon Musk has no patience for nonsense. If you're not saying something valuable, he'll simply leave—mid-conversation, no apologies. That's according to "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary, who recently shared his blunt take on Musk's relentless focus.
In a post on X last week, O'Leary compared Musk to another legendary figure: Steve Jobs. Both, he said, operate on a different wavelength—one where distractions are cut ruthlessly, and efficiency is king.
O'Leary broke it down like this: "Signal" is the time spent advancing your goals. "Noise" is everything else—distractions, useless meetings, pointless small talk. Waste too much time on the latter, and you lose. Simple as that.
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According to O'Leary, both tech visionaries Jobs and Musk mastered this balance.
It's not personal. It's about efficiency.
‘We Don't Do Market Research at Apple'
O'Leary, who worked with Jobs at Apple, shared a story to illustrate this mindset. Every quarter, he and other executives would meet at Apple's headquarters. Jobs, he said, was brutally focused.
"Steve was not a nice guy," O'Leary recalled. During one meeting, a product manager working on "Oregon Trail" suggested spending $2 million on market research to determine which product features would be best. Jobs shut her down instantly.
"We don't do market research at Apple," Jobs told her. "Nobody knows what they want until I tell them what they want. Then they buy it because I said so."
The woman left the meeting in tears. O'Leary was stunned.
"I told him, ‘Steve, you're an a**hole.'"
Jobs didn't care. Instead, he fired back: "Are you making a boatload of money? Are we growing share faster than anybody else? Shut up and go to work."
O'Leary called Jobs "85% signal, 15% noise"—meaning he still let some distractions slip through. But the results? Unmatched.
Musk Is ‘100% Signal'—And Doesn't Care What You Think
Then there's Musk. O'Leary says he's never met anyone more laser-focused.
"One other guy that is 100% signal, and I've never met anybody like him, is Elon Musk. No noise. 100% signal," he said.
Musk doesn't just cut out distractions—he eliminates them entirely. "Walks away from you if you're boring him in a conversation," O'Leary said. "Doesn't give a sh*t."
That kind of mindset might come off as arrogant, but O'Leary sees it differently: It's what makes Musk and Jobs exceptional.
Both built world-changing companies by ignoring distractions, cutting through the noise, and making decisions with absolute confidence. And in Musk's case, if you can't keep up? He's already moved on.
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