The former Twitter director who went viral for sleeping on the office floor just spilled the tea on working with Elon Musk in a 14-minute video

• Esther Crawford, Elon Musk's former lieutenant, posted a 14-minute video about her time at Twitter.
• The former director said Twitter had been "squandering its own potential" before Musk took over.

Esther Crawford, Elon Musk's former lieutenant at Twitter who went viral for sleeping on the floor at the company's headquarters, dished on her experience before and after his takeover in a 14-minute video.

The former director of product management at Twitter, now X, said that she had a nuanced perspective on the billionaire but that she wasn't afraid to point out his flaws.

Crawford said that she was "shocked by how old and bespoke the infrastructure" was before Musk took over and that it used to be "nearly impossible to fire poor performers." Musk fired more than half of the company's workforce in the first few months of taking control of Twitter.

"Twitter often felt like a place that kept squandering its own potential, which was sad and frustrating to see," Crawford said of her time at the company before Musk.

The former lieutenant said everything shifted when the billionaire took the company private in October.

"I made peace with the fact that I didn't have psychological safety at Twitter 2.0, and that meant I could be fired at any moment and for no reason at all," Crawford said.

Crawford said the billionaire was "living in an echo chamber" because he had become surrounded by "yes men." She said it "frustrated" her that Musk often relied on his gut instinct rather than data or other workers' expertise.

"At times, it felt like the inner circle was too zealous and fanatical in their unwavering support of everything he said," Crawford wrote on X. "Everyone needs to hear hard truths sometimes and if you fire all the people who speak up then the reality distortion field may just turn into a vortex," she added.

Crawford also said dealing with the billionaire's personality could be challenging because it could "turn on a dime going from excited to angry."

"Since it was hard to read what mood he might be in and what his reaction would be to any given thing, people quickly became afraid of being called into meetings or having to share negative news with him," Crawford said.

Despite her criticism, the former director praised Musk's "exceptional talent for tackling hard physics-based problems" and other aspects of his leadership. She said that she learned from the billionaire and that he was funny and "oddly charming."

"His boldness, passion and storytelling is inspiring, but his lack of process and empathy is painful," she wrote.

"I don't think things had to be as difficult or dramatic as they turned out to be, but I can't say I'd bet against Elon or count him out. He's smart and has enough money to make a lot of mistakes and then course correct when things go awry. As the largest shareholder he can tank the value in the short-term, but eventually he'll need things to turn around," Crawford added.

Crawford said that she enjoyed her time at Twitter but that getting laid off in February was "the best gift" she'd ever received.

Crawford and a spokesperson for X did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.

The Twitter director worked at the company for more than two years after it acquired her startup, Squad, in 2020, according to her LinkedIn page. After Musk purchased Twitter in October, she was identified as one of his top lieutenants and was put in charge of the company's new subscription service, Twitter Blue, before she was laid off in February. Since then, Crawford announced she was taking a career break to travel the world.