> ‘If anyone can think of any possible reason to hold off on launching, they should call me immediately on my cell phone or send me an email, whether their manager agrees with it or not.’
Two thoughts: if you need to send a message like that, the culture of your organization needs some work. Also, does he really think a person can send a message like that - when their manager does not agree - without torpedoing their career?
Sending a message like that is part of the work to ensure the culture of your organization allows it. Otherwise managers at all kinds of levels will bring with them their own ideas of whether or not this is acceptable, and act accordingly.
Besides, this is unusual for a company the size of SpaceX. In most companies of some size I've worked at, most people may have the CEO's e-mail. Maybe. But usually the one filtered by a PA. But most of them don't have the CEO's cellphone number.
> Also, does he really think a person can send a message like that - when their manager does not agree - without torpedoing their career?
If this is usually the case, does that not mean that all organizations needs to work on their culture? So what is the issue with sending am message like that again?
Yeah. It is also the sort of thing NASA actually has in place - "anyone can escalate a safety issue!"
It is worth studying how that kind of thing has NOT fixed the issues as NASA, and how it did not prevent us from losing Columbia. You either have a culture that puts safety, engineering and problem solving ahead of politics and expediency in all cases, or you don't. There are absolutely not any shortcuts to that.
Actually it's only a problem if you're REALLY wrong. If you're just a little bit wrong, or your manager was only just barely right, it's likely that your manager will be reprimanded instead of you.
Further I think half the point of the exercise is to help ensure that managers don't dismiss people's concerns. If you want everyone to take launch safety really seriously broadcasting to everyone that you can go above as many boss' heads as necessary to get something addressed should help keep everyone on their toes.
Two thoughts: if you need to send a message like that, the culture of your organization needs some work. Also, does he really think a person can send a message like that - when their manager does not agree - without torpedoing their career?