GQ Article-Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe on Ignoring Musk and Learning from Bezos

[Redline]

Yes, Absolutely agree. I’ve followed RJ and Rivian for years…yes, his father has helped him immeasurably and yet every interview is very polished and canned and all about RJ…same story. Never a mention of his father helping him and the depth of his help…to me just seems wrong and dishonest.

This is a super weird personality trait of yours. Be better.

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[BigE]

This is a super weird personality trait of yours. Be better.

Yeah, I guess honesty isn’t a good trait anymore

 

[Zorg]

There's a job opening in Palo Alto posted min hours are 50-60 per week. So, not that different from Tesla

 

[SoCal Rob]

I guess we just have a difference in our moral compass. If i were in RJ’s shoes, I would give more credit to my father as more credit is due.

Without knowing their family dynamics, I think it’s hard to make a claim that his father wants more credit.

If his father thought RJ wasn’t giving him as much credit as he wanted, then I suspect that someone would’ve dug that up in interviews or research.

Based on my experiences with my family, I could see that his father might’ve said something along the lines of, “This company needs to be about you, RJ. I appreciate your thanks in private, but as the face of Rivian, you need to always project that you’re a leader with vision. Don’t spend time giving me public credit for the financial assistance since that didn’t make the company what it is today. I’m just thankful that I could help you with the finances since I want you to succeed.”

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Yes, Absolutely agree. I’ve followed RJ and Rivian for years…yes, his father has helped him immeasurably and yet every interview is very polished and canned and all about RJ…same story. Never a mention of his father helping him and the depth of his help…to me just seems wrong and dishonest.

You make yourself look very jealous. Some people are very fortunate. So what. It happens. Life isn't fair. And I have seen interviews where his father's contribution was mentioned. Just because you haven't come across one, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

[Supratachophobia]

He skillfully didn't take the bait on the multiple Elon questions. Nicely done.

As always, smart guy. He can milk the plaid/goofy/have-a-beer-with-me persona forever if he just STFU about Space-Karen.

 

[BigE]

Without knowing their family dynamics, I think it’s hard to make a claim that his father wants more credit.

If his father thought RJ wasn’t giving him as much credit as he wanted, then I suspect that someone would’ve dug that up in interviews or research.

Based on my experiences with my family, I could see that his father might’ve said something along the lines of, “This company needs to be about you, RJ. I appreciate your thanks in private, but as the face of Rivian, you need to always project that you’re a leader with vision. Don’t spend time giving me public credit for the financial assistance since that didn’t make the company what it is today. I’m just thankful that I could help you with the finances since I want you to succeed.”

That's fair...

 

[Supratachophobia]

I guess we just have a difference in our moral compass. If i were in RJ’s shoes, I would give more credit to my father as more credit is due.

Why? It's a curated story. If he can keep the focus on him, for good or ill, that's the least amount of variables. Remember when Elon stated talking about his father, and then we got into the whole emerald slavery mines, and then his mom popped up in the media and she's like some member of the Nazi party. Then you have all this baggage to answer for. It may not be 100% honest but it's smart PR.

 

[Sharpobjects4321]

Your not following…if you actually do some digging into RJ’s past, not saying it’s necessarily bad but his definitely not honest or forthright . His father Robert Scaringe who’s a multi-millionaire, super smart engineer with tons of patents, helped young RJ greatly. Robert Sr. owns Mainstream Engineering…right…RJ’s second failed company was Mainstream Motors housed at his Dads company. Before any condescending comments, please do your homework

"RJ's second failed company was Mainstream Motors" Mainstream Motors is Rivian.....

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I wish I could have read the whole interview but after the 50th question about Elon in the first paragraph I was made physically sick and had to click away. That so call journalist was just trying to start some sort of fight between Elon and RJ and its good to see RJ being smart enough to avoid it.

Even when the "he's so loud and you're not" line of questioning came into play. Overall GQ was doing a pretty poor job of playing fair and I have strong distaste for that sort of gotcha journalism.

 

[SDH]

who gives a shit? I car about his cars, not what he eats for breakfast or who he votes for.

 

[iansriv]

I guess we just have a difference in our moral compass. If i were in RJ’s shoes, I would give more credit to my father as more credit is due.

Is this Robert?

 

[Harvest]

I have seen him give quite a bit of credit to his father in at least one other interview, including how his dad helped him with engineering and money.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

who gives a shit? I car about his cars, not what he eats for breakfast or who he votes for.

I give a shit insofar as to make sure he isn't giving any stupid answers. I want Rivian to succeed and public relations very much is a skill. He can really screw the company by saying dumb shit at this early stage. Tesla is big enough that Elon can just price his cars low enough and they are establish and respected as a brand enough that people will still buy them. Rivian is still establishing themselves and if RJ acted the way Elon does in the press there's a good chance Rivian goes under.

 

[BobinIndy]

I wish I could have read the whole interview but after the 50th question about Elon in the first paragraph I was made physically sick and had to click away. That so call journalist was just trying to start some sort of fight between Elon and RJ and its good to see RJ being smart enough to avoid it.

Even when the "he's so loud and you're not" line of questioning came into play. Overall GQ was doing a pretty poor job of playing fair and I have strong distaste for that sort of gotcha journalism.

Yeah, frankly the GQ “journalist” seems like a big douche.

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