Elon Musk’s Advice For Bosses Who Want to Be More Productive

Advisor April 27, 2023

Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk has built a successful business doing what he’s passionate about. Proof of this is his reported $23.7 billion fortune and the enduring popularity of Tesla among eco-conscious drivers.

Thus, it seems only smart to look to the 48-year-old businessman for advice in hopes of replicating his success. Luckily, Musk has just released a letter addressed to his employees detailing some of his tricks when it comes to productivity. These are the tips he has to share.

Be Picky With Meetings

Twitter | Musk also advised employees to keep meetings with numerous people on the short side

According to Musk, it’s having excessive meetings that may be what’s causing problems in big companies. He advises his employees to get out of particularly large meetings when they suspect that the talk isn’t really providing value for the majority of people attending it.

He also warned against scheduling multiple meetings unless there really are urgent matters that a company’s staff needs to address quickly. Solving these issues would then also lead to the need for more meetings dropping further.

Contribute or Leave

And staying true to his direct personality, Musk encouraged people to not be afraid of leaving a meeting or dropping a call when they think that they aren’t really contributing anything of importance to the conversation.

Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images | Musk believes that it should be okay for people in the company to be able to talk directly with each other and make things happen the way they should

He justified walking out of meetings by saying that the act itself isn’t rude. In fact, it’s actually the conscious wasting of someone else’s time that’s truly rude. Likewise, he suggested that his people refrain from resorting to using too much jargon.

At the end of the day, he believes that explaining things further to those who may not be familiar with the terms will only inhibit communication between associates. Musk doesn’t really want his employees to have to memorize a ‘glossary’ of terms just to be able to function in his company.

Direct Communication

Although he’s already at the top of the work ladder, Musk emphasizes the importance of an open line of communication among people in the workplace regardless of their level in the hierarchy.

He even expressed his disapproval of managers who insist on implementing a chain of command communication at Tesla. Having to go through various levels of communication will only cause ‘super dumb things’ to happen because of this information spread process.

Hunters Race/Unsplash | Be sure you have something of substance to contribute to work meetings you attend

Follow Common Sense

Lastly, the innovator warns against following company rules to a tee. He emphasizes that people should always pick common sense as their guide when making decisions in the workplace. Musk encourages his employees to be more mindful of situations where following a certain company rule would not be the wise choice.