Elon Musk takes aim at tedious work meetings

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has aimed a rocket at tedious work meetings, office politics and “nonsense” language.

Elon Musk lacks patience with much of what passes for normal workplace practice. Pic: AP

IF you frequently have the urge to walk out of tedious work meetings or hang up on contacts who are banging on, Elon Musk might just hire you.

The chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX recommended both courses of action in a leaked list of six productivity guidelines for staff at his electric car company. He also threatened to sack any pompous managers who hinder staff by insisting on their rights in the “chain of command”.

While Mr Musk’s claims for his engineering projects, which include schemes for Mars flights and high-speed “hyperloop” trains, are often considered overblown, his matter-of-fact workplace rules have struck a chord with disgruntled staff at other firms.

In his email outlining production goals for the Tesla Model 3 car, which was obtained by the Electrek website, the 46-year-old entrepreneur warned that “excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time”.

He added: “Please get (rid) of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short. Also get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter.”

The South African’s advice gives specific licence to the fantasies of most wage slaves, stating: “Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time.”

He also told staff to avoid acronyms or “nonsense words” at work, writing: “In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication.”

There seems to be leeway, however, at SpaceX, where the Mars spacecraft prototype is codenamed the BFR — “big f***ing rocket” — by its designers.

Mr Musk deplored the toxic office politics created by complex chains of command, telling staff to bypass middle managers and administrators where they could go straight to the person “doing the actual work”.

Finally, he echoed George Orwell’s six rules for writing, in which the British author famously declared: “Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.” He wrote: “Pick common sense as your guide. If following a ‘company rule’ is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation, such that it would make for a great Dilbert cartoon, then the rule should change.”

The Times