Elon Musk reportedly sent an email to the Tesla team that is said to have been leaked (hoping this isn't another urban legend). It contained 6 productivity rules that can also be observed in other great leaders.
Being a polarizing figure, if you can separate the message from the messenger, there is something to be learned from his 6 rules.
1) Avoid large gatherings
“Excessive meetings are the plague of large companies, and they almost always get worse over time. Please get rid of all large gatherings unless you are sure they are providing value to the entire audience, in which case keep them very short."
2) Leave a meeting if you are contributing
“Leave a meeting or leave a call as soon as it's obvious you're not adding value. It's not rude to leave, it's rude to make someone stay and waste their time."
3) Forget the chain of command
"Communication should travel through the shortest path necessary to get the job done, not through the 'chain of command.' Any manager trying to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves working elsewhere.
“A major source of problems is poor communication between departments. The way to solve this is to allow the free flow of information between all levels. If, to do something between departments, an individual contributor has to talk to their manager, who talks to a director, who talks to a vice president, who talks to another vice president, who talks to a director, who talks to a manager, who talks with someone doing the actual work, then super dumb things will happen. It must be okay for people to speak directly and just make the right thing happen."
4) Be clear, not smart
"Do not use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software, or processes at Tesla. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We don't want people to have to memorize a glossary just to get by on Tesla."
5) Get rid of frequent meetings
“Also get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter. The frequency of meetings should decrease rapidly once the urgent matter is resolved."
6) Choose common sense
“In general, always choose common sense as a guide. If following a "company rule" is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation, such that it would be a great caricature of Dilbert, then the rule should change.
