There’s a lot of speculation on what it’s really like working at an Elon Musk company especially Twitter nowadays, this quote-unquote hardcore culture is what’s being most questioned. With approximately 3,700 employees being laid-off or about 50% of their entire employees. I thought there is a lot we can learn from Elon Musk’s work culture that many news media networks don’t fully explain.
Is Elon Musk a bad CEO like how we are told? Looking at the track record for Tesla and SpaceX, that isn’t the case. These companies are highly sorted after to work in based on the work stats of 2021. So what makes his method such a great way to motivate employees to get their drive?
Before I share my opinion, I want my readers to know that I am a shareholder of Tesla stock because I truly love what they are doing. By putting my money on the line, I spend a large portion of my time understanding more about the business and Elon himself.
After reading his book, here are some of what I have learned from him. How I implemented his business model in my company and helped my employees get their drive.
Delete your Ego
Try your absolute best to delete your ego. It sucks being wrong. It sucks not having your stuff used at the workplace. What’s most important is creating value. Learn from your mistakes, ask for honest feedback and continue to get better day in and day out. In other words, get the suck out of your system as early as possible.
Create Positivity Culture
Culture is paramount. It’s up to the company and the leaders to give the people a reason to wake up every single morning to come to work. And make it a mission statement for a company that’s existential, I found is the best way to do this.
How are we changing the world? How are we improving people’s lives? And how does each of us influence that?
There’s a common misconception in the world that there’s a shortage of talent. I don’t think that’s the case.
I believe that there’s a shortage of companies that inspires people to come to work. Many of these companies should be prioritizing a culture that inspires people to bring out not just the best talent but bring out the best in people.
Reward Hardwork
A CEO should at all times be understanding and humane to their employee. The energy they give off will directly affect employees. I remembered working as a full-time employee and there were 3 other team members like me. We were working our butts off to satisfy our customers and demanded raise given our company was making more money.
Instead, after all that hard work, our effort was not paid off and our boss used the earned money to buy a yacht. And can you guess what happened? Yes, we all left. For employees to stay on track and be motivated, the CEO needs to be able to spot great work from employees and reward them.
Finding Problem Solvers
Focus on hiring problem solvers. You should always find people that naturally like to question especially in times of pressure. The secret is that problem solvers can solve anything and whatever technical knowledge they need for a specific job function they can learn on the job.
In essence, try to hire people that know how to ask the right questions. Number four, always ask why humans and businesses will naturally creep towards comfort over time, all your processes over time will become old and effective, stale, boring, and so on.
You shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions on a daily regardless of what your position is at the company. And if you feel like you’re offending somebody when you’re asking why there’s likely a giant obstacle in the way of somebody that’s making their life hell. Those are the places you should focus on the most.
Give Everyone Opportunity
Give everyone a voice and a way to make change people that are working the process and the everyday function of any job know way more about that thing than anyone else at the company, including all the so-called leaders, and ensure that you’re talking to them every single day. Implement their suggestions, and empower them to implement those suggestions don’t make this about your elevation for the company and your career building make it about their development.
How I brought that Mentality into my Business
There’s a lot to learn from multiple successful businesses around us from the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates. Although some of their practices can be quite questionable. I believe that they, more than anybody, care more about the well-being of their hardworking employees. The key takeaway from all that is hiring talents to allow them to solve problems for you and be rewarded fairly.
It is easy to hire anyone to do a job but hiring talent to work for you is critical. During times of recession or business uncertainty. The easiest way to lose loyal employees is to make it tougher for them. So it is crucial for business owners to look after their employees at all times for construction work to be done.
