For those few of you who are not familiar with Elon Musk, he is a serial entrepreneur that has started and sold several companies. Today he is CEO of Tesla, a moderately successful automobile manufacturer, and SpaceX an aerospace company that has created the first reusable rocket (which even to the jaded eyes at the International College of Businessry and Managering is pretty impressive). Mr.Musk has made a name for himself with his “unconventional” leadership style. While some in the business press praise his unusual style, others criticize it. Because the ICBM’s main focus is to analyze, then optimize management structures we felt Mr.Musk’s leadership methods deserved attention. The ICBM has created this first lesson we are titling “The Eightfold Path of the Tao of Elon”.

Recently, Mr. Musk sent an email to all employees that was subsequently leaked to the press. Clearly Musk is aware of the old saying in spy circles “Don’t write if you can talk, don’t talk if you can nod, don’t nod if you can simply wink.” Obviously, by writing an email addressed to “everyone” this information was always intended for public consumption. Which brings us to the First Principle in the Tao of Elon:

i. Speak openly and often, for people will look no further when they find what they want in front of them.

The full text of the email stated:

In this email Musk offers three options for managers, let’s break each down and find the underlying Principle.

1. Email me back to explain why what I said was incorrect.

Most managers don’t understand the real value in having subordinates express an objection. When asked, students at ICBM invariably state that the different opinions add value. That these objections and explanations can serve to “check your work” from a new set of eyes, or a different perspective. What these are reasonable if predictable answers, and who doesn’t benefits [sic] from a god [sic] profreeder [sic], the real genius is much more subtle. By asking managers to provide feedback you can easily identify any “traitors” in the ranks. You need not waste time ferreting them out, they reveal themselves. As Sun Tzu wisely states in Art of War: “Know your enemy”. Elon’s email asks his enemies managers enemy-managers to stand up, be counted and disclose their weakness, which is the Second Principle:

ii. The wise manager doesn’t seek one’s enemies, but instead makes those enemies eager to reveal themselves and their vulnerabilities.

2. Request further clarification if what I said was ambiguous.

This “suggestion” builds on the second principle. A manager might not want to perform whatever task is assigned by the CEO, but also doesn’t want to call them out as wrong. Asking for clarification seems like a nice middle ground by appearing to offer an out. It most certainly is not. This option is only provided to filter Mr. Musk’s enemies into two camps: those that will directly rebuke the CEO and those who are sneaky backstabbing weasel slackers that only wish to avoid work. That leads to the Third Principle:

iii. Not all enemies attack, some foes are enemies because they don’t attack.

3. Execute the directions.

Option three, “fall in line and do what I ask”, is provided so that it appears there are no other choices. Elon cleverly leaves out several other moves the manager can makes. The wisdom of the Forth Principle is simple:

iv. Show a less fortified position and your opponents won’t think to find your true weakness.

Continuing the lesson of Principle 4, the options not mentioned include:

• Don’t perform the task, but state that you are.
• Use lack of resources to explain why you didn’t execute the task.
• Blame other managers for the task not being completed.
• Blame your workers for not executing despite “direct orders from the top.”

These are the four most commonly used techniques but there are nearly limitless options and any manager worth their pay will understand when to use one of the these other strategies.

Finally, the email concludes with a warning:

If none of the above are done, that manager will be asked to resign immediately.

Any manager that can’t find a way out of that meager threat isn’t worthy of a conference call with HR. That leads to Principle 5:

v. Most enemies will hide from battle if given the choice.

The brilliance of that email, utilizing simple, understandable language is staggering. The first Five Principles of the Tao of Elon root out enemies while they willingly surrender their weapons. Clearly he is a manager above managers.

Moving from Musk’s recent corporate emails to other events that describe the philosophy of Musk we must examine his Billionaire-Boy-Fight “BBF” with Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.(A quick note: the BBF is an adversarial version of the BFF) In what can be best described as an aerospace “stretch and measure” contest each is building reusable rockets. These are obvious attempts by each CEO to demoralize the other by building larger and larger rockets. With each generation they get longer and thicker, penetrating deeper into space. Thrusting ever harder to the heavens, engines screaming with effort until they finally release their payload into the dark abyss.

Principle Six:

vi. To be a true warrior both allies and opponents alike must be awestruck and terrified by the size of your war machinery.

During the Tesla Model 3 ramp up Musk frequently boasted about sleeping on the factory floor. Now is he is “sleeping at work” to ensure SpaceX is able to improve production of the Raptor 9 rocket engine. It is important to motivate and inspire your employees. But even more importantly, you must continually remind them that you work harder than they do and so they are constantly “on the bubble”. Which takes us to the penultimate lesson, Principle Seven:

vii. Never tear your enemies down, show them how great you are and they will tear down themselves.

Lastly, there is overwhelming evidence that Mr. Musk understands the true path to business enlightenment. His wisdom can be seen in a recent tweet that parallels what ICBM has been teaching for years: meetings are the product.

That is the Eighth and final Principle in this lesson on the Tao of Elon:

viii. Meetings are a valuable use of time!

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, so we didn’t.

The Eight-fold path of the Tao of Elon

i. Speak openly and often, for people will look no further when they find what they want in front of them.

ii. The wise manager doesn’t seek one’s enemies, but instead makes those enemies eager to reveal themselves and their vulnerabilities.

iii. Not all enemies attack, some foes are enemies because they don’t attack.

iv. Show a less fortified position and your opponents won’t think to find your true weakness.

v. Most enemies will hide from battle if given the choice.

vi. To be a true warrior both allies and opponents alike must be awestruck and terrified by the size of your war machinery.

vii. Never tear your enemies down, show them how great you are and they will tear down themselves.

viii. Meetings are a valuable use of time!