On May 31st Elon Musk sent this note to Tesla employees, and a nearly-identical one to SpaceX employees. 

From: Elon Musk

To: “Everybody”

Tue. 5/31/2022 [time stamp redacted]

Subj: To be super clear

Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of forty hours in the office per week. Moreover, the office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo-office.

If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.

The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence. That is why I lived in the factory so much- so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt.

There are of course companies that don’t require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product? It’s been a while.

Tesla has and will create and actually manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth. This will not happen by phoning it in.

Thanks,

Elon

Like many who read this when it leaked, I had a mix of feelings. My stomach dropped thinking of the moral dilemma many Tesla and SpaceX employees were now facing, especially those who will be asked to enforce Elon’s mandate (read more about the emerging concept of moral injury here). My heart hurt for the partners, children, and other close connections of Elon’s employees who have created new ways of navigating work and life over the past 2 years, many of which are more sustainable, and are being asked to either reset back to a traditional approach to managing their priorities, or to expend more energy to reinvent their approach again or make the gut-wrenching decision to find another job, even knowing that many job-switchers are realizing they’ve been fooled again, and the new boss is the same as the old boss. 

And then there’s Elon. Of course he has the right as an owner to ask whatever he pleases of employees, but the fact that one is operating within their rights doesn’t a good decision make. In choosing to frame employment almost exclusively as a transaction (I pay you dollars and in exchange you complete tasks for a set amount of hours), he unintentionally makes it clear that employees are only expected to transact as well, and his chances of building an organization where people bring passion to the table, and expend discretionary effort (the energy we put into work above and beyond the minimum expected transaction), are diminished. And in today’s world, where technique and technology are more commoditized with each passing year, cultures that foster discretionary effort are one of the increasingly few “hard-to-copy” competitive advantages a company can build. 

I get it. Taking a transformational approach (usually focused on shared purpose and values, developing mindset and core competencies that are durable over time, and based on mutual affinity) is harder than executing a transactional approach (usually focused on outcomes and techniques). In this framework Elon’s approach seems foolish and short-sighted, but mostly what I feel for Elon is compassion. There is, after all, building evidence that leaders like Elon might be suffering from literal brain damage. He’s so far into his echo chamber that his view of work as a transaction is not something he’s likely to question.

So I decided to do Elon a favor and rewrite his memo.

From: Elon Musk

To: “Everybody”

Tue. 5/31/2022 [time stamp redacted]

Subj: To be super clear

First off, thank you for your continued commitment to our shared purpose: to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. The last 2 years have tested our commitment to this purpose, but you’ve risen above the challenges and here we all are - continuing to innovate new and better ways to live it out!

Many of you are asking about a “return to the office” policy. I won’t pretend to know what the next 2 years will hold, but I know many of us are trying to discern how much time to spend back in the office now that it’s a safer choice. I personally like the idea of spending more time in face to face collaboration, especially for leaders who should be available for their team members, but everyone’s situation is different. I trust leaders to act with positive intent and innovate, no matter the solution they land on for this season for their teams. Here’s my ask of you as individuals:

Participate in helping our leaders discern our next steps. If you have ideas on how to evolve our thinking, share them! I’ll personally review any ideas on new models of employment that are sent my way.

We are a fair community. If you see something that isn’t fair, or sparks questions related to equity for all team members, please raise the flag quickly so we can address and clarify ambiguity as best we can.

Remember our purpose. If you see ideas that allow us to minimize our environmental impact in how we design employment please share. 

As all companies are coming to realize these days, employment at Tesla is a product, and should be treated as such. Other companies may be stuck in the past, but we should aim to “ship” the most exciting and meaningful work experience of any company on earth. 

Being the best version of Tesla will not happen by “phoning it in”. No matter where you work and how you engage, you are invited to bring your whole self to your work at Tesla. My commitment to you is that the members of the senior leadership team and myself will do the same. 

Thanks,

Elon

Now, isn’t that more productive (literally)? I’m hoping there’s a version of Elon in another dimension of the multiverse who chooses this one instead. 

Postscript: If you’re curious about the science of transformational leadership, check out this conversation I had with my teammate Ben West. 

You can download an in-depth explainer of the Purpose-to-Profit Chain here. The PPC provides a practical path for leaders who want to focus on building sustainable cultures of performance. Elon’s memo is a great example of leaders who focus on the outcomes of a healthy business without giving adequate attention to the inputs required for sustainable performance. This has obviously worked for him for a time, but as we’ve seen, the market for employment as a product is changing rapidly.