Here are Some Totally Steal-Worthy Career Tips British Billionaire Richard Branson Has For Elon Musk

Elon Musk is one of the most divisive figures in the world of business and technology. On the one hand, the multi-hyphenate is no doubt a visionary and one of the biggest movers in the arena of space tech and automotive.

However, his many unusual and sometimes incriminating quips on Twitter has brought him in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and even compromised his position in his own company.

Amidst the current controversies that the 48-year-old CEO is facing, his fellow billionaire and businessman Richard Branson has some wise words of advice for Musk. Here are some of what the Virgin Group founder has to say about leadership and work.

The Art of Delegation

Branson’s group currently holds control over 400 companies across various industries

In an interview with CNBC’s Nancy Hungerford, Branson said that Musk probably needs to learn what he calls the ‘art of delegation’. Saying how the Tesla CEO seems like a creative person, Branson thinks that he should hire a fantastic team of people to keep around him.

This advice has been echoed by other business experts. Jenny Blake, a career and business strategist partly attributed the bouncing back of her own business to the practice of delegation. According to Blake, simple tasks aren’t really the best use of a business executive’s time and that they could be done by anybody else.

He also commented about how Musk shouldn’t be getting the small amount of sleep he currently is. Branson is definitely on to something in this regard, as Musk has been known to work 120-hour weeks at some point even sleeping on Tesla factory floors. He’s reportedly scaled down his work weeks to 80 to 90 hours though.

Showing Trust

Musk has been rumored to randomly fire employees during his anger outbursts

Meanwhile, delegating tasks is also an opportunity to show employees that their boss trusts them. This is corroborated by Stanford University Graduate School of Business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, who also says that leaders who permit their employees to make mistakes will also let them learn.

Besides, not delegating tasks actually makes a leader’s productivity suffer along with the rest of their working team’s performance. What more, a team’s inability to learn from the mistakes that come with taking on tasks will also make them unable to grow into their respective roles in the company.

Finding Time Alone

Musk after a recent hearing concerning his scuffle with the SEC over ‘misleading tweets’ about Tesla going private

Aside from learning to delegate, Branson adviced Musk to take the time to be alone. This sentiment is echoed by experts from the Harvard Business review who say that many great leaders and thinkers in history have lauded the importance of ‘solitary reflection’ and having a metaphorical ‘room of one’s own’.

What more the British billionaire says that the Tesla CEO should also try to figure out a good work-life balance and find time for his personal health. Links between effective leadership and healthy habits have been found by studies before.