Elon Musk Advises Fellow CEOs To Spend Less Time On PowerPoint And Do This Instead

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday that fellow CEOs should embrace criticism and attention to detail while abandoning the unilateral focus on the bottom line.

What Happened: Speaking virtually at the WSJ CEO Summit, Musk dished out advice to chief executives.

“Are CEOs from corporate America focused enough on product improvement? I think the answer is no,” said Musk.

The billionaire entrepreneur urged business leaders to ask themselves what they could do to make their product great.

“I just honestly would recommend to anyone listening...just spend less time in meeting[s], less time on PowerPoint presentations, less time on spreadsheets and more time on the factory floor or time with customers,” exhorted Musk. 

Musk encouraged CEOs to pay heed to negative feedback “from all corners” and from customers and non-customers alike.

The Tesla honcho was critical of corporate America and complained that there are “too many MBAs running companies.”

According to Musk, innovation is “learnable,” and not a “mysterious thing.”

Why It Matters: Musk explained that financials are a result of a great product. He propounded the theory that companies should have a focus on products and services.

See Also: Musk Wants Tesla Employees To Pinch Pennies For Profitability

The South African-born American executive is an industrial designer and an engineer. Besides running Tesla, he is the founder of the Boring Company and the co-founder of Neuralink.

One of Musk’s earliest ventures, Zip2 was purchased by Compaq in a $341 million deal and another X.com merged into Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: PYPL), according to Business Insider.

Musk confirmed Tuesday that he is moving to Texas from California, even though both Tesla and SpaceX will continue major operations in the Golden State for the time being.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed nearly 1.3% higher at $649.88 on Tuesday and fell almost 0.6% in the after-hours session.

Photo courtesy: Steve Jurvetson via Flickr