Twitter's new CEO Elon Musk has not wasted time in advising his employees what he expects from them in terms of productivity, seeming to issue them an ultimatum in a leaked company email.
The 51-year-old has continually stirred up controversy in the wake of his $44 billion takeover of the social media platform on October 27.
Since then, the world's richest man has removed the board of directors, fired 3,700 employees, and launched a troublesome $8-a-month Twitter Blue subscription that ended up being halted in a chaotic mess.
Now, it seems Musk has a few words of wisdom for his remaining employees, reportedly sending an email implying that they commit to a "hardcore" work ethic or leave the company. The email offered six rules of "insane productivity."
Twitter user Liam Kircher obtained copies of the email, releasing the information contained in a Twitter thread. "Elon Musk's leaked email. His 6 rules for insane productivity: (Used at Tesla, Space X & now Twitter)," the first tweet read.
"1) Avoid large meetings. Large meetings waste valuable time and energy. They discourage debate, people are more guarded than open, there's not enough time for everyone to contribute. Don't schedule large meetings unless you're certain they provide value to everyone," the first rule read.
Musk's second and third rules for insane productivity were: "2) Leave a meeting if you're not contributing. If a meeting doesn't require your: Input, value, decisions. Your presence is useless. It's not rude to leave a meeting. But it's rude to waste people's time.
3) Forget the chain of command. Communicate with colleagues directly. Not through supervisors or managers. Fast communicators make fast decisions. Fast decisions = competitive advantage."
"4) Be clear, not clever," the fourth rule went. "Avoid nonsense words and technical jargon. It slows down communication. Choose words that are: Concise, to the point, easy to understand. Don't sound smart. Be efficient."
"5) Ditch frequent meetings. There's no better way to waste everyone's time. Use meetings to: Collaborate, attack issues head-on, solve urgent problems. But once you resolve the issue, frequent meetings are no longer necessary.
6) Use common sense. If a company rule doesn't: Make sense, contribute to progress, apply to your specific situation. Avoid following the rule with your eyes closed. Don't follow rules. Follow principles," the fifth and sixth rules stated.
In the email - which had the subject line "a fork in the road," and was also obtained by CNN - Musk urged staff to be "extremely hardcore," writing: "Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade."
Musk then adds that Twitter will be "much more engineering-driven," before telling staff: "If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below." The email then prompts staff to complete an online form before 5:00 PM ET on Thursday (November 17). In other words, if staff choose not to commit to a new "hardcore" Twitter, they will receive three months' severance pay, The Washington Post reports.
"Whatever decision you make," Musk says in the email, "thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful."