Remain or Bre%#it

This has got to be the most productive decade for mankind. Technology is driving innovation all around us, which also exposes us to a high risk of redundancy.

redundancy |rəˈdəndənsē|: the state of being not or no longer needed or useful.

I know some would point out the contradiction to my initial statement. Well, it’s a hypothesis at best but I’ll share a real-life example.

A few weeks ago, on the 18th of January to be precise, Elon Musk sent out an email to his employees at Tesla. To some, it was a wake-up call, to others it was the end of the road.

Elon Musk is the founder, CEO, and lead designer of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc., co-founder and CEO of Neuralink; co-founder of PayPal and Chairman of SolarCity.

“To those departing, thank you for everything you have done to advance our mission. I am deeply grateful for your contributions to Tesla. We would not be where we are today without you.”

This got me thinking. Entrepreneurs are constantly living around the edges of chivalry and antagonism. Hero today, Villain tomorrow. They are often confronted with situations where they are left with no other choice except to bite to bullet.

Running a business of my own, I couldn’t help but create a parallel with Elon. It could well have been my name at the end of that email. Simply replace “Tesla” with “Bedouin” and it would have been par for the course.

He continues:

“This is not new for us — we have always faced significant challenges — but it is the reality we face. There are many companies that can offer a better work-life balance, because they are larger and more mature or in industries that are not so voraciously competitive. Attempting to build…at scale necessarily requires extreme effort and relentless creativity, but succeeding in our mission is essential to ensure that the future is good, so we must do everything we can to advance the cause.”

His last 3 paragraphs sounded more reassuring.

“To those departing, thank you for everything you have done to advance our mission. I am deeply grateful for your contributions (to Tesla). We would not be where we are today without you.

For those remaining, although there are many challenges ahead, I believe we have the most exciting product roadmap of any consumer product company in the world.

I am honored to work alongside you.”

He ended the letter fittingly with “Thanks for everything”.

If the roles were reversed and you were the employee receiving the email, either on the staying or departing side, what would be your next line of action? Please leave comments below. I’ll love to read from you.

For me, I’d like to think that Redundancy inspires productivity.

To those that read to the end,

Thanks for everything,
Ayoola.