Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s advice for CEOs

Tesla CEO and SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk has offered advice for CEOs.

Musk was a speaker at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit.

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

Product improvement is vital, and CEOs should spend less time focusing on things like financials, said Musk, and more time "just trying to make your product as amazing as possible".

Musk urged CEOs to take a step back and consider, "Is our product as awesome at it could be? Probably not. What could you do to make it great?"I just honestly would recommend to anyone listening … just spend less time in meetings, less time on PowerPoint presentations, less time on spreadsheets and more time on the factory floor or time with customers."

Musk said the ultimate goal is to be an "absolute perfectionist about the product that you make or the service that is provided (and) seek negative feedback from all corners … from customers … from people who aren’t customers."

Even if an executive doesn’t specialise in product innovation per se, Musk said the skill is "learnable".

"It’s not some mysterious thing."Because if you are only focusing on the bottom line, you are "barking up the wrong tree".In fact, the biggest problem with corporate America today may be that there are "too many MBAs running companies," Musk said.

The US Gross Domestic Product increased 33.1 per cent, year-on-year, after a record 31.4 per cent fall in the second quarter, according to US Commerce Department figures.

Musk also revealed he was leaving his home in Silicon Valley for a base in Texas, where a new plant for Tesla is being built. Texas doesn’t collect state income or capital gains tax for individuals. Musk qualified this year for billions of dollars in Tesla stock-option compensation as part of a pay-package agreement, making him the second-richest person in the world.