What Elon Musk said - "Remote work is no longer acceptable."

Is Elon the only one who thinks this about working from home?

Elon Musk recently issued a memo to his employees regarding remote work. Here are some of the choice quotes from that missive:

"Remote work is no longer acceptable."

In arguing against remote work, Musk said his constant physical presence at the company has been integral to Tesla's success. "That is why I lived in the factory so much — so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt."

For companies that make products, you can see his point. Particularly if you are trying to build teams that function as a unit. Still, the work from home concept for employees has grown on a number of business leaders. That includes  JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

His first reaction to remote work was an outright rejection: "It doesn't work for those who want to hustle; it doesn't work in terms of spontaneous idea generation."

In the bank’s latest annual report there’s a quote from Dimon stating  "working from home will become more permanent in American business."

Even though I created a newsletter for people who work from home and run businesses based from a home office, I do see their point about working in person with others. I recently took a life skills class—in person—that enlightened me to that point.

As part of the class, we had to come up with a mission statement. Our group of students sat around a fire pit with the instructor. I had nothing. Literally nothing. So I scratched out something I thought sounded good. Then the instructor asked everybody to read their statements.

The cool part of this exercise was that students could ask the person reading their statement if they would be open to feedback. I couldn’t say yes fast enough.

In short, the comments I received from a group of non-writers, helped me craft a mission statement I will carry for quite some time. I don’t think that would have been possible had this been an online class. My fellow students had experienced me, in the flesh. It’s very difficult, if nearly impossible, to get that online.

Like anything else, there are pros and cons. Could I write as well in an office of people? Would there be too many distractions? Or would the sensory stimulation of people and different surroundings take my work to a new place?

Tomato, tomahto

Still, it’s worth thinking about and even putting yourself in position to work in an office like area just to experiment. Like a shared space or even a coffee shop with free wifi.

What are your thoughts on the topic of how you work better—in an office with others or at home? Please leave a comment below.

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Inspiring quote of the week

Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health.

— Julia Child