About 5-6 years ago, I was privileged to meet Elon Musk.

Here’s what he told me:

As your company gets bigger, you need to create deliberate channels for communication.

The communication should not just flow top-down hierarchically, where an employee talks to their direct reports, they talk to their manager, and then to the next one.

You need to create the path for the shortest communication by making yourself available to various employees within the company.

Today, we are between 500-600 employees. Yet I try to stick to this principle.

Here are 2 ways this has helped me: Understanding what’s going on in the company

Being in constant contact with my employees helps me understand:

• What's happening within the company?
• What is the perception on the ground?
• What are the sales reps hearing in the field?
• How are the UX designers interacting with engineers?
• What kind of tooling do engineers need to write better code? Seeking out the best ideas

The best ideas can come from anywhere, not necessarily from the boardroom, offsites, or ideation sessions.

For example:

One of our best lead generation mechanisms is a widget on our website called the Instant SecurityScorecard, where anybody can come and request a score.

It was an idea by one of our developers who coded that up on the weekend, put it on the website, and generated lots of leads. Cultivating the next generation of leaders

I want to promote meritocracy.

So making my calendar available gives me the ability to seek out top talents within the company and think about opportunities for mobility.

Website:
https://securityscorecard.com

SecurityScorecard is the global leader in cybersecurity ratings and the only
service with over 12 million companies continuously rated. The company is headquartered in New York and operates in 64 countries around the globe.

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