In any given meeting, make sure there’s at least one piece of bad news

One thing I was going to mention. This rule is sort of implicitly implemented at SpaceX and Tesla, but I’m going to be much more explicit about it and also apply at our company, X Corp.

In any given meeting, make sure there’s at least one piece of bad news. You can have more than one piece of bad news.

If you’re in a meeting with me, try to bring up at least one bit of bad news or more than that. My meetings at SpaceX are really good in this regard. They lead with the bad news.

Generally, bad news should be loud, repeated, and immediate. Good news can be said quietly once. So just consider it mandatory to at least have some bit of bad news in any given meeting, and start with that.

Another way to think of it is we’re looking for a feedback loop that is as good as possible, and sometimes it is uncomfortable to bring up bad news.