Richard Branson is a pretty laidback dude.

Elon Musk is the opposite of laidback – unless you count that time he got stoned and humblebragged on a radio show.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks for Elon. He had a public meltdown over his workload, and nearly dragged Tesla into a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit.

Elon was even forced to fork out $20 million to the SEC for his tweets regarding Tesla going private at $420 a share.

Fellow billionaire and space-race opponent, Branson, is clearly worried about him because he’s decided to weigh in with some friendly advice.

Here’s Business Insider:

“He’s got to find time for himself, he’s got to find time for his health and for his family. He’s a wonderfully creative person, but he shouldn’t be getting very little sleep,” the Virgin Group founder told CNBC.

Branson added that Musk “needs to learn the art of delegation” and should work to “find a fantastic team of people around him.” Branson appears to be advocating a model closer to how he runs Virgin.

I get the feeling that you’d have to pry the task that needs delegating from Elon’s cold dead hands. He doesn’t seem to like handing over the reigns.

Branson’s advice isn’t news to Elon, who has been told by others that he needs to find a Chief Operating Officer for Tesla who is capable of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company.

Even if Musk decides to ignore this suggestion, Tesla will have to find a new chairperson to replace the billionaire, a condition of his settlement with the SEC. Al Gore has been named as a potential candidate.

But Branson’s words of wisdom did not stop there – he also told Musk to stop tweeting. “Don’t feel you have to put out tweets about public shareholders, leave the public game to people who enjoy that. He obviously doesn’t enjoy it, so [he should] clear the decks and concentrate on the creative side,” Branson said.

Again, they’re going to have to pry his phone from his cold dead hands. Elon just can’t help himself, especially when there are Ambien and British divers involved.

Still, words to live by.

[source:businessinsider]