• Elon Musk plans to reduce his time on government work to focus more on Tesla.
• Even reducing his time with DOGE could still make it hard to oversee a half dozen companies.
• Investors are often OK with "multi-CEOs" when things go well, but that can change if sales slide.

Even if Elon Musk cuts back his work reshaping the US government, he'll still be a busy guy.

And perhaps he's too busy — and controversial — to run the many companies under his domain as well as he could, leadership observers told Business Insider.

Musk, who said Tuesday he plans to soon reduce his time working on the Department of Government Efficiency, still has half a dozen companies to oversee, including Tesla, X, xAI, and SpaceX.

It adds up to a lot, especially when, like at Tesla, there are challenges like slumping sales.

"It's hard to imagine there's enough time in a week to really give each of those the attention that it needs," Christopher Myers, the faculty director of the Center for Innovative Leadership at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, told BI, referring to Musk's companies.

Myers said that while Musk has long been exceptional in his ability to run multiple entites at once, keeping a hand in DOGE one to two days a week, as Musk suggested he might, means there still won't be all that much time for him to go deep on reviving sales at Tesla, where auto revenues dropped 20% in the first quarter.

Even if Musk devoted all his time outside DOGE to the automaker, doing anything only two to three days a week would be a "minimal investment," Myers said.

Downshifting might not be enough

Another big challenge: Musk's involvement with DOGE is turning off some would-be buyers of Tesla vehicles. That means that simply giving over more time to the company might not be enough to fix its problems, Lorenz Graf-Vlachy, a professor of strategic management and leadership at Germany's TU Dortmund University, told BI.

Investors appeared buoyed by the idea that Musk would spend more time thinking about the company and less on Washington, DC. Tesla shares, which have tumbled in 2025, rose more than 5% on Wednesday.

Graf-Vlachy, who researches leaders who run more than one company — rare breeds he calls "multi-CEOs" — said investors are often OK with chiefs juggling more than one commitment when things are going well.

"As long as everybody's getting rich, nobody asks exactly how that's happening," he said.

But when business goes south, investors' confidence can erode, Graf-Vlachy said.

Even one of Tesla's biggest bulls, who has remained upbeat throughout the company's year of declining sales, said the EV maker faces a "code-red situation" if Musk stays at DOGE.

"Musk needs to leave the government, take a major step back on DOGE, and get back to being CEO of Tesla full-time," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note on Sunday.

Musk didn't respond to a request for comment Wednesday from BI.

Myers said that another challenge for Musk is that he's described himself not as a micromanager but as an even more hands-on "nano-manager."

"It seems hard to nano-manage that many companies across that wide of a range," Myers said.

He said it's possible that Musk's other companies, beyond Tesla, would have to take "more of a back seat" or that others within those organizations would have to further step up if Musk continues to devote even limited time to DOGE.

Myers said it might have been easier to see how a single CEO could simultaneously run two tech-focused entities, like Tesla and SpaceX. Yet the management playbook can get blurry when the scope of a CEO's focus widens. In Musk's case, he's waded into government work and acquired Twitter, which he renamed X.

By having such a diverse portfolio, Myers said, it's possible that Musk has made it harder for employees at his companies to discern a clear sense of mission.

He said a Tesla employee, for example, might worry about the hit that tariffs could have on the company. Musk, who has said he favors free trade, could be put in difficult positions, Myers said.

"Depending on which of his offices is releasing the press release, they're going to take wildly different stances on the role of tariffs," he said, referring to DOGE and the White House's position on tariffs.

"That can be frustrating, confusing, and certainly demotivating for individuals within those organizations," Myers said of Musk's companies.

Multihyphenate CEOs aren't new

Musk isn't the first CEO to face scrutiny for wearing more than one hat. In 2020, shareholders and activist investors questioned whether Jack Dorsey could run Twitter and Block, both public companies, simultaneously.

Yet the Musk universe is far larger, with federal contracts, over a trillion dollars, and thousands of employees at stake.

Jonathan Marshall, an executive coach and former assistant professor at the National University of Singapore, said it is possible to run multiple companies effectively.

"Giving clear direction and having capable people under you whom you trust makes a huge difference. It permits the leader to step back," he said.

Marshall said in the best cases, executives under a busy CEO can step up — but the setup can go wrong, too.

"In one case, I've seen it lead to tremendous inefficiency as the executives felt they couldn't make a decision without the CEO's approval," he said. "But where there has been clear direction from a trusted and competent substitute for the CEO, I've seen it go well."

In 2018, Harvard Business School's then-dean examined how CEOs spend their time, writing that a CEO's calendar "is a manifestation of how the leader leads and sends powerful messages to the rest of the organization."

Non-work activities, he wrote, could represent a distraction, so CEOs should "carefully restrict" their time on community and social engagements.

Graf-Vlachy said that even though Musk has proven himself capable of overseeing several companies, there are limits to how far the multi-CEO can push himself.

"There are only 7 days a week, even for Elon Musk," he said.

• Jamie Dimon said he wants to "kill meetings" because it slows work down.
• Dimon emphasized meetings should be purposeful, quick, and involve only the necessary people.
• He has criticized virtual meetings because he thinks employees are distracted with side tasks.

Jamie Dimon, who has a long list of frustrations with meetings, offered a set of strategies to make them better.

In his 2024 annual letter to shareholders released Monday, the JPMorgan CEO said he wants to "kill meetings" because they "slow us down."

But when meetings must happen, they need to start and end on time. They should also have a leader, a purpose, and a follow-up list, Dimon wrote.

He emphasized the importance of reading before a meeting — he said he does it. Dimon also recommended that employees prepare to discuss a new product in a meeting by first writing a press release. This helps them focus and identify questions that may be asked.

Once in the meeting, pay attention, he said.

"I see people in meetings all the time who are getting notifications and personal texts or who are reading emails," Dimon wrote.

The CEO added that there is no need to include people who are not necessary.

"Sometimes we think we're just being nice by inviting people to a meeting who don't have to be there. Sometimes we over-collaborate," he wrote.

Dimon also repeated his long-held ire with side meetings, in which executives approach him afterward to discuss a matter they didn't want to bring up in front of others.

"That's not acceptable. Don't bother. I'm not their messenger. Lay it on the table in real time," he wrote in Monday's letter.

In the wide-ranging 58-page letter, Dimon dove into recent tariffs and how they will impact the US, the investment bank's performance, and leadership lessons, including mistakes he has made in his career.

Dimon, who has led the bank since 2006, has repeatedly expressed his pet peeves about certain kinds of meetings and how they encourage bureaucracy.

In February, in a leaked internal town hall about the importance of in-person work, Dimon aired his frustration with virtual meetings.

"A lot of you were on the fucking Zoom and you were doing the following," Dimon said in the recording, "looking at your mail, sending texts to each other about what an asshole the other person is, not paying attention, not reading your stuff."

Clips of the audio recording, which is filled with anecdotes and profanities defending return-to-office, gained millions of views on social media.

Zoom meetings are not the only kind Dimon hates.

In last year's letter to shareholders, the CEO took aim at companies' Annual General Meetings and complained that they've become places of "spiraling frivolousness" and "showcase of grandstanding" that need to be reformed.

Annual meetings are required for public companies so investors can vote on the board of directors and corporate changes. These meetings range from staid company conferences to splashy events in exotic destinations. Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting draws thousands of devotees from around the world to Omaha.

• Automakers are responding to Trump's latest round of auto tariffs, announced Wednesday.
• Ford is offering customers an employee discount, while VW is adding an "import fee" to cars.
• Stellantis has shut down factories and will lay off 900 workers, while others may shift production to the US.

The Trump administration's fresh wave of tariffs sent shock waves through the automotive industry on Thursday.

Automakers have responded to the impending trade war in various ways, from offering discounts to shoppers who hope to avoid future price increases to adding import fees on vehicles built outside the US.

The "draconian" trade policies, as one Wall Street analyst called them, will also affect autoworkers, with Stellantis pausing production at two assembly plants in Mexico and Canada.

Wall Street believes the tariffs could cost the auto industry more than $80 billion and slash Detroit's Big Three's earnings by up to 60%, thanks to an additional $5,000 of input costs per vehicle.

Here's how the industry at large is responding:

Nissan is pausing US orders of some Mexico-built SUVs

On Thursday, Nissan said it would pause new US orders of two Infiniti SUVs, which are built in Mexico. The announcement came after President Donald Trump's auto tariffs went into effect.

Nissan will pause new Mexico-built orders for the Infiniti QX50 and QX55 SUVs for US sales, the Japanese carmaker said in a statement to Business Insider. The model will still be produced for other markets, and production of other US models in Mexico and Japan will continue.

Nissan also said it would keep two shifts of production of the Rogue SUV at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant, reversing a January plan to end one of the shifts later this month. This will keep "more localized volume in the US that is free of the new auto tariffs," Nissan said in the statement.

Ford offers employee discounts to all customers

Ford announced on Wednesday that it would make employee pricing available to consumers for the next two months.

"In times like these, talk is cheap. At Ford, we believe in action," Rob Kaffl, Ford's director of US sales and dealer operations, said in a press release.

The discount, which ends June 2, applies to all Ford and Lincoln models except Raptors, the 2025 Expedition and Navigator SUVs, and Super Duty trucks.

How much a consumer saves depends on the vehicle, but it could easily run into the thousands. The discount would be applied on top of any other deals or promotions a dealership is offering, the company said.

Ford declined to confirm whether the tariffs would lead to higher sticker prices.

A company spokesperson told Business Insider that it has a 74-day supply of vehicles in stock that haven't been affected by tariffs, compared to 50 days for GM and 24 days for Toyota. (Around 60 days of supply is considered healthy in a normal economic environment.)

Analysts say Ford is one of best best-positioned US automakers to weather the tariffs.

Stellantis paused work at two factories and laid off hundreds at others

Stellantis, which owns former Chrysler brands like Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, has paused production at its Windsor assembly plant in Canada and Toluca assembly plant in Mexico, a spokesperson said Thursday.

The Windsor plant, which makes Pacifica/Voyager minivans and Charger Daytona EV muscle cars, will be offline for two weeks. It plans to resume operations the week of April 21.

The Toluca plant, which builds Jeep Compass and Wagoneer S SUVs, will stop work for the rest of April.

The production stoppage at these two facilities resulted in the temporary layoffs of 900 workers from the company's powertrain and stamping plants in Michigan and Indiana, the spokesperon said.

VW tacks on a special fee for tariff-affected cars

The German automaker Volkswagen has confirmed it will add an "import fee" to the sticker prices of vehicles affected by the tariffs, a spokesperson said. The import fee will be added to the destination charge, which is tacked onto the price of a new car.

It's unclear how much the tariffs will affect the cost of new VW cars as no final pricing decisions have been made, the spokesperson said.

Its top-selling Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport midsize SUVs are made in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Its other top sellers — the Jetta sedan, the Taos SUV, and the Tiguan SUV — are all made in Puebla, Mexico.

Volvo and Mercedes plot production shifts

The CEO of Swedish brand Volvo Cars told Bloomberg on Thursday that the carmaker would look to build more vehicles at its South Carolina factory in response to the tariffs.

"We will have to increase the number of cars we build in the US, and surely move another model to that factory," said Håkan Samuelsson, who returned to Volvo as CEO on Monday.

Samuelsson said the company would "look closely" at which model it moves to the factory, which already builds the EX90 and Polestar 3 EVs. Volvo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Mercedes-Benz also signaled that it was considering shifting production to the US. Production chief Jörg Burzer told reporters from multiple outlets that the German carmaker could start building another vehicle model in its Alabama factory.

Burzer said Mercedes was still "assessing" the impact of the tariffs but warned flexibility would be key. Bloomberg previously reported that the company was considering cutting sales of some of its least-expensive models from the US market because the tariffs would make them economically unfeasible.

A spokesperson for rival BMW told BI the luxury carmaker was also still "evaluating" the new levies but called on the US and Europe to reach a deal quickly to avoid further pain for consumers.