Elon Musk’s Latest Career Move That Wasn’t | Calendly’s Billionaire | Pay Law In Limbo

Plus: ‘We Made It, All Of Us’: Ketanji Brown Jackson Marks Her Own History Tearfully, Poetically, Powerfully

Happy Tuesday, everyone. Countdown to tax day—have you done yours? Here are three tax numbers every employee should know. This week in Forbes Careers:

– What does it mean that Musk won’t join Twitter’s board?

– The billionaire behind scheduling software Calendly

– Why being a perfectionist is bad for your career

Here at Forbes, we write about Elon Musk…a lot. The Tesla and SpaceX founder is, of course, the richest person in the world, with our recently published 2022 Forbes World’s Billionaires List pegging his worth at $219 billion. Whether it’s his tweets about getting into mining, taking his company private or questioning Covid-19 lockdowns, his career offers near-daily fodder for headlines.

But the latest line that was going to be on Musk’s resume isn’t going to happen after all. On April 4, Twitter said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Musk had acquired a 9.2% stake in the company, becoming its largest shareholder—and then quickly named him to its board of directors. Yet only about a week later, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced Musk had decided not to join the board after all.

The platform, of course, was ablaze with speculation. Is Twitter just the latest shiny object? Was it the tweets Musk had posted over the weekend, some of which were deleted, one of which asked whether the company where he would become a director was “dying”? Or was it simply that remaining a board member would limit Musk’s Twitter holdings to 14.9% of the company, freeing him up to launch a possible takeover bid? 

While the answer isn’t clear, Forbes leadership strategy senior contributor Edward Segal cautions there are real lessons in the chaotic story: Beware the risks associated with unpredictable people. Watch out for rash decision-making. And sometimes, leaders can be influential even when they aren’t in the boardroom. What do you think Musk is planning for his next move?

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Perfectionism is bad for your career. It cuts your motivation, distances you from others and reduces your effectiveness.

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On Our Agenda

NYC Pay Law In Limbo: A new pay transparency law was poised to have national impact and require nearly every job posting in the city to list a position’s minimum and maximum salary. Now, members of the New York City Council have introduced a bill that would significantly alter the law, including delaying enforcement by six months. The five boroughs’ chambers of commerce, as well as a business group known as the Partnership for New York City, are encouraging amendments to the law.

Why inflation doesn't equal pay bumps: With inflation at 40-year highs and talent shortages hitting hiring managers everywhere, one might think raises to wages would be commonplace. But there are several reasons the two don’t track each other more closely, writes contributor John Bremen. One is that wages are “sticky.” That’s a basic principle of labor economics which means wages tend not to go down unless significant structural issues are at play—meaning companies are slower to raise them, too. 

California’s board diversity law struck down: A California law that required corporate boards of directors to have certain levels of diversity was deemed unconstitutional following a claim against mandated quotas. But the court’s decision shouldn’t be a major impediment to the cause of diversity, equity and inclusion in boardrooms, writes Forbes senior contributor Michael Peregrine, as pressure for boardroom diversity now comes from all corners, including consumers, unions, asset managers and governance commentators.

Why the Staten Island Amazon union drive worked: A deep dive in the New Yorker finds that in the case of the New York campaign, “it made all the difference that the union was independent and led by workers from the warehouse, not managed by a large, outside organization.” As more companies face labor movements, the in-depth piece examines why one worked.

The WFH dream—for others: A nine-minute promotional video from Apple depicts four fictional workers who opt out of a forced return to the office by quitting and starting a new company, all with the help of Apple products ranging from MacBook Pros to Siri. Yet Bloomberg reports the ad left some workers wondering if they were being trolled, coming soon after the company told its own workers when they’d have to return. Apple asked workers to come in at least one day a week starting April 11, and by May 23, will transition to three days a week at the office.

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