Musk says that “smart” employees don’t really need to be micromanaged at all. In fact, they barely need to be told much about what to do, how to do and where not to tread.

So, what exactly was he doing earlier? “I wouldn’t call it micro management, it’s just insisting on attention to detail,” he said in an interview Monday with Nicolai Tangen, the chief executive of Norway’s wealth fund.

What others refer to as micromanagement, he believes is simply something else. He explained, “If you’re trying to make a perfect product, then attention to detail is essential.”

While success has been following Musk around in most everything he does, the fact that he finds the time to pay “attention to detail” puts him in stellar company with the tech icons like Apple’s Steve Jobs and Microsoft’s Bill Gates, two of the most valuable companies in the world. Needless to say, he works long hours, as he himself has admitted.

How to best handle employees

With so many companies to handle, the number of employees is also high. How to handle them and get the job done? Musk said: “Smart people, they manage themselves.”

These people will be goal achievers wherever you deploy them, he averred. He added that the best way to keep them them happy is to set out goals and let them figure out how to achieve them, Bloomberg reported.

“So I say, ‘Look, this is the goal we’re after and this is what we’re trying to achieve. If you agree with that goal, then let’s try to get it done,’” Musk said.

However, there was a proviso. Musk said that he reserves the right to weigh in and take control if the situation so requires. “Once in a while, you have to say, ‘Guys, you have to trust me on this one.”