Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, and the world’s richest man, whose wealth grew by 924% during the Covid-19 pandemic, had a few pieces of advice for students and youngsters who want to succeed in life.

He was speaking at the ‘Lex Fridman Podcast’ where he shared advice for students that included reading books, trying not to be a leader, and being useful.

When he was asked about what advice he wanted to share for students in school or college who want to make it big and have a positive impact on the world, Elon Musk had five things to share.

Here are five pieces of advice from the world’s richest man Elon Musk to students and youngsters:

1. Don’t try to be a leader

Elon Musk asked youngsters to not simply want to be a leader just like that. He said something very important: “A lot of the time, the people you want as leaders are the people who don’t want to be leaders.”

2. Read books

Today’s generation is more comfortable with reading things and getting their information online but reading books matter.

The world’s richest man encouraged students and youngsters to read a lot of books and ingest as much information as possible.

He also advised students to read and develop their general knowledge so they know what’s going on around the world and have a good idea of the “knowledge landscape”.

3. Contribute to society

To make a positive impact on society, you need to contribute to it. He said one should contribute more than they consume.

“Try to have a positive net contribution to society. That’s something to aim for,” he told Fridman in the podcast.

Someone who puts in an “honest day’s work” has a lot of respect from him, Elon Musk said.

4. Talk to people

Talking to people can never be underrated. The more you talk to different kinds of people from all over the world, the more your mind will open up to different perspectives.

“Talk to people from different walks of life and different industries and professions and skills,” Elon Musk told Fridman.

“Learn as much as possible, he said.

5. Be useful

The most important tip he shared for students and youngsters was to “try to be useful”.

“Do things that are useful to your fellow human beings, to the world,” said the world’s richest man in the podcast.

He added that this was a very hard thing to do.

Musk said that a useful life is a “life worth having lived.”