Elon Musk was always a temperamental perfectionist, but his decision to fully automate the Model 3 factory in 2016 drastically slowed production at first, leading to fits of rage from Musk and the departure of dozens of executives, writes Charles Duhigg, who spoke with dozens of employees over several months about life at Tesla.

Personalize employee gifts by asking each person about professional-development goals, Julie Winkle Giulioni writes. You could then help employees create individual plans for learning, offer opportunities to gain experience within the company or budget a development plan of their choosing, she writes.

Congress took a break for the holidays without a plan for heading off a partial shutdown of the US government next week. Talks on keeping the government running haven't progressed since President Donald Trump said he is willing to take the blame for a shutdown if he doesn't get funding to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

ABC, NBC and CBS refused to pay more for NFL broadcast rights when Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was seeking a more lucrative deal in 1993, and Rupert Murdoch wanted credibility for his fledgling Fox network that had yet to broadcast sports, according to this oral history of the deal 25 years later. "I believe if they hadn't gotten the NFL, Fox would have puttered along, like the WB or UPN," says David Hill, president of Fox Sports.

The positive results of adopting small, healthier habits may be imperceptible at first, but compound quickly when replacing bad behaviors. "But when we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results," writes author James Clear.

Her first few days as CEO of UNICEF USA taught Caryl Stern the importance of a support system. "I've stayed close to so many of those women and am forever thankful for that network," she writes.

The Dracula ant, found in Australia and Southeast Asia, snaps its jaws closed at 200 mph, the fastest animal movement on record. "Likely, they use their jaws to hunt prey, employing the tremendous forces involved to stun or kill them before carrying them back to the nest," writes Avery Thompson.

Ask questions of your teams that prompt them to look to the future, writes Mary Jo Asmus. For example, ask employees to think about "How will we interact differently when we trust each other?"

Why it matters: This just sounds like there are new levels of laziness going on here. How far can it possibly be to the nearest Starbucks? They are everywhere! And won't the coffee get cold?

Why it matters: Tesla sales got hit hard in China in the second half of the year after the country cut tariffs on imports to 15% for every country except the US, which stayed at 25%.

China is giving the US a bit of a reprieve, aligning it with all the other countries at 15% for the first three months of 2019. That was enough to prompt Tesla to reduce prices on the Model S and Model X. I suspect this will skew the tone of Elon Musk's tweets in a more positive direction.