By Sarat Pratapchandran

Jensen Huang, co-founder of NVIDIA, has developed an interesting habit of whiteboarding his ideas. This practice is highlighted in Tae Kim’s acclaimed book “The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant.” Huang describes the whiteboard as starting off blank. It allows for the creation of new ideas. These ideas are free from preconceived notions.

As the fourth longest-serving CEO of any major US corporation, Huang aims to solve problems from a clean slate. He seeks to remove preconceptions from prior events. Acknowledging the competitive nature of the global market, he emphasizes continuous vigilance. Known for his intensity, focus and dedication, Huang believes that a company’s mission should drive its actions. It should not be driven by any single leader. The mission guides the actions. NVIDIA’s mission is “to solve the world’s most challenging computational problems.” Their goal is also “to bring artificial intelligence to life.”

Over three decades, Huang has transformed NVIDIA’s culture from a hierarchical model to a flat structure. Employees are encouraged to contribute their best ideas, regardless of their level within the organization. Each day, he scans over 100 emails. The emails list the top five issues affecting the company. He addresses the most critical ones promptly.

Huang prefers collaborative meetings over one-on-one interactions. He brings his whiteboarding approach to these settings. This fosters open debate and avoids preconceived ideas. Tae Kim’s book presents several practices, referred to as “Jensenisms,” that can be applied in our daily work:

• Be frugal with employee time and resources.
• Invite only essential participants to meetings.
• Think long-term, create markets instead of market share.
• Focus on how to play the game instead of worrying about stock price volatility.
• Strategy is about things you give up. Sort through everything, pick the most important one and leave the rest.

Huang advocates for frugality and the avoidance of waste. He emphasizes the design of chips with redundancy. This approach helps to repurpose parts affected by minor manufacturing defects. These parts can be sold at cheaper prices. This process thus reduces waste. He promotes intellectual honesty, urging employees to tell the truth, acknowledge failures, and move ahead.

Decision-making at NVIDIA prioritizes customer service over internal politics, with the goal and expectation to win consistently. According to Huang, “Second place is the first loser.” For him, strategy involves deciding what to forgo, contrary to business school teachings. Sorting through options, selecting the most important task, and focusing on it is his approach to effective leadership.

References:

The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant. By Tae Kim