Extraordinary things aren't easy, says Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang after employee calls him difficult to work with

Extraordinary things aren’t easy, says Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang after employee calls him difficult to work with

When we talk about AI (Artificial intelligence), Nvidia is amongst the frontrunners in the emerging technology. The company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, has often made headlines for his views on AI. Be it saying that nobody will need programmers in future or that robots will be a common occurrence a few years from now, the Nvidia boss is often in the limelight. But while we have often seen him in public, we have little idea of how he is as a boss. As per his employees, Huang is a perfectionist who is not easy to work for. And the Nvidia chief has no problem with this statement and believes that this is how things should be.Â

Huang was in the middle of an interview with 60 Minutes when he was asked about how his employees perceived him. He was told that some of these employees have said that he is “demanding, perfectionist, and not easy to work for.” When asked if this was true, the Nvidia chief replied with a “perfectly yes” and added that this is how things are supposed to be. He then added that if you want to “do extraordinary things, it shouldn’t be easy.”

This was perhaps one of the rare incidents where we got to get a glimpse of the Nvidia CEO’s management style. Earlier, Huang had expressed his views on leadership and management while speaking to students at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Huang had shared his thoughts on the structure of company leadership. He had said that CEOs should have more direct reports than anyone else in the company because these high-level reports generally require less oversight, allowing CEOs to manage more people directly. Huang added that he sees this approach as a way to even out the playing field within the company.

He argued that when CEOs communicate directly with more team members, it diminishes the likelihood of information being a source of power. He expressed a strong opposition to a corporate culture where holding information equates to holding power. Instead, Huang focused on the role of managers as motivators and leaders rather than power brokers. He added that a manager’s value comes from their ability to think through complex issues, lead and inspire teams, and support and empower employees. According to him, these qualities are what should define leadership and help further the company’s goals, serving the broader workforce effectively.

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