Welcome to AI Update, where we explore the latest advancements
in artificial intelligence with insights into Open AI, Google,
Gemini, generative AI, machine learning, and more.
Now let's learn together. I'm your host, Will Walden, the
CEO of NVIDIA. Jensen Wong believes that an
effective leader must be willing to put their hands in the dirt
and get dirty Now. His leadership philosophy is
deeply rooted in his early experiences.
He has a teenage busboy at Denny's where he performed a
variety of menial tasks, including washing dishes and
cleaning toilets. Now Wong, who is the Co founder
of NVIDIA, a company that's worth $3.1 trillion, Imagine
this. He's been in a Denny's booth
now. Despite his current net worth of
about $108 billion, Wong credits his humble beginnings for
shaping his approach to leadership.
In a March interview at the Stanford Graduate School of
Business, he said that no task is beneath him.
He reflected on his time as a dishwasher and also a toilet
cleaner, and he said that these experiences instilled the sense
of humility and a strong work ethic in him.
He told the students there, I mean, I cleaned a lot of
toilets. I've cleaned more toilets than
all of you combined. And some of them you just can't
Unsee. And everybody laughed at that
point. And his willingness to take on
any task, regardless of how trivial, is a principle he
carries into his role as the CEO.
His approach to leadership involves a readiness to assist
employees with any task if it contributes to the company's
success, he said. If you send me something and you
want my input on it and I can be of service to you and in my
review of it, share with you how I reasoned through it, I've made
a contribution to you. Which is a weird thing to say
for a leader. Most leaders are considered
day-to-day operate operators. They don't really mingle with
the with the masses. But he's a separate kind of
fellow and he's working well with his team.
It's a team player. They're now known for his hands
on management style. He's often described by
employees as demanding and also a perfectionist.
But he requests weekly updates from employees on their top five
tasks and personally engages with them to provide feedback
and guidance to move forward with their careers.
And a New Yorker profile detailed Wong's practice of
visiting employees desks to discuss their projects.
It's direct engagement. It's part of his strategy to
improve company performance and help employees grow by sharing
his thought processes and his reasoning.
He shared at Stanford again that he finds personal fulfillment in
teaching others how to approach problems strategically, he said.
I show people how to reason through things all the time.
Strategy things, how to forecast something, how to break a
problem down. You're empowering people all
over the place. To manage his workload
effectively, he aims to complete his most complex tasks early in
the day. This allows him to remain
available to his team throughout the day, and he shared his
practice during a commencement speech at the California
Institute of Technology. But unlike many CEOs who limit
their direct reports to a small group, he prefers having around
50 direct reports. He believes this structure
reduces organizational layers and facilitates better
communication and decision making within NVIDIA, he
explained to CNBC. Now they're having more direct
reports helps maintain a fluid flow of information within the
company. He believes that this approach
enables him to lead more effectively and support his
employees success now at Stanford, he articulated that
the CE OS role is to inspire, empower and support their
employees. He said those are the reasons
why the management team exists in service of all the other
people that work at the company now.
Elon Musk, known for his own rigorous work ethic and hands on
leadership of Tesla and SpaceX, praised him.
Musk accommodation came after watching a video clip discussing
his early work experiences at Denny's, and he echoed the
sentiment. He said absolutely the right
attitude. He recounted his efforts during
the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure his factories and offices had
sufficient toilet paper, highlighted a shared philosophy
of handling menial tasks. Personally, Musk has previously
demonstrated his commitment to understanding his employees
challenges by sleeping on the factory floor at Tesla, he
explained in a 2018 interview. The reason I slept on the floor
was not because I couldn't go across the road and be at a
hotel, it was because I wanted my circumstances to be worse
than anyone else of the company. Musk's admiration for a while
may also be tied to their intertwined business interests.
With Tesla's ambitions and self driving tech secured, an
invidious high-powered chips is critical, and Wang acknowledged
Tesla's leadership in autonomous vehicles, indicating a mutual
respect. And despite their occasional
disagreements, such as Musk's skepticism about the ease of
creating neural networks with NVIDIA chips, both leaders share
a relentless drive for progress. Now the CEO of Perplexity AI
highlighted this trait, using Musk as an example of overcoming
obstacles through determination and working hard to get things
done. But Huang's unconventional
management style, including avoiding unnecessary one-on-one
meetings, is designed to maintain agility and quick
information flow within his company of NVIDIA.
This approach has garnered approval from Musk and other
high level CE OS, and they reflect the shared commitment to
effective leadership. Now, this philosophy that no
task is beneath the leader continues to guide his actions
and inspire employees. His ability to show that he's
still connected with every level of the company and with every
employee from direct reports to frontline workers exemplifies
his hands on approach and his dedication to the company of
NVIDIA. Hey, thank you so much for
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