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Jaryd Hermann's avatar

Just saw this post on LI by Dan Hockenmaier that adds more color to Jensen, and some straight up useful takeaways.

[I quote Dan below]

The way that Jensen Huang runs Nvidia makes you question everything we think we know about how a company should operate:

𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 40 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 1:1𝐬

- Believes that the flattest org is the most empowering one, and that starts with the top layer

- Does not conduct 1:1s - everything happens in a group setting

- Does not give career advice - "None of my management team is coming to me for career advice - they already made it, they're doing great"

𝐍𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬. 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐞 "𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦"

- Doesn't use status updates because he believes they are too refined by the time they get to him. They are not ground truth anymore.

- Instead, anyone in the company can email him their "top five things" with whatever is top of mind, and he will read it

- Estimates he reads 100 of these everyone morning

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

- No meetings with just VPs or just Directors - anyone can join and contribute

- "If you have a strategic direction, why tell just one person?"

- "If there is something I don't like, I just say it publicly"

- "I do a lot of reasoning out loud"

𝐍𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬

- No 5 year plan, no 1 year plan

- Always re-evaluating based on changing business and market conditions (helpful when AI is developing at the pace that it is)

This org is optimized for (1) attracting amazing people, (2) keeping the team as small as it can be, and (3) allowing information to travel as quickly as possible.

--end quote

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dan-hock_the-way-that-jensen-huang-runs-nvidia-makes-activity-7107373520761884672-w-vJ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

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Muthu's avatar

Amazing!

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Radrad's avatar

this is meaty AF! Despite the topic being a technical nightmare to understand (i am no tech-head) you made the subject so easy to grasp!

it certainly didnt feel like *just* 30 hours of research. it felt like more!

Thanks, Jaryd!

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Jaryd Hermann's avatar

So glad you enjoyed it, and great to hear I was able to pull that off! Nvidia is definitely the most technical company we’ve looked, and I was a little worried it might lose folks. Thanks a ton for reading 🙏

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Radrad's avatar

I thought that too! haha

But you managed to pull it off!!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...incredible Jaryd and super inspiring...bravo...

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Jaryd Hermann's avatar

Thank you sir! And great choice of word...inspiring...I certainly felt that way learning about Jensen and their story too. And thanks for sharing this out on Notes, much appreciated ☺️

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Amelia Zelezniak's avatar

"What the hell are you { mom} talking about" , is here to say that this is exceptional! Your deep dives just get better. Next: how to breathe under water. What an insightful, masterful excavation.

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Jaryd Hermann's avatar

Even though your support is unconditional, so glad to hear you’re enjoying them! Also, if you haven’t watched “I think you should leave” on Netflix, it’s excellent.

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