The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant

by Tae Kim

His whiteboarding creates a specific kind of meeting, one dedicated to solving problems, not reviewing things that have already been done. “When Jensen gets into a meeting, he wants to prioritize what the important issues are, then starts with the top one and works toward solving that problem,”

When I interviewed Jensen, he told me repeatedly that intelligence and genius had little to do with Nvidia’s success. Instead, it was hard work and resilience. It didn’t have to be this hard, but it was—and it was always going to be. The work demanded one thing out of everyone, including himself: “sheer will.”

We are sometimes told, by various self-help experts and gurus, that we can make more money while working less. Jensen is the antithesis of that notion. There are no shortcuts. The best way to be successful is to take the more difficult route. And the best teacher of all is adversity—something he has become well acquainted with. It is why he still keeps going at a pace that would see most other people, at any age, burn out. It is why he still says, to this day, and without any trace of hesitation or irony or self-doubt: “I love Nvidia.”