Driven by Jensen, Nvidia’s e-mail culture was and remains unrelenting. “One thing I learned pretty quickly is if you got an e-mail from him, you acted on it,” Douglas said.16 “Nothing stays. Nothing festers. You answer and move on it,” former head of human resources John McSorley said.17 Jensen would often respond to e-mails within minutes of receiving them and wanted a response from an employee within twenty-four hours at most. The responses had to be thoughtful and backed by hard data. Those that fell short of his high standards would get a typically sarcastic response: “Oh, is that right?”
