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

by Tae Kim

Andy Keane, a former general manager of Nvidia’s data-center business, remembered Jensen explaining the traditional structure of the company’s main competitors on a whiteboard, a structure he dubbed “the upside-down V’s.” This was how most companies were built. “You become a manager and you build your upside-down V. You defend it. Then you become a vice president and you get more upside-down V’s of people under you,” Jensen said. Keane said that at other companies, talking to executives one or two levels above your direct manager was frowned upon. “Nobody likes it. It’s just insane, right?” he said. “Nvidia was never like that.” Keane himself talked to his direct manager once or twice a month but talked with Jensen two to three times a week. “Jensen created a company that he could manage directly,” he said. “There is a vast culture difference between Nvidia and other companies.”9 Keane was also surprised by the sheer openness he found at Nvidia. He joined at the general-manager level and was allowed to attend every board meeting and off-site board event. When a typical CEO would have eight or nine people in a room for big executive meetings, Jensen would have a packed house. “Everyone could hear what he was telling the executive staff,” Keane said. “It kept everybody in sync.” When there is important information to share or an impending change in the direction of the business, Jensen says he tells everybody at Nvidia at the same time and asks for feedback. “It turns out th...