Nvidia’s rise from a scrappy startup to an industry-defining powerhouse is inextricably linked to the vision and relentless drive of its CEO, Jensen Huang.

I have listed out key lessons learned from studying Jensen Huang and will continue to add more:

Teaching Organization as Professor Jensen

Jensen Huang spends a huge amount of his time teaching and ensuring everyone at Nvidia deeply understands both strategy and vision. He's renowned for making complex ideas simple and spreading them widely through the company, earning him the nickname Professor Jensen.

The Power of the Whiteboard

Meetings at Nvidia revolve around the whiteboard, which forces employees to reveal and defend their thought processes transparently and rigorously. It's about starting from scratch and showing deep clarity, discouraging complacency and promoting constant reinvention.

Complacency Kills

Jensen relentlessly fights against complacency. He believes that innovation is a necessity, not an option, and the real threat to Nvidia isn’t competitors but internal complacency—a philosophy echoed by other legendary founders.

Flat Organization—No Bureaucracy

Nvidia famously has a very flat structure: Jensen manages 60 direct reports and avoids 1:1 meetings, empowering independence and fast, empowered decision-making. This setup helps keep out lower performers and resists slow, bureaucratic processes.

Public Criticism for Organizational Learning

Jensen prefers to criticize mistakes publicly so the entire company can learn from a single misstep, opting for maximum group learning over preserving feelings. He sees this as a way to refine the collective character and minimize political infighting.

Torture Into Greatness (Extreme Self-Criticism)

Jensen is as tough on himself as he is on his staff, believing resilience and greatness are forged from setbacks and pain. He describes the process as being tortured into greatness, valuing character and endurance over raw intelligence.

Speed of Light Benchmark

He introduces speed of light as the only acceptable benchmark—projects must move as fast as is physically possible, with minimal wasted time and a drive to match the absolute theoretical maximum.

Unapologetically Extreme Work Ethic

Jensen sets a cultural tone of relentless, almost obsessive, work. He insists no one will outwork him and sees working long hours as necessary for excellence, expecting commitment that goes beyond typical business standards.

Top Five Emails—Truth from the Frontlines

To cut through hierarchy and get unfiltered feedback, Jensen reads hundreds of top five emails from staff, summarizing key priorities and issues across the company. These are action-focused and keep him aware of ground reality.

Mission is the Boss; Pilot-in-Command

At Nvidia, the ultimate boss is always the mission, not an organizational hierarchy. For each project, a pilot-in-command is named (with direct accountability to Jensen), ensuring every initiative has clear leadership and personal responsibility.

Strategy Is Continuous Action, Not Words

Jensen avoids rigid long-term plans, preferring to keep strategy as ongoing, flexible actions. Nvidia doesn’t use periodic planning; instead, it adapts daily to changing market realities. This keeps the organization agile and responsive to unexpected opportunities and threats.

Ship the Whole Cow

Nvidia finds ways to monetize everything it creates, even components that aren’t Ferrari grade—for example, repackaging chips that fail the highest quality tests as lower-cost products. This maximizes revenues and protects against low-end disruption, by exploiting every opportunity and not letting viable resources go to waste.

Go to School on Everybody

Jensen continuously learns from competitors, experts, and anyone with relevant insight. He attends industry events and actively studies developments, believing that real leaders are always absorbing new information to stay on the cutting edge.

Customer-Driven Market Creation

Instead of just fighting for existing market share, Nvidia seeks to create new markets—often going where there are currently no customers, because that’s where competitors don’t exist. Jensen’s philosophy is to bring unique value and create entirely new categories.

Extreme Rewards for Extreme Contributions

Jensen is willing to choke you with gold—he pays and rewards top performers quickly and generously, with special grants and recognition outside traditional compensation cycles. This helps attract and retain exceptional talent.

Ruthless Prioritization—Work on the Most Important Thing First

Jensen begins each day by tackling his highest priority task before anything else. He encourages his team to do the same, directing collective energy toward what matters most—and ignoring or deferring all less critical activities.

Swarm the Greatest Opportunity

When Nvidia sees a transformative opportunity, the entire organization mobilizes around it. Jensen moved fast and decisively into AI, recognizing its potential early and investing heavily—even at great risk and cost, while others doubted.

Be in the Details—Direct Management and Deep Involvement

Jensen personally manages deep aspects of the business, knowing key details about products, employees, sales, and strategic negotiations. This attention to detail minimizes mistakes and delays, and ensures alignment at every level.

Direct Communication Is a Requirement

Nvidia’s culture mandates blunt, concise, and direct communication. Jensen even uses the acronym LUA in meetings (Listen, Understand, Answer) to train employees to respond clearly and efficiently, which accelerates decision-making and prevents wasted time.

Storytelling Is High-Leverage

Jensen believes that great leaders are great storytellers; the company’s narrative and ability to communicate its mission clearly are critical for rallying resources, raising capital, and building brand equity.