In a recent interview with The Transcript, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shared his unconventional approach to employee management, emphasizing development over dismissal. Huang revealed that he rarely fires employees, opting to help them improve and succeed. “I would rather improve you than give up on you,” Huang stated, underscoring his commitment to fostering growth within his team.
Huang elaborated on his philosophy, saying, “When you fire somebody, you’re saying, a lot of people say: ‘it wasn’t your fault’, or ‘I made the wrong choice’, or ‘there are very few jobs’. Look, I used to clean bathrooms, and now I’m the CEO of a company. I think you can learn it. I’m pretty certain you can learn this. And there are a lot of things in life that I believe you can learn, and you just have to be given the opportunity to learn it.”
Reflecting on his own experiences, Huang explained how he benefits from the intelligence of those around him. “I had the benefit of watching a lot of smart people do a lot of things. I’m surrounded by 60 people. They’re doing smart things all the time, and they probably don’t realize it, but I’m learning constantly from every single one of them,” he said. This continuous learning fuels his reluctance to give up on employees, as he believes in their potential for improvement.
Huang’s management style, which he humorously describes as “torturing them into greatness,” stems from his belief in the potential of his team. “And so it’s tongue in cheek, but people know that I rather torture them into greatness. So, I would rather torture you into greatness because I believe in you. And I think coaches that really believe in their team, torture them into greatness. And oftentimes, they’re so close, don’t give up. They’re so close to greatness,” he stated.
He highlighted the transformative moments of realization that can define a career. “It comes all of a sudden one day, ‘I got it!’. Do you know what I’m saying? That feeling that you didn’t get it yesterday? And all of a sudden, one day, something clicked; ‘oh, I got it!’ Could you imagine you gave up that just that moment right before you got it? So I don’t want you to give up on that. So I’ll just keep torturing you,” Huang concluded.
Huang’s approach reflects his deep-rooted belief in perseverance and the potential for growth, aiming to push his employees towards excellence rather than dismissing them at the first sign of struggle.
