Jensen Huang runs Nvidia with 60 direct reports — and no one-on-ones
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- Jensen Huang said he doesn't conduct one-on-one meetings.
- At Nvidia, Huang leads 60 direct reports with a style he calls "extreme co-design."
- Huang said this method fosters innovation and accountability among engineers at Nvidia.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's direct reports don't have to worry about one-on-one meetings with the big boss.
Huang spoke to podcaster Lex Fridman in an episode published Monday about the way he leads one of the largest chipmakers at the forefront of technological innovation. He said he runs his business differently from the way other trillion-dollar companies do.
Huang said he oversees more than 60 people in his direct staff, but he doesn't conduct one-on-one meetings with each of them. He said he prefers to tackle issues as a group.
"I don't have one-on-ones with them because it's impossible," Huang said. "We present a problem, and all of us attack it."
He described Nvidia's workflow as "extreme co-design." He said he manages mostly engineers with expertise in areas like CPUs, GPUs, algorithms, and design. Huang addresses them together, and each person is expected to know when to chime in.
"Whoever wants to tune out, tune out," Huang said. "The people who are on the staff, they know when to pay attention."
However, Huang said he's not afraid to call out an employee for not contributing in an area where they could have.
Huang has previously spoken about his preference for ditching one-on-ones, saying he would rather address everyone at once to give them equal access to information and empower them to solve problems.
Daily meetings often involve Huang reasoning with his direct reports to resolve issues collectively, he said.
"The nice thing about reasoning through things and letting people interact with it is that they don't have to disagree with your outcome," Huang told Fridman. "They can disagree with your reasoning steps."
Nvidia's meeting dynamic isn't far off from the approach of another iconic tech leader: late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. He encouraged his employees to debate in meetings and poke holes in one another's reasoning.
He bucks traditional org charts
Speaking to Fridman, Huang also pushed back against common organization strucutures, including the "hamburger style," where senior leadership makes up the top bun, middle management represents the meat in the center, and the rest of the employees are the bottom bun.
"They all look the same, and it doesn't make any sense to me," Huang told Fridman.
Huang's direct reports include a mix of C-suite executives, such as the tech and financial chiefs, as well as senior and executive vice presidents from key organizations within Nvidia, as Business Insider has previously reported.
He told the Stanford School of Business in 2024 that CEOs should have the largest number of direct reports, arguing they are best positioned to "lead other people to achieve greatness, inspire, empower other people."