The Boss of a $200 Billion Empire Who Once Visited Vietnam: Waking Up at 6 AM, Always Anxious When “Dawn Breaks”

Last week, at the Stripe Sessions event, Jensen Huang, the co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, a company valued at over $2 trillion, shared that, “I wake up at 6 a.m. usually before work starts“.

Huang begins his day with exercise before working up to 14-hour days.

According to Bloomberg, Jensen Huang is now the 20th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $73 billion, up $29 billion since the start of the year. However, being wealthy also comes with its burdens. Specifically, at the New York Times DealBook Summit in 2023, Jensen said, “I don’t wake up with a sense of pride and confidence, it’s more like anxiety“.

The reason for this is that Nvidia nearly went bankrupt in the late 1990s. It’s a memory that Huang finds hard to shake. Now, Nvidia is worth over $2 trillion, behind only Microsoft and Apple, due to the demand for chips needed for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

In fact, billionaire Jensen Huang has very high standards for himself. In a recent interview with “60 Minutes”, Jensen Huang described himself as “demanding, perfectionistic and not easy to work with“.

At 61, the CEO shows no signs of slowing down. On the 20VC podcast in March, when asked about work by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, Huang said his work takes a lot of effort. He works all week and on holidays, yet doesn’t feel stressed. Instead, the Nvidia CEO feels relaxed when working because he loves what he does.

But at Stripe Sessions, Huang disagreed with the notion that “the best jobs are the ones that make you happy”.

“I work from the time I wake up until I go to bed. I work seven days a week. When I’m not working, I’m thinking about work. I go to the movies, I can’t tell you what the movie was about, because I’m thinking about work“, Huang shared.

The Billionaire Who Enjoys Chatting with Employees

Except when traveling for business, Jensen Huang spends a lot of time talking to his employees. “People are surprised by the amount of time I spend sitting in the cafeteria, having lunch or dinner, talking to employees. People are surprised by the amount of time I spend in all-hands meetings with employees“, said Huang.

Jensen Huang also identifies himself as a “cultural enforcer” at Nvidia. Unlike many other Big Tech CEOs, Huang rarely shares about the company culture with the press. “If you want to be a culture cop for your company, you can’t do it through CNN or Forbes. You just have to extract 1% of your time or you just talk to enough people. So that’s how I spend my time“, Huang said.

At Stripe Sessions, Huang said he receives about 60 direct reports per day from subordinates. In addition to work, the CEO encourages employees at Nvidia to send him the five things they’re thinking about the most.

At the Stanford Graduate School of Business on April 25, Jensen Huang stated: “I don’t do one-on-ones. I have a large staff. Most of the things I have to say, I say to everybody at once. CEOs should have the largest number of direct reports possible because then you can lead more people to greatness, inspire more people and empower more people“.

Huang believes this is a way to solve problems, while also allowing others to learn by osmosis and hear the rationale for the solution, thus empowering everyone.

Jensen Huang is also known for sticking to his schedule. However, he tries to dedicate his time to areas that he believes will have a long-term impact on the company. This is why he has often asked his assistant to clear his existing schedule and reset it.

Article references sources: Business Insider, Bloomberg, Financial Times