My top 10 highlights from the episode:
1. I don't like giving up on people. I'd rather torture them into greatness.
2. Of all of the things that I value most about my abilities, intelligence is not top of that list. My ability to endure pain and suffering, my ability to work on something for a very, very long period of time, my ability to handle setbacks and see the opportunity just around the corner, I consider to be my superpowers.
3. I begin each morning by doing my highest priority work first. I have a very clear priority list and I start from the highest priority work first. Before I even get to work my day is already a success. I’ve already completed my most important work and can dedicate my day to helping others.
4. I give feedback in front of everybody. Feedback is learning. For what reason are you the only person who should learn this? We should all learn from that opportunity. I don't take people aside. We're not optimizing for not embarrassing somebody. We're optimizing for the company learning from our mistakes.
5. I work every day. There's not a day that goes by I don't work. If I'm not working, I'm thinking about working. Working is relaxing for me.
6. Jensen runs the company the way he does because he believes that Nvidia's worst enemy is not the competition, but itself —the complacency that grips any successful company.
7. Jensen insists that all Nvidia employees work at the "Speed of Light." He wants their work to be contained only by the laws of physics. Each project must be broken down into its component tasks, and each task must have a target time-to-completion that assumes no delays, queues, or downtime. This sets the theoretical maximum: the "Speed of Light" that it is physically impossible to exceed.
8. Innovation is a necessity, not an option.
9. As Jensen put it when looking directly into my eyes: the secret to his company's success is nothing more than "sheer will."
10. Nvidia wasn't a great company on day one. We made it great over thirty-one years.
Listen to #403 How Jensen Works on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
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