Welcome to AI Update, where we explore the latest advancements in artificial intelligence with insights into Open AI, Google, Gemini, generative AI, machine learning, and more. Now let's learn together. I'm your host, Will Walden, the CEO of NVIDIA. Jensen Wong believes that an effective leader must be willing to put their hands in the dirt and get dirty Now. His leadership philosophy is deeply rooted in his early experiences.
He has a teenage busboy at Denny's where he performed a variety of menial tasks, including washing dishes and cleaning toilets. Now Wong, who is the Co founder of NVIDIA, a company that's worth $3.1 trillion, Imagine this. He's been in a Denny's booth now. Despite his current net worth of about $108 billion, Wong credits his humble beginnings for shaping his approach to leadership. In a March interview at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he said that no task is beneath him.
He reflected on his time as a dishwasher and also a toilet cleaner, and he said that these experiences instilled the sense of humility and a strong work ethic in him. He told the students there, I mean, I cleaned a lot of toilets. I've cleaned more toilets than all of you combined. And some of them you just can't Unsee. And everybody laughed at that point. And his willingness to take on any task, regardless of how trivial, is a principle he carries into his role as the CEO.
His approach to leadership involves a readiness to assist employees with any task if it contributes to the company's success, he said. If you send me something and you want my input on it and I can be of service to you and in my review of it, share with you how I reasoned through it, I've made a contribution to you. Which is a weird thing to say for a leader. Most leaders are considered day-to-day operate operators. They don't really mingle with
the with the masses. But he's a separate kind of fellow and he's working well with his team. It's a team player. They're now known for his hands on management style. He's often described by employees as demanding and also a perfectionist. But he requests weekly updates from employees on their top five tasks and personally engages with them to provide feedback and guidance to move forward with their careers.
And a New Yorker profile detailed Wong's practice of visiting employees desks to discuss their projects. It's direct engagement. It's part of his strategy to improve company performance and help employees grow by sharing his thought processes and his reasoning. He shared at Stanford again that he finds personal fulfillment in teaching others how to approach problems strategically, he said. I show people how to reason through things all the time.
Strategy things, how to forecast something, how to break a problem down. You're empowering people all over the place. To manage his workload effectively, he aims to complete his most complex tasks early in the day. This allows him to remain available to his team throughout the day, and he shared his practice during a commencement speech at the California Institute of Technology. But unlike many CEOs who limit their direct reports to a small group, he prefers having around
50 direct reports. He believes this structure reduces organizational layers and facilitates better communication and decision making within NVIDIA, he explained to CNBC. Now they're having more direct reports helps maintain a fluid flow of information within the company. He believes that this approach enables him to lead more effectively and support his employees success now at Stanford, he articulated that the CE OS role is to inspire, empower and support their
employees. He said those are the reasons why the management team exists in service of all the other people that work at the company now. Elon Musk, known for his own rigorous work ethic and hands on leadership of Tesla and SpaceX, praised him. Musk accommodation came after watching a video clip discussing his early work experiences at Denny's, and he echoed the sentiment. He said absolutely the right
attitude. He recounted his efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure his factories and offices had sufficient toilet paper, highlighted a shared philosophy of handling menial tasks. Personally, Musk has previously demonstrated his commitment to understanding his employees challenges by sleeping on the factory floor at Tesla, he
explained in a 2018 interview. The reason I slept on the floor was not because I couldn't go across the road and be at a hotel, it was because I wanted my circumstances to be worse than anyone else of the company. Musk's admiration for a while may also be tied to their intertwined business interests. With Tesla's ambitions and self driving tech secured, an invidious high-powered chips is critical, and Wang acknowledged Tesla's leadership in autonomous vehicles, indicating a mutual
respect. And despite their occasional disagreements, such as Musk's skepticism about the ease of creating neural networks with NVIDIA chips, both leaders share a relentless drive for progress. Now the CEO of Perplexity AI highlighted this trait, using Musk as an example of overcoming obstacles through determination and working hard to get things
done. But Huang's unconventional management style, including avoiding unnecessary one-on-one meetings, is designed to maintain agility and quick information flow within his company of NVIDIA. This approach has garnered approval from Musk and other high level CE OS, and they reflect the shared commitment to effective leadership. Now, this philosophy that no task is beneath the leader continues to guide his actions
and inspire employees. His ability to show that he's still connected with every level of the company and with every employee from direct reports to frontline workers exemplifies his hands on approach and his dedication to the company of NVIDIA. Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your
support. If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly appreciate it. It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never miss an episode. And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you caught up quickly. And please, if you want to support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero. And please take care of yourselves and each other, and I'll see you tomorrow.