Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang runs one of many world’s largest and most profitable firms, valued at practically $3.4 trillion. But, he is expressed that he nonetheless worries the corporate he co-founded in 1993 could implode at any minute.
Huang’s concern of failure is certainly one of his largest motivators, pushing him to turn out to be one of many world’s most profitable CEOs, says biographer Stephen Witt. “That is his gasoline. That is his gasoline, [and it’s] what makes him go is that this anxiousness,” says Witt, who spent six hours interviewing Huang, and spoke to his colleagues and staff, for the guide “The Thinking Machine,” which revealed in January.
Huang has mentioned his drive for work earlier than: When requested about work-life steadiness, he remarked, “I work as a lot as I can,” in an April 2024 fireside chat with Stripe CEO Patrick Collison. Nonetheless, Witt was caught off-guard by how a lot of Huang’s motivation appears to stem from anxiousness, concern and guilt, he says.
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“I believe essentially the most stunning factor about Jensen is that he is nearly completely pushed by detrimental feelings,” says Witt. “He is actually motivated by concern and guilt to a major extent: concern of failure, paranoia about competitors, and guilt about letting people down.”
An Nvidia spokeswoman declined to remark when reached by CNBC Make It.
Different CEOs Witt has met and interviewed over his profession are “extra form of type-A individuals” who match the mould of upbeat, optimistic “go-getters,” he says.
“Jensen, in fact, is an apparent, enormous go-getter, but it surely’s all coming from this place of virtually beating himself up for not working laborious sufficient on a regular basis,” Witt provides. “I did not anticipate to see that … In truth, he turns into very uncomfortable and nervous when issues are going properly.”
Utilizing anxiousness as a motivator
Huang has mentioned he is a “demanding” boss who is not straightforward to work for, and that stress is the very best motivator he is aware of. “It needs to be like that. If you wish to do extraordinary issues, it should not be straightforward,” he told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in December 2024.
His personal success is a mirrored image of his resilience, overcoming setbacks like Nvidia’s near collapse simply three years after it first launched, he told students at Stanford College in March 2024. That resilience is partially because of having “low expectations,” at all times making ready for potential failure and strategizing how greatest to keep away from an implosion, he mentioned.
You simply cannot let your anxiousness forestall you from taking calculated dangers, mentioned Huang.
“Except you could have a tolerance for failure, you’ll by no means experiment, and in the event you do not ever experiment, you’ll by no means innovate,” he mentioned. “When you do not innovate, you do not succeed.”
The flexibility to tolerate and be taught from failures is a typical trait amongst profitable individuals, psychologists say: It is a marker of the mental strength and confidence it is advisable overcome challenges and bounce again from failure.
Whereas extreme anxiousness might be powerful in your psychological well being and decision-making talents, it might probably encourage individuals to succeed when harnessed in wholesome methods, psychologist Lisa Damour told CNBC Make It in June 2024. Productive anxiousness can spur you to be extra productive and it will also be a sign that there could possibly be an issue lurking that must be solved to keep away from failure, research shows.
“The best way psychologists see anxiousness is as a protecting emotion,” Damour mentioned. “It is there to maintain us on our toes and assist us course right.”
Huang, for his half, is most comfy when he is “reminding himself it is like that first day, that they should have a startup’s vitality, and that they are on the point of failure always,” Witt says. “That is the narrative he generates round himself — that he might fail at any time and be disgraced. And that is what motivates him.”
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