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AI Update: Nvidia CEO Scrubbed Toilets for a living · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to AI Update, where we explore the latest advancements
• 0:03
  in artificial intelligence with insights into Open AI, Google,
• 0:07
  Gemini, generative AI, machine learning, and more.
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  Now let's learn together. I'm your host, Will Walden, the
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  CEO of NVIDIA. Jensen Wong believes that an
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  effective leader must be willing to put their hands in the dirt
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  and get dirty Now. His leadership philosophy is
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  deeply rooted in his early experiences.
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  He has a teenage busboy at Denny's where he performed a
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  variety of menial tasks, including washing dishes and
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  cleaning toilets. Now Wong, who is the Co founder
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  of NVIDIA, a company that's worth $3.1 trillion, Imagine
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  this. He's been in a Denny's booth
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  now. Despite his current net worth of
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  about $108 billion, Wong credits his humble beginnings for
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  shaping his approach to leadership.
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  In a March interview at the Stanford Graduate School of
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  Business, he said that no task is beneath him.
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  He reflected on his time as a dishwasher and also a toilet
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  cleaner, and he said that these experiences instilled the sense
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  of humility and a strong work ethic in him.
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  He told the students there, I mean, I cleaned a lot of
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  toilets. I've cleaned more toilets than
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  all of you combined. And some of them you just can't
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  Unsee. And everybody laughed at that
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  point. And his willingness to take on
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  any task, regardless of how trivial, is a principle he
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  carries into his role as the CEO.
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  His approach to leadership involves a readiness to assist
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  employees with any task if it contributes to the company's
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  success, he said. If you send me something and you
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  want my input on it and I can be of service to you and in my
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  review of it, share with you how I reasoned through it, I've made
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  a contribution to you. Which is a weird thing to say
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  for a leader. Most leaders are considered
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  day-to-day operate operators. They don't really mingle with
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  the with the masses. But he's a separate kind of
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  fellow and he's working well with his team.
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  It's a team player. They're now known for his hands
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  on management style. He's often described by
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  employees as demanding and also a perfectionist.
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  But he requests weekly updates from employees on their top five
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  tasks and personally engages with them to provide feedback
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  and guidance to move forward with their careers.
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  And a New Yorker profile detailed Wong's practice of
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  visiting employees desks to discuss their projects.
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  It's direct engagement. It's part of his strategy to
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  improve company performance and help employees grow by sharing
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  his thought processes and his reasoning.
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  He shared at Stanford again that he finds personal fulfillment in
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  teaching others how to approach problems strategically, he said.
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  I show people how to reason through things all the time.
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  Strategy things, how to forecast something, how to break a
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  problem down. You're empowering people all
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  over the place. To manage his workload
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  effectively, he aims to complete his most complex tasks early in
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  the day. This allows him to remain
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  available to his team throughout the day, and he shared his
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  practice during a commencement speech at the California
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  Institute of Technology. But unlike many CEOs who limit
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  their direct reports to a small group, he prefers having around
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  50 direct reports. He believes this structure
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  reduces organizational layers and facilitates better
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  communication and decision making within NVIDIA, he
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  explained to CNBC. Now they're having more direct
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  reports helps maintain a fluid flow of information within the
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  company. He believes that this approach
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  enables him to lead more effectively and support his
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  employees success now at Stanford, he articulated that
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  the CE OS role is to inspire, empower and support their
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  employees. He said those are the reasons
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  why the management team exists in service of all the other
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  people that work at the company now.
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  Elon Musk, known for his own rigorous work ethic and hands on
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  leadership of Tesla and SpaceX, praised him.
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  Musk accommodation came after watching a video clip discussing
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  his early work experiences at Denny's, and he echoed the
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  sentiment. He said absolutely the right
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  attitude. He recounted his efforts during
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  the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure his factories and offices had
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  sufficient toilet paper, highlighted a shared philosophy
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  of handling menial tasks. Personally, Musk has previously
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  demonstrated his commitment to understanding his employees
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  challenges by sleeping on the factory floor at Tesla, he
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  explained in a 2018 interview. The reason I slept on the floor
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  was not because I couldn't go across the road and be at a
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  hotel, it was because I wanted my circumstances to be worse
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  than anyone else of the company. Musk's admiration for a while
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  may also be tied to their intertwined business interests.
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  With Tesla's ambitions and self driving tech secured, an
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  invidious high-powered chips is critical, and Wang acknowledged
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  Tesla's leadership in autonomous vehicles, indicating a mutual
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  respect. And despite their occasional
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  disagreements, such as Musk's skepticism about the ease of
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  creating neural networks with NVIDIA chips, both leaders share
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  a relentless drive for progress. Now the CEO of Perplexity AI
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  highlighted this trait, using Musk as an example of overcoming
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  obstacles through determination and working hard to get things
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  done. But Huang's unconventional
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  management style, including avoiding unnecessary one-on-one
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  meetings, is designed to maintain agility and quick
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  information flow within his company of NVIDIA.
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  This approach has garnered approval from Musk and other
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  high level CE OS, and they reflect the shared commitment to
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  effective leadership. Now, this philosophy that no
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  task is beneath the leader continues to guide his actions
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  and inspire employees. His ability to show that he's
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  still connected with every level of the company and with every
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  employee from direct reports to frontline workers exemplifies
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  his hands on approach and his dedication to the company of
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  NVIDIA. Hey, thank you so much for
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  listening today. I really do appreciate your
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  support. If you could take a second and
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  hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
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  platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
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  appreciate it. It helps out the show
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  tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
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  And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
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  caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
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  support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero.
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  And please take care of yourselves and each other, and
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  I'll see you tomorrow.