Why Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Skips One-on-One Meetings

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang skips one-on-ones with his dozens of direct reports in favor of team meetings because he wants everyone operating with the same information and solving problems together out in the open, according to a recent episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast. 

Huang’s leadership structure is intentionally extreme by traditional standards. Instead of five to seven senior reports, he has around 60 leaders reporting directly to him. That design flattens out Nvidia’s organizational chart by removing multiple layers of middle management that would otherwise sit between Huang and key decision-makers. In other words, he says, the structure strips out layers of hierarchy that can slow decisions down. 

“I don’t have one-on-ones with them because it’s impossible,” Huang said on the podcast. “We present a problem, and all of us attack it.”

His direct reports range from memory experts to designers.  The team tackles problems together in an example of “extreme co-design,” where all team members contribute simultaneously, Huang explained. “The company is doing extreme co-design all the time,” Huang said. 

In these collaborative meetings, whoever wants to tune out can step away, Huang said. However, if there’s something mentioned in the meeting that they can contribute to, Huang will call them out. 

Huang’s work ethic

Huang has served as CEO of Nvidia since its inception in 1993. The AI chipmaker is currently the most valuable company in the world, with a market value of $4.2 trillion at the time of writing. 

The CEO has previously spoken about the toll that leading Nvidia has had on his mental state. In an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, which aired in December, Huang said he has described Nvidia as being “30 days from going out of business” for over three decades and that his feeling of insecurity “doesn’t leave,” despite Nvidia’s astronomical market value. 

The 63-year-old CEO said that he works “every moment” he is awake, seven days a week, and doesn’t take days off on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s unclear whether he has the same expectation of his employees, though he noted that his two children, who also work for Nvidia, work seven days a week as well. 

“It’s exhausting,” Huang said. “Always in a state of anxiety.”

Other CEOs who manage dozens of direct reports

Huang isn’t the only one with more direct reports than usual. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky mentioned in August on an episode of the Social Radars podcast that he oversees the hiring, firing, management and promotion of 40 to 50 employees, all of whom are his direct reports. 

Chesky called the process of managing up to 50 people “a lot of work,” but “necessary.” His management approach is to create relationships with as many individuals within Airbnb as possible.