Leading Organization Leading an Organization

Leading Organization

Leading an Organization

Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive of Nvidia, a maker of graphics chips, shows what transformational leadership is and how it is created by continually striving through failures and a strong sense of humility. Mr. Huang admits that he never was intimidated by failures growing up and that as Nvidia was in its early stages, the company experienced an exceptional level of failures that continued to challenge its very existence. Yet Mr. Huang takes a very positive, optimistic view of failures, saying that the acting of failing defines the dark space around success. His business of computer graphics chips has a very rapid, merciless pace of technological change. He has had to create an organization comfortable with failing fast and often, in order to continually improve a product line and make it ready for market.

The qualities that make him an exceptional transformational leader include a heavy reliance on authenticity, transparency, trust and a very high regard for intellectual honesty. He believes that the best leaders have the ability to openly and regularly admit they are wrong and continually work to create workable solutions to problems. He also mentions the need for accuracy, speed and quickness of response to market and competitive conditions, using the allegory of a busy Denny's at rush hour. He uses the time pressure of dinner time to describe how critically important it is to also define when a customer is right and wrong. In his profile it is implied that the quicker a leader can either confirm or deny the value of customer opinion, the faster the leader can define an effective strategy. He uses the tense, high pressure environment of a Denny's to draw an allegorical reference to the very stressful, high speed business of designing and producing computer graphics chips. What is so effective about this allegory as a means to communicate leadership is the need for decisiveness and a focus on the customer, along with an acute sense of time and its incredible value as a resource. In his responses to the interviewers' questions it is clear he is thinking in these terms as a leader, working to triage the myriad of disruptions him and his organization face daily, choosing only the most significant to respond to. He has to in the business he's in, as the pace of computer graphics chip lifecycles is extremely rapid.

Another attribute that makes him a transformational leader is the ability to position adversity as a crucible that can unify a company and make it stronger. He says that the true character and personality of a company come out best during hard times. Being able to view adversity from this perspective means he has been successful in transforming the many trial-and-error approaches to creating new technology as an organizational asset. He has made change, no matter what context it comes in, as an accelerator of positive shifts in company character or culture. This is a very strong leadership trait and takes a leader with emotional and mental discipline to stay focused on this mindset. These aspects also align with his core strengths as a transformational leader in terms of embracing authenticity and believing in always telling the truth, no matter if the news is good or bad. He also has a very short patience level for those who seek to have the status of a CEO without doing the real work of leading a business. This unpretentious attitude is what makes his development teams continually respect and trust him, as he communicates clearly that he is in the trenches with everyone else. His transformational skill set as a leader is also strengthened with the ability to communicate very clearly about the status of the company, has he also implies in the interview. He makes the point that only by a leader continually being honest and admitting failure can a company ever hope to move forward. He sees a lack of honesty being a major detriment not to just the character of a company but to its operations as well.

In one of the most interesting areas of the interview, Mr. Huang discusses how he goes through the interview process at Nvidia. What he's looking for is a person passionate about what they are doing, sees the vision of where the company is going, and also is resilient to adversity enough to survive in a rapidly changing environment. He sees these three elements as absolutely essential to a person excelling in their role. His comment that he loves to hear that people love doing the work they are being considered for, that they have an innate passion for it. From the conversation with the interviewer it is clear he hires based on the skill level of the applicant, the fascination or passion they have with the Nvidia core product direction and vision, and how passionate they are about their roles there. Based on this subject area of the interview it is also very apparent that he believes passion in an employee can make them more resilient to adversity, and that adversity can be positive in many cases. The culture inside Nvidia is no doubt very open, honest and conflict-driven at times given these values. Yet, the conflicts are most likely positive as the character or culture of the company is managed to allow for these elements to be catalyst of growth. The interviewing process is also one where Mr. Huang looks for those employees who have a wonderment and fascination with not only the technologies but also the companies and eventually the customers using their systems. He calls this the ability to see the world through a child's eye, which encompasses the total value the company delivers and the entire process undertaken to produce products. All of these factors related to the hiring process also resonate with setting a transformational culture inside the organization.