Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Is Motivated By 'Fear, Guilt, Anxiety,' Reveals Biographer: 'Gets Very Uncomfortable... Nervous When Things Are Going Well' - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia Corp NVDA, is driven by his fear of failure, which is a significant factor in his success, according to his biographer, Stephen Witt.

What Happened: Witt, Huang’s biographer, shared this insight with CNBC earlier this month. Witt, who spent six hours interviewing Huang and his colleagues for his book “The Thinking Machine,” found that Huang’s motivation is largely fueled by negative emotions, including anxiety, fear, and guilt.

Witt was surprised by how deeply Huang’s motivation is rooted in negative emotions—especially fear of failure, paranoia about rivals, and a strong sense of guilt over disappointing others. “Jensen, of course, is an obvious, huge go-getter, but it's all coming from this place of almost beating himself up for not working hard enough all the time,” Witt said.

Witt believes Huang’s success stems from his resilience, which was clear when he guided NVIDIA through a near-collapse just three years after its founding.

"I didn't expect to see that … In fact, he becomes very uncomfortable and nervous when things are going well,” stated the biographer.

Why It Matters: Huang’s leadership style and his journey to success have been the subject of much discussion. In a biography by Witt, readers were given an insight into Huang’s leadership style, which encourages large meetings for collective learning through the dissection of the team’s work. Huang also told his biographer how his style of working and thought process is different from Tesla TSLA CEO Elon Musk

Despite his success, Huang has been open about the challenges he faced. In a recent Acquired podcast, Huang admitted that if he were 30 years old again, he would not start his own company, citing the journey as “too much.” This candid admission adds depth to the understanding of Huang’s leadership and the factors that drive his success.

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