Stanford University hosted probably the hottest tech CEO of the moment – Jensen Huang. And that curbed the students’ expectations. Huang wants privileged Generation Z graduates to lower their expectations. “People with very high expectations have very low resilience – and unfortunately resilience plays a role in success. One of my great advantages is that I have very low expectations.”
The background to the lecture is likely to be Huang's own experiences, who painted a less rosy picture of the company's early days in an interview last year. Back then, he didn't advise young people to start a new business and reported on the “suffering” and “pain” on the way to what Nvidia is today – one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Resilience and resilience
“If we had recognized back then the pain and suffering and how vulnerable you feel and the challenges you have to endure – the embarrassment and the shame and the list of things that go wrong – I don't think anyone would have started a business ” said Huang. Getting through this requires the resilience and a certain resilience that you cannot simply learn, even in premium courses at elite American universities.
“I don't know how to break it to you, except that I hope you get hurt,” Huang added. “I was lucky that I grew up with parents who, on the one hand, gave us the opportunity to be successful,” he said. “But there were also many opportunities for setbacks and suffering.”
He cites childhood memories as an example: He was tormented in public school in Kentucky. “Back then, Chinese people were described as 'Ch-nks,'” said Huang. As an immigrant from Taiwan, only the dream of the “American Dream” remained for a long time. Huang says his first job was as a dishwasher at a Denny's and he made it his goal to be the best dishwasher. The background is that he believes work ethic is essential for success.
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“I never left my work corner empty-handed. I never came back empty-handed. I was very efficient,” Huang added. “Anyway, I eventually became CEO. I'm still working on being a good CEO.”
Suffering and pain
“I don't know how to say it, but I wish you Stanford students a good deal of pain and suffering,” Huang said. “Greatness comes from character, and character is not formed by intelligent people – it is formed by people who have suffered.” […] “To this day, I use the term 'pain and suffering' with great joy within our company,” he adds. “I mean that in a lighthearted way, because you want to refine the character of your company.”
Sources: Fortune, New Yorker, Stanford University