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Why Nvidia's CEO has 60 direct reports (and why you shouldn't copy him)
Jensen Huang's unconventional management style at Nvidia exposes deeper truths about leadership evolution.
Julius Bachmann
February 23, 2025
Hi everyone,
Today we will explore how tech's most influential CEOs are ditching management "best practices" - and why some are succeeding while others are setting themselves up for failure.
What you'll learn:
Why the anti-one-on-one movement is spreading from Nvidia to Airbnb to Linear (and what these CEOs know that others don't)
The hidden cost of "innovative" management structures - from holacracy to flat hierarchies - that no one talks about
A battle-tested framework to evolve your leadership without falling for management fads or destroying what's working
🙏 But before we jump in, I have one ask 🙏
I am currently testing new tools with my clients to enhance their leadership skills and team dynamics. I am opening these exclusively to some of my subscribers to improve them further before publicly launching them. If you wish to beta test any of the below, please leave a vote:
Product ResearchWhich of these upcoming products sparks your interest? Please select any you'd like to learn more about: |
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The Story: The Management Rebellion
Last month, three of my most successful clients caught the management revolution fever.
One runs a deep-tech unicorn. Another bootstrapped to $50M. A third is the CEO of a Series B SaaS company. All of them were ready to throw out their entire leadership playbook.
Why?
They'd just discovered they were in good company:
Jensen Huang: 60 direct reports, no one-on-ones at Nvidia
Brian Chesky: Ditched regular one-on-ones at Airbnb to avoid playing "therapist"
Karri Saarinen: Replacing one-on-ones with group meetings at Linear
"This is the future," they told me. "Traditional management is dead."
Then one dropped the real bomb: "I want to go back to pure founder mode. Be more hands-on. More involved."
I had to stop him right there.