Leadership is about shaping belief systems step by step over time, so that by the day a major decision is announced, everyone already agrees it's obvious.
Jensen describes his method of leadership: reasoning publicly, laying foundations incrementally, and shaping belief systems so that when he announces a major shift, the response is 'what took you so long?' rather than confusion. ✦ AI generated
Jensen Huang · Lex Fridman · 2026-03-23 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 18:48
When I learn about something and it's starting to influence how I think, I'll make it very clear to everybody near me. I'm trying to shape their belief systems such that when I come the day I say, 'Hey, let's buy Mellanox,' it's completely obvious to everybody that we absolutely should. I've already been laying down the bricks. Sometimes it looks like you're leading from behind, but you've been shaping their belief system.
verbatim transcript · starts at 18:48
18:28and it's a brand-new year, and somehow at the end of the year, next year, we're gonna have a brand-new plan. Big huge layoff this way, big huge organization change this way, new mission statement... brand new logos you know, that kind of stuff. Um, we've just never, I never do things that way. When I learn about something and it's starting to influence how I think, I'll make it very clear to
18:52everybody near me that, you know, this, this is interesting. This is going to make a difference. This is going to impact that. And I reason about things step by step by step. Oftentimes, I've already made up my mind, but I'll take every possible opportunity, external information, new insights, new discoveries, New engineering, you know, revelations, new milestones developed, I'll take those opportunities and I'll use it to shape everybody else's
19:24belief system. And I'm doing that literally every single day. I'm doing that with my board, I'm doing that with my management team, I'm doing that with my employees. I'm trying to shape their belief systems such that when I come the day I say, "Hey, let's buy Mellanox," it's completely obvious to everybody that we absolutely should. On the day that I said, "Hey guys, let's go all in on deep learning," and let me tell you why. I've
19:56already been laying down the bricks to different organizations inside the company. Every organization and everybody, many of the people might have heard everything. Most of the company hears, of course, pieces of it. And on the day that I announce it, everybody's kind of bought in to many pieces of it. And in a lot of ways, I like to announce these things, and I imagine, that the employees are kind of saying, "You know, Jensen, what took you so long?"
20:30And in fact, I've been shaping their belief system for some time, and therefore leadership. Sometimes it looks like you're leading from behind, but you've been shaping their, you know, to the point where on the day that I declared it, 100% buy-in. But that's what you want. You want to bring everybody along. You know, otherwise, we announce something about deep learning and everybody goes, "What are you talking about?" You know, you announce something about let's go all in