Jensen Huang had a strict no one-on-one meetings rule for his 60 direct reports—and Nvidia’s interim CEO has a similar mantra: ‘We don’t waste a dime’

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Nvidia’s ex-CEO Jensen Huang said frequent meetings cluttered his schedule—and interim CEO Colette Kress is just as obsessed with speed.

Former Nvidia CEO and cofounder Jensen Huang famously avoided unnecessary meetings, prioritizing efficiency over routine check-ins. Even with, at one point, 60 direct reports, he refused to do catch-ups. Now that he’s resigned, the question is whether his successor (currently Colette Kress who has stepped up on an interim basis) will keep the rule.

Speaking at Stanford University, Huang once disclosed his aversion to frequent catch-ups. “I don’t do one-on-ones with any of them,” he said.

Huang argued frequent meetings would clutter his schedule. He said they would also get in the way of the broader team’s ability to address challenges, work effectively, and stay transparent.

“They never hear me say something to them, that is only for them to know,” he said. “There’s not one piece of information that I somehow secretly tell the staff; I don’t tell the rest of the company.”

“In that way, our company was designed for agility. For information to be to flow as quickly as possible. For people to be empowered by what they are able to do, not what they know,” he added.

But that doesn’t mean he had no time for his team. Huang insisted he still regularly caught up with his executives. They just didn’t need to set time aside in their diaries to be on the same page.

“I write no reviews for any of them,” he added. “I give them constant reviews and they provide the same to me.”

And when an employee genuinely needed a moment of his time, Huang insisted he’d “drop everything for them.”

Stepping into Huang’s shoes (for now) is CFO Colette Kress. The interim CEO, who has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, holds a bachelor’s in finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

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