How Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Prefers Emails to Be Written

Nvidia CEO, Huang’s emails hardly ever exceed six lines—the “TL;DR approach” to very short-form communication. This does get the critical points across, but it can be hard for employees to get used to.

These ex-employees say Huang’s idiosyncratic email style—some liken his emails to a form of Japanese haiku—has since become the new orthodoxy for all Nvidia workers. Three ex-employees shared an example: how you had to sound when talking with Huang. One shared how emails were supposed to sound—staccato. And he pointed out that it wasn’t just Huang; it was the whole company.

One former executive at the chip maker Nvidia said that it was useful because it helped “foster the crystallization of priority and thought.” He said that sending a long email was a good way to get in trouble because the ones that were sent were double-spaced, one sentence per line, and no longer than five or six lines. It’s just to kind of distill the message down to the most essential, such that when there’s something that really needs more said, at least one can begin a dialogue.

Although this process turns out to be effective, as it allows summarizing complex themes in the minimal time possible, he should also be extremely focused when it comes to drawing attention towards key points. Nvidians should email Huang the top five priorities every week and copy their managers. This helps to maintain focus, whereby Huang can get a “quick pulse check” of the activities in the company. The practice also aids collaboration among employees from different departments or regions.

“The need to really write tight, crisp emails at Nvidia seems more akin to the six-page memos Jeff Bezos of Amazon uses that are read in silence at the start of meetings to give everybody a chance to come up with better ideas,” he said.

But Nvidia never directly responded to any of these revelations.

Supporting the public style which Huang uses to communicate is insight to disciplined and efficient communication practices which have become outstanding features of Nvidia. The general company value of innovation and excellence can be seen in its specific value of brevity and clarity in its internal communication.