正文 · AI 翻译
IT Home reported on November 15 that, according to Business Insider, Jensen Huang, then Nvidia’s CEO, spoke about his management style at an NBA technology summit last year, saying the company had always maintained open and transparent communication internally.
“I spend all my time maintaining transparency,” Huang said at the time. He has long been praised for leading Nvidia to remarkable growth.
However, reports of Huang’s extramarital affairs have now exposed a potentially stark gap between the candor he professed and his private conduct. According to reports, Huang is alleged to have had extramarital affairs with a direct subordinate at the company, another employee, and a customer.
Following Huang’s departure, Nvidia’s next CEO will face a daunting task: regaining the trust of tens of thousands of employees. As one of the companies at the center of the current AI boom, Nvidia’s management stability is attracting considerable attention.
Kim Scott, a former executive at Apple and Google and now co-founder of the executive coaching company Radical Candor, said: “If a company’s CEO develops a romantic relationship with someone inside the company, it can erode trust among employees and breed cynicism.”
Getting employees to focus on work again
Huang has long used a flat senior management structure, believing it helps the company make and carry out decisions quickly. He usually works in a conference room rather than a private office, and dozens of subordinates report directly to him.
IT Home noted that Nvidia had not previously disclosed a succession plan. Observers of corporate leadership say the immense personal influence of successful technology founders, combined with a senior management structure with few layers, may leave a company without a sufficient pool of talent to succeed its top leader.
After Huang departed on Wednesday, Nvidia appointed Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO and began a search for a permanent successor, considering both internal and external candidates.
Whether Kress or the eventual permanent CEO, the successor will face a series of challenges.
Scott said: “The first things employees want to know are: Is the company still in reliable hands? Can it continue to do well in the future?”
She noted that many Nvidia employees hold unvested stock options that could be worth millions of dollars, so the company’s future and the stability of its leadership directly affect their personal interests.
Nvidia’s new leader will need both to handle the intense public attention surrounding Huang’s departure and to ensure the company’s day-to-day operations are not disrupted.
Katie Burke, chief operating officer of the legal AI company Harvey, said: “Keeping employees focused on the work at hand while not pretending that the turmoil outside the company doesn’t exist is really difficult to do at the same time.”
Employees need a period of “emotional recovery”
Under these circumstances, repairing the company’s culture and employees’ trust cannot happen overnight.
Alison Fragale, an organizational psychologist and professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said: “Trust can be damaged in a very short time, but rebuilding it takes sustained effort over a long period.”
The chip giant’s new leader will also need to help employees cope with the impact of the scandal and gradually return to their normal work routines. Fragale noted that this process could be especially difficult for employees who have long admired Huang and hoped he would stay on.
“It’s a bit like going through a period of grief and mourning,” she said.
Meanwhile, other employees may feel disappointed, uneasy, or even betrayed by the intense attention the scandal has received.
Fragale said: “You can’t pretend employees’ families won’t ask them what happened.”
However, Jessica Neal, Netflix’s former chief talent officer, believes Huang’s departure also gives Nvidia’s new leader a favorable opening to repair the company’s culture.
It shows, at least, that even Huang, despite his extraordinary achievements, must face consequences for violating company rules.
Neal said: “One of the easiest mistakes for a company to make is to mistake exceptional performance for a pass to receive different treatment or even break the rules.”
She added: “Every time a company allows an employee special treatment because they perform well, it is sending everyone else a signal about what the company truly values. Over time, those exceptions become the company’s culture.”