Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's unique system: reading 100 employee updates and holding open meetings. Learn how widening info flow leads to true autonomy and informed leadership.
December 7, 2025
Jensen Huang reads 100 emails before most CEOs finish their first coffee.
Each email contains an employee's top 5 things - whatever they observed, did, or learned that week.
Huang calls this stochastically sampling the system.
While most CEOs manage 5-8 direct reports, Huang maintains 40-50. He skips 1:1 meetings entirely.
"I don't believe there's any information that only 1-2 people should hear," he explains.
His meetings are open to anyone, regardless of rank.
Most leaders narrow their information flow to protect their time. Huang widens his to understand what's really happening.
The emails give him ground truth. The open meetings prevent information silos. The wide span of control forces him to trust people with real autonomy.
He's built a system where staying informed means letting go of control.
The holidays are almost here. You're ready to unplug for a week, maybe two.
But most delegation breaks down the moment you leave.
Your assistant waits for answers. Decisions pile up. You come back to chaos.
The fix is to categorize everything into three zones that make it obvious what your assistant can and can't touch.
Green Zone: Execute
Full autonomy. Anything with established processes gets handled without checking in.
Outcomes get aggregated into a daily digest. When you return, tasks are done.
Yellow Zone: Gather Information
New opportunities that need research but can wait.
Your assistant collects details, organizes options, and preps decisions for your return. Nothing slips through the cracks or demands immediate attention.
Red Zone: Direct Input Required
High-stakes situations that genuinely need your eyes.
"Always get my approval for irreversible transactions over $10,000 or new partnership agreements."
Your assistant has a playbook for who to notify and how to reach you if truly urgent. Everything else gets triaged until you're back.