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“By definition, a CEO should have the most direct reports of anyone in the company,” said Huang, who oversees 50 direct reports.he commented during a meeting interview on Tuesday with the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Huang’s rationale is that CEOs have more bandwidth than other managers because those who report to them (in theory) require minimal supervision.
And hiring more direct reports could also help CEOs level the playing field. According to Huang, the more people a CEO communicates with directly, the less likely an employee’s position in the company will be determined by access to critical information.
“I don’t believe in a culture or environment where the information you have is the reason you have power,” he said.
In Huang’s view, the role of managers is not to mediate power between employees, but to collectively motivate the company’s employees.
“Our position in the company is based on the ability to reason through complex matters, lead others to great accomplishments, inspire others, empower others, and support others. It must have something to do with it,” he said. “These are the reasons why management exists, to serve everyone else who works in the company.”
The AI chip maker has been in the headlines since announcing blockbuster financial results for Q4 2023 late last month. And while Huang manages more people than other big CEOs (Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has 16 direct reports), one company says Nvidia has 3 employees. It is said that there are nearly 10,000 people. report So Huang only oversees a small portion of Nvidia’s workforce.
Huang may be an outlier (and overachiever) as a manager, but CEOs are increasingly taking on direct reports. The CEO’s direct reports have doubled from his five in the mid-1980s to nearly ten in the mid-2000s. according to To Harvard Business Review.
This is a fairly optimal number. Hal Gregersen, a former MIT Leadership Center executive and his director, previously told BI that his ideal number of direct reports, whether they be the CEO or lower-level managers, ranges from his six to his director. He said there were 12 people.