Jensen Huang Confirms What I Claimed 2 Years Ago About Modern CEOs

Written by a human, for humans, always.

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Two years ago, I made what may be considered a pretty bold statement about AI and CEOs...

The role of CEO was dead, and AI could replace them.

Now, before you go and set up a Chief Executive AI over your company...

Which would be an extremely poor decision...

Let me quickly explain what I meant when I said it.

I did "not" mean that we should replace CEOs with AI.

What I "was" saying is that most CEOs today are worthless.

They are not talented.

They do not really come up with any ideas for their companies.

They oversee, but fail to really contribute.

They have an outdated playbook that tells them to chase trends, while never actually pulling ahead further...

A playbook that has been used so many times, unsuccessfully, that AI can now "read" the patterns and spit out exactly what most CEOs are likely to do.

Again, this is "not" a testament to the quality of AI...

It is an attack on how most organizations are run today.

I am not alone in thinking this either.

Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, which has become the most valuable company in the world, has confirmed what I said.

Huang was recently talking with Jim Cramer, who asked a question around AI and how companies are reacting to it...

If AI was so great...

Why are so many companies laying off such a large number of employees?

This was Huang's answer...

"For companies with imagination, you will do more with more. For companies where the leadership is just out of ideas, they have nothing else to do. They have no reason to imagine greater than they are. When they have more capability, they don’t do more."

What he is saying here is that the reason so many CEOs are laying off employees has nothing to do with AI directly...

It has to do with the fact that they have no imagination.

They are not looking at the future...

Looking at how to create what comes next...

Or how to shape their organization to continue to be relevant in the future.

They are simply attempting to maintain what they have...

And, at least according to Huang, AI is allowing them to do the same amount of work but with fewer people.

Now, there are many people, including myself, who do not believe that AI is actually successfully replacing people at these organizations.

There is no real hard evidence for that at any scale...

Which implies that the "real" reason these layoffs are happening is that these CEOs already "intended" to reduce headcount...

AI was just a better-sounding "reason" to get rid of people than "We are terrible at our jobs".

But what Huang says is still true.

These CEOs lack imagination.

They are ineffective at truly leading their organizations.

They are not actually growing their businesses.

They are simply trying to keep what they have...

They are stagnant.

However...

What these CEOs fail to actually understand...

Is that there is no such thing as "stagnation".

In life, there is growth, and there is decay.

When your organization is attempting to "maintain"...

They are usually in a state of decay.

It may be slow...

Usually it is extremely painful...

But it is decay nevertheless...

And eventually, they will lose everything.

It is only a matter of time before their small problems become exponentially worse...

And another organization comes in.

But here is where I believe that Huang did not go far enough in his analysis.

What he said is true...

But even if AI "was" actually capable of multiplying human capabilities...

"And" if these CEOs "did" have more imagination...

It still wouldn't matter.

These organizations are still in an extremely dire state...

Because of burnout.

A tool, even an incredible tool, is only as good as the health of the individuals who use the tool.

AI, as a tool today, is not imaginative.

It is not capable of coming up with ideas that do not exist.

It will not just magically save these organizations from their lack of growth and innovation.

That requires humans...

Who are healthy.

Even "if" the CEO is in great health and has the imagination to design the future...

Which few CEOs have either...

There is still the problem that they are an "individual"...

And they need their entire organization to both be "capable" of bringing the vision to life...

"And" have the imagination themselves to innovate within each of their areas of expertise within the organization.

Burnout is in direct psychophysiological opposition to this.

In burnout, we are literally "blocked" from being able to access the states of mind that would allow this to happen.

Burnout is a physiological state of unhealthiness...

Which both prevents us from being productive and innovative.

In burnout, based on the research, we operate at 5% or less of our productivity potential...

Which is an overestimate based on the data.

Plus, we "can" and frequently "do" drop into negative productivity in burnout.

But on top of this...

When we are in burnout, we are in a physiological state of survival...

One that blocks us from the psychological state where innovation happens...

Flow states.

What organizations need to build the future is group flow.

What most organizations are trapped in is group burnout.

That is also a significant part of why so many CEOs are not really able to access the imagination that Huang is getting at...

Assuming they ever had it in the first place.

It is impossible to move into imagination and innovation when you are trapped in burnout yourself...

Your organization is trapped in group burnout...

And you are trying to keep the organization from falling apart while simultaneously always being worried about what other organizations are doing.

These are just not compatible with each other.

The result...

Is that these organizations are dying...

Rotting away from the inside.

In some cases...

Organizations are already dead...

Only kept alive by the fact that their customers do not "yet" have an alternative.

But as soon as the alternative arrives?

Doom.

So, Huang is absolutely correct that many CEOs lack imagination, and that is why they are laying off individuals.

But Huang also does not go nearly far enough into his analysis of the problem...

And AI will not be what saves these organizations.

What these organizations need...

Is a workforce that is "capable" of getting into group flow states...

But to accomplish that...

They need to escape from their group burnout first.

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