Jensen Huang says his mom taught him English without speaking it — and her mindset still shapes how he leads

**Jensen Huang Credits His Mother’s Determination for Shaping His Leadership at Nvidia**

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently reflected on a key leadership lesson he learned from an unlikely source: his mother. Speaking at the Cambridge Union in a talk released on Wednesday, Huang shared how his mother’s encouragement shaped both his character and the culture he fosters at Nvidia.

“My mom taught me English, and she doesn’t speak English,” Huang revealed. “And that kind of tells you all.”

Huang was born in Taiwan. His family later moved to Thailand before he and his older brother were sent to the US at age nine for a better education. In previous interviews, Huang has explained that his mother—who spoke Taiwanese Hokkien—began teaching them English to prepare for the move, despite not being able to read the language herself. Armed with only a “piece of paper and a dictionary,” she set out to teach her sons in the face of overwhelming odds.

“In a lot of ways, that kind of defines Nvidia; it kind of defines me,” said Huang. “I approach almost everything from the perspective of, ‘How hard can it be?’”

Huang cofounded Nvidia in 1993 and took the chipmaking company public in 1999. The company reached a $5 trillion valuation last month, fueled by the recent AI boom. As CEO, Huang is known for his hands-on leadership style and fosters open, honest communication—he reportedly manages up to 36 direct reports.

According to Huang, persistence is key. “Things can turn out to be really hard,” he said, recalling his experience as a first-time CEO, raising funds for Nvidia, or writing a business plan—something he’d never done before. “Staying in the game is in fact most of it. I was able to do what I’m doing today because I didn’t get bored and I didn’t get fired. That I think was the magic, all of it. It’s 100% of it.”

Huang’s appreciation for his parents’ influence is echoed by other tech leaders. Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, credits his own work ethic to his father. “Watching my father work tirelessly on numerous books and scientific papers showed me and my brother the meaning of dedication and inspired us to work hard too,” Durov wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) for Telegram’s 12th anniversary.

Similarly, Tony Xu, cofounder and CEO of DoorDash, has said that his immigrant parents’ commitment to education played a huge role in his life. “My mom came to this country, worked three jobs a day for 12 years, one of which was at a local Chinese restaurant. And I got to see that a bit, washing dishes on the side with her,” Xu said in a 2020 interview.

These stories highlight how the perseverance and sacrifices of immigrant parents continue to inspire the next generation of leaders across the tech industry.
https://www.businessinsider.com/jensen-huang-shares-mother-leadership-lesson-he-uses-at-nvidia-2025-11

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