A key lesson advocated in the 1980s management bestseller In Search of Excellence advised leaders to “stick with your knitting” and remain “only with the businesses you know best.” That insularity may have hurt adaptiveness a generation ago and is surely not the wisdom for the AI generation. Two weeks ago, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang revealed to 175 top CEOs across industries how he tossed out his business plans not once but twice to embrace disruptive new advances on the frontiers of technology, drawing upon the model of his idol, Michael Dell.
And Huang’s idol could not help but praise the Nvidia CEO for his performance leading the organization to the forefront of global business. Dell was among the industry titans who joined us at our 154th Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute CEO Forum to discuss how they manage strategic innovations as AI continues to evolve quickly.
