Nvidia Founder Tells Stanford Students Their High Expectations May Make It Hard For Them To Succeed

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: We are often told that setting the bar high is key to success. After all, if you shoot for the moon and miss, at least you'll land with the stars. But Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang wants privileged Gen Z grads to lower their expectations. 'People with very high expectations have very low resilience -- and unfortunately, resilience matters in success,' Huang said during a recent interview with the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 'One of my great advantages is that I have very low expectations.'

Indeed, as the billionaire boss pointed out, those at elite institutions like Stanford probably have higher expectations for their future than your average Joe. The university is one of the most selective in the United States -- it ranks third best in the country, according to the QS World University Rankings, and the few students who get picked to study there are charged $62,484 in tuition fees for the premium, compared to the average $26,027 per annum cost. But, unfortunately for those saddled with student debt, not even the best universities in the world can teach you resilience. 'I don't know how to teach it to you except for I hope suffering happens to you,' Huang added.

For those fortunate enough to never have personally experienced hardship growing up, Huang doesn't have any advice on how to welcome more of it into your life now. But he did have some advice on embracing tough times. 'I don't know how to do it [but] for all of you Stanford students, I wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering,' Huang said. 'Greatness comes from character and character isn't formed out of smart people -- it's formed out of people who suffered.'It's why despite Nvidia's success -- the company has a $2 trillion market cap -- Huang would still welcome hardship at his organization.'To this day I use the phrase 'pain and suffering' inside our company with great glee,' he added. 'I mean that in a happy way because you want to refine the character of your company.' Essentially, if you want your workforce to always be on their A game, don't let them rest on their laurels.

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