Jensen Huang, the billionaire co-founder and CEO of tech giant Nvidia, shared an unconventional message for students at his alma mater, Stanford University, last week: Be prepared for pain and suffering.

It may sound counterintuitive, but Huang believes true greatness isn’t born from intelligence alone. 

________________________________________________________________________

• Billionaire Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says “greatness comes from character” formed through suffering, not intelligence alone.

• Huang hopes Stanford students experience “ample doses of pain and suffering” to build resilience for success.

• Having low expectations helps develop a “tolerance for failure” needed to innovate and achieve outstanding achievements.

________________________________________________________________________

Billionaire Nvidia CEO’s Unconventional Success Advice: “I Hope Suffering Happens to You”

Instead, it emerges from the resilient character forged through overcoming adversity.

“Greatness is not intelligence. Greatness comes from character. And character isn’t formed out of smart people; it’s formed out of people who suffered,” he told the students.

The Path to Building a $77.6 Billion Fortune

Huang knows what he’s talking about when it comes to resilience. 

He co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has spent over 30 years growing it into one of the world’s most valuable companies. 

Thanks to soaring demand for its AI chips, it is now worth over 2 trillion. 

Huang’s net worth? A staggering 77.6 billion, according to Bloomberg.

But it wasn’t an easy path. 

In 1996, Nvidia nearly went bankrupt as it struggled against bigger chip makers, forcing Huang to lay off over half his staff. 

He credits that harrowing experience with teaching him crucial lessons about resilience and pivoting strategies when needed.

The Value of Low Expectations

Huang believes many elite Stanford graduates set themselves up for failure by having “very high expectations” that leave them ill-prepared for adversity. 

“People with very high expectations have very low resilience,” he explained.

His advice? Adopt low expectations from the start.

 “One of my great advantages is that I have very low expectations,” said Huang. 

This mindset allowed him to stay grounded and persevere through Nvidia’s early crises.

Embracing the “Ample Doses of Pain”

Rather than shielding students from challenges, Huang hopes they encounter “ample doses of pain and suffering.” Why? 

Because overcoming hardship “refines the character” and instills the resilience required to keep experimenting, innovating, and ultimately succeeding.

“Unless you have a tolerance for failure, you will never experiment, and if you don’t ever experiment, you will never innovate,” Huang said. 

“If you don’t innovate, you don’t succeed.”

While unconventional, Huang’s insights reflect a key truth: The path to great achievements is rarely smooth. 

By developing resilience through adversity, you forge the perseverance to continue pushing forward despite setbacks. 

As Huang shows, a resilient mindset can ultimately lead to extraordinary success.