AMD CEO Lisa Su holds meetings on weekends, expecting work before midnight

Some CEOs encourage work-life balance for their employees. Others expect their employees to be online late at night and on weekends.

Lisa Su, CEO of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), says it falls into the latter category. to run his $210 billion companyholds weekend meetings and long morning calls with executives to discuss memos sent after midnight, About the time on tuesday

Su, 55, was named Time’s 2024 CEO of the year — An indicator of how his company has grown since he became CEO in 2014. Over the past decade, AMD’s stock price has increased nearly 50-fold as Su built an industry giant that now sits between arch-rivals Intel and Nvidia. in terms of market capitalization.

He has done this, at least in part, by setting very high expectations for the people around him. “I don’t think leaders are born. I think leaders are trained,” said Su, noting that his career has been shaped by his relentless drive.

“People are motivated by ambitious goals,” he added. “The previous strategy, ‘Hey, let’s do a little bit better here and here’ — that’s really less motivation.”

While AMD leaders and executives work very busy schedules and long nights, most of the company’s employees have a “good work-life balance,” according to more than 400. reviews on Glassdoor. Anonymous reviews on the website cite a strong company culture and benefits package, but “low compensation compared to Nvidia and Intel.”

Su has a 95% approval rating as AMD’s CEO, according to these Glassdoor reviews.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang—who happens to be Su’s cousin—says so too to work for a tough personand has no intention of changing.

Huang is “demanding,” “a perfectionist” and “not easy to work with,” employees of Nvidia’s Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters. said CBS News’ “60 Minutes” in April Those descriptors fit Huang “perfectly” on the show.

“It should be like that. If you want to do extraordinary things, it shouldn’t be easy,” Huang said.

Both Nvidia and AMD are part of the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry, providing tech companies with the computer chips they need to handle large amounts of AI training and processing. That industry is alive and well now: AI professionals at companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are feeling pressure to overperform, to CNBC in May expected to contribute to high-speed implementations with little time to learn about the models being worked on.

Although employees pull all-nighters, technology executives tend to be respected for their dedication to progress and growth in their companies, leadership researcher Rainer Zitelmann said. He wrote for CNBC Make It in 2020

In the early days of Microsoft, Bill Gates’ employees described him as a domineering and workplace bully. “(But) Gates knew better than any other entrepreneur how to inspire and motivate his employees to achieve a shared goal while also allowing them to develop creatively,” Zitelmann wrote.

Microsoft flourished, eventually becoming one of the largest companies in the world. After the company was well established, Gates developed common sense he regretted his harsh leadership stylehe told students at Northern Arizona University’s commencement ceremony last year.

“When I was your age, I didn’t believe in vacations. I didn’t believe in weekends. Neither did the people I worked with,” Gates said. “Don’t wait as long as I did to learn this lesson. Take time to nurture your relationships… Take a break when you need it. Take it easy on the people around you when they need it too.”

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