The Banned Phrase
NVIDIA never talks about market share. Not in meetings. Not in strategy sessions. Jensen Huang banned the concept entirely.
His reasoning is simple. If you're talking about having 23% market share while someone else has 27%, you're admitting a bunch of other people are doing the same thing you are. If they're already doing it, why are you?
"The whole concept of market share says there are other people doing the same thing. If they're doing the same thing, why are we doing it?"
Don't Fight for Commodities
Huang doesn't want NVIDIA's engineers wasting their lives on work that's already been done. He doesn't enjoy competition for its own sake. He wants to do things that have never been done before.
So NVIDIA doesn't fight for market share in commoditized markets. They walk away. And that sends the clearest possible message to employees: we don't do commodity work.
"Why am I squandering the lives of these incredibly talented people to go do something that's already been done?"
Choose the Right Work. Walk Away From the Wrong Work.
Most companies only do half of this equation. They pick exciting projects. But they never kill the boring ones. They let dead businesses linger because revenue is revenue.
Huang does both. Choose what to build. And choose what to abandon. The combination of picking the right work and walking away from the wrong work — that's how you create the conditions for something great.
"The combination of choosing the right work and walking away from the wrong work — that is the best way to create the conditions."