‘Absolutely the right attitude’: Elon Musk lauds Nvidia CEO after he shares story of how he cleaned toilets

Elon Musk, never shy to share his opinions on leadership and work ethic, recently took to X to praise Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's hands-on approach, highlighting a shared philosophy that values tackling even the most menial tasks head-on.

Musk's commendation came in response to a video clip of Huang reflecting on his early work experience at Denny's.

"To me, no task is beneath me because, remember, I used to be a dishwasher," Huang shared during a March interview at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. "I used to clean toilets. I cleaned a lot of toilets. I've cleaned more toilets than all of you combined."

This experience, Huang explained, instilled in him a deep respect for all types of work and a willingness to roll up his sleeves alongside his team.

“You can’t show me a task that’s beneath me," Huang asserted. "If you send me something, and you want me to help review it, I’ll do my best. And I’ll show you how I would do it.”

Musk, known for his own demanding work ethic and hands-on leadership style at Tesla and SpaceX, resonated with Huang's perspective.

"Absolutely the right attitude," Musk declared in his X post. He recounted his own experience during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, stating, "During the toilet paper shortages of Covid, I was making sure that our factories and offices had toilet paper!"

This isn't the first time Musk has publicly lauded a fellow CEO's dedication. He has previously spoken about sleeping on the factory floor at Tesla to be closer to the production line and empathise with his employees' challenges.

"The reason I slept on the floor was not because I couldn't go across the road and be at a hotel. It was because I wanted my circumstances to be worse than anyone else at the company," Musk explained in a 2018 interview. "Whenever they felt pain, I wanted mine to be worse.”

However, some speculate that Musk's praise for Huang might extend beyond shared work ethics. Given Tesla's ambitious self-driving car goals and Musk's aspirations to make xAI a leading AI company, securing a steady supply of Nvidia's high-powered chips is critical.

Interestingly, the admiration seems to be mutual.

In a May interview, Huang acknowledged Tesla's leadership in the autonomous vehicle space, stating, "Tesla is far ahead in self-driving cars, but every single car, someday, will have to have autonomous capability."

Musk, in a characteristically concise response on X, replied, "Thanks Jensen."