Nvidia's CEO was labeled a 'demanding' boss by staff, but experts say being cutthroat is necessary.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, acknowledges his tough leadership style and has no remorse about it.

According to a recent interview with "60 Minutes," the entrepreneur at the company's Santa Clara headquarters was described as "demanding," a "perfectionist," and "not easy to work for" by employees.

Huang, the co-founder of the chipmaker worth over $2 trillion, said this described him "perfectly."

Whitaker was told by him that in order to accomplish extraordinary things, it shouldn't be effortless.

Huang's leadership style has been scrutinized before, as he previously revealed to CNBC that he has 50 direct reports to prevent excessive layers of management from forming at the company, which is significantly higher than the typical number of direct reports for CEOs, which is around 10.

He stated that senior executives should function autonomously with minimal supervision and coddling.

To run one of the largest companies in the world, experts suggest being relentless, even if Huang's tactics are a bit controversial in the era of the empathetic leader.

"Wladislaw Rivkin, an associate professor of organizational behavior at Trinity Business School, stated that the leader of a trillion-dollar valued company is cutthroat to some degree. He explained that the leader had gone through a rigorous selection process due to the intense competition among tech companies valued at trillion or billion dollars."

Nvidia has survived despite the bankruptcy of many smaller companies, according to Rivkin. To succeed at that level, one must be resilient, he emphasized.

Sankalp Chaturvedi, a professor of organizational behavior and leadership at Imperial College Business School, stated that Huang's tenure in Silicon Valley, which has lasted over three decades, is "quite rare."

According to Chaturvedi, workers at a high-profile company like Nvidia typically have other options but "they are choosing to remain for as long as they can," indicating that Huang is doing something right.

Huang runs Nvidia like a 'machine'

Behavioral experts informed CNBC that Huang's leadership style has been influenced by his immigrant background.

Despite not being able to speak English, the billionaire was sent to the U.S. by his parents when he was nine years old, after being born in Taiwan in 1963.

He was bullied at a boarding school and took on part-time jobs as a teenager, working as a dish washer at Denny's restaurant and cleaning toilets.

Rivkin stated that Huang has adopted a "task-oriented" leadership style, emphasizing productivity, goal-setting, and performance tracking.

He emphasized the importance of hard work to succeed, which is a common belief among immigrants.

Rivkin stated that leaders who are task-oriented are often effective because they encourage their employees to push themselves.

According to Rivkin, challenges can motivate people and draw out peak performance, as evidenced by both leadership and motivational research.

Chaturvedi explained that having to "fight it out" from a young age indicates that he prefers exerting a high degree of control over every aspect of the company.

Chaturvedi stated that he views his organization as a machine, constantly considering strategies and economics.

Over the years, Huang's approach has been successful, but he may have neglected other crucial leadership qualities.

Empathetic leadership is 'demanding'

They think Huang's leadership style requires improvement.

Rivkin suggested that focusing on people's wellbeing, treating them as individuals rather than just workers, and exploring this further could be beneficial.

Chaturvedi stated that being a people-focused leader and fulfilling workers' needs is "very demanding." It involves keeping track of people's names and maintaining relationships with a large number of individuals.

According to Rivkin, being task-oriented requires less energy because you set the task, deadline, and milestone, check it out, and that's it. You don't care who is essentially doing the work.

With 50 direct reports to manage, Huang is struggling with time management.

Coordinating becomes more difficult as the number of direct reports increases, according to Chaturvedi.

"Chaturvedi stated that he is certain that the individual is facing difficulties in managing a large number of direct reports. He is attempting to control every aspect of operations and not delegate tasks based on his strengths, which is causing the problem."

Nvidia's cutthroat leadership style has been successful because there is a constant influx of talented individuals coming through the company, as stated by Rivkin.

If most companies struggle to hire talented employees, then it will be challenging to lead with a ruthless leadership style because employees who have options and are considering it from their perspective will likely seek out other opportunities.