top five things💡

I recently learned about a powerful practice the CEO of NVIDIA, Jensen Huang, uses to gain access to deep insights from his people:

The Top Five Things (T5T) email.

Every leader can adopt it.

Let’s dive in…

At NVIDIA, every employee — all 30,000 of them — sends a regular email to their team and manager with the top five most important things happening in their world.

These emails can include:

• Observations about market trends.
• Competitor activity they’ve noticed.
• Challenges or progress on projects.
• New technologies they’ve discovered.
• Interesting research in their field (after all, NVIDIA is deeply rooted in AI and high-tech innovation).

What’s remarkable is that these emails don’t just stop at the manager and team level.

Huang himself reads about 100 of these per day — even on weekends. This direct line to the front lines ensures he gets unfiltered insights from his entire organization.

Hierarchical organizations have a habit of watering down information as it travels up the management chain. Interesting insights get sterilized and sanitized on the way up.

Middle managers morph raw data into vapid bullet points in presentations, which are virtually meaningless by the time they reach the C-suite.

Huang’s T5T ritual breaks through that noise, giving him real-time, first-person insights into what’s happening across NVIDIA.

This simple practice has enormous benefits:

Faster Strategic Decision-Making: With better visibility into market trends, operational challenges, and opportunities, NVIDIA’s leadership team can make informed decisions faster.

A Real-Time Pulse: T5T creates a clear line of sight into the entire organization, helping executives stay connected to both people and their projects.

It’s reminiscent of the concept of “management by walking around” — a management practice which helps execs stay close to the business by engaging directly with the people closest to the work.

And here’s the thing.. You don’t have to be Jensen Huang, lead a massive company like NVIDIA, or have access to special tools to implement T5T. You could be a sales leader, a VP of Customer Success, or even a manager of a small team. All you need is a directive and email inbox.

The point isn’t perfection. It’s about creating a ritual that makes truth and insights freely available on a regular basis. Leadership isn’t about complicated systems. Sometimes the simplest habits are the most impactful.

How could you create your version of T5T to gain better insights from your team?

Hit “Reply” to share your thoughts.

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