This AI Founder Admits He Was a ‘Terrible Leader’ — But a Simple Mindset Shift Solved His Biggest Problem

Jonathan Ross, the laminitis and erstwhile CEO of AI chipmaker Groq, helmed the institution for 7 years earlier leaving successful December to subordinate Nvidia full-time arsenic a main package architect. In a caller interview, Ross acknowledged that he made management mistakes earlier successful his profession that costs Groq years of progress.

“I was a unspeakable leader. I was 1 of the world’s worst leaders erstwhile I started,” Ross said connected an episode of the Founders podcast released earlier this week. “The first point that you person to do arsenic a laminitis is you person to spell from the method point that you cognize really to do and that you tin adhd worth with, to learning really to negociate people. For me, that astir apt costs Groq 3 to 4 years.”

As CEO of Groq, Ross said he made the correction of hiring group who needed to beryllium told what to do and past giving them excessively overmuch responsibility. 

“What ended up happening was things would conscionable grind to a halt because they wouldn’t cognize what to do, and I wasn’t telling them what to do, and they were utilized to being told what to do,” Ross said connected the podcast.

Ross solved the problem by becoming much selective astir hiring. Instead of looking for affirmative attributes aliases reasons to prosecute a person, he switched to looking for negatives aliases reasons not to prosecute them. He shifted from “trying to turn talent” to “trying to prime talent.”

Groq signed a $20 cardinal woody pinch Nvidia

Ross founded Groq a decade agone pinch the intent of building AI chips called connection processing units. The civilization chips are in nonstop competition pinch Nvidia’s graphics processing units. 

In December, Nvidia signed a $20 billion licensing and talent statement pinch Groq that allowed Ross and different cardinal engineers to subordinate Nvidia full-time while allowing Groq to support its position arsenic an independent company. Groq’s caller CEO is Adam Winter, a erstwhile vice president astatine the firm. 

Other leaders person made mistakes too

Ross isn’t the only leader to ain up to guidance mistakes. On the First Time Founders podcast successful December, Dylan Field, cofounder and CEO of creation package institution Figma, said that it took clip for him to study really to negociate group effectively. 

“Management and activity are different,” Field said connected the podcast. “You tin beryllium a bully leader and a bad head aliases vice versa.”

Field said that activity came people to him, truthful he thought he would beryllium a bully manager. Instead, he recovered that location was a “whole caller accomplishment group astir management” that he “definitely didn’t know” and had to study the difficult way, done proceedings and error. 

Field’s acquisition is akin to that of Facebook and Asana cofounder Dustin Moskovitz. In an question and reply successful October, Moskovitz said that the CEO domiciled was “exhausting” and didn’t suit his introverted personality. He led Asana for 15 years arsenic CEO earlier stepping down successful July 2025. 

Jonathan Ross, the laminitis and erstwhile CEO of AI chipmaker Groq, helmed the institution for 7 years earlier leaving successful December to subordinate Nvidia full-time arsenic a main package architect. In a caller interview, Ross acknowledged that he made management mistakes earlier successful his profession that costs Groq years of progress.

“I was a unspeakable leader. I was 1 of the world’s worst leaders erstwhile I started,” Ross said connected an episode of the Founders podcast released earlier this week. “The first point that you person to do arsenic a laminitis is you person to spell from the method point that you cognize really to do and that you tin adhd worth with, to learning really to negociate people. For me, that astir apt costs Groq 3 to 4 years.”

As CEO of Groq, Ross said he made the correction of hiring group who needed to beryllium told what to do and past giving them excessively overmuch responsibility.