How Time’s CEO of the year 2024 Lisa Şu sends memos at midnight, holds meetings on weekends and…

As discussions around work-life balance and employee well-being gain momentum, one CEO stands apart for her relentless work ethic and high expectations—Lisa Su, the 55-year-old CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). At the helm of a $210 billion tech company, Su’s leadership has been integral to AMD’s remarkable growth, turning it into a fierce rival for industry giants like Intel and Nvidia. Her approach, however, has raised eyebrows, as she champions a culture of continuous work, demanding long hours and commitment from her team. While some may argue for a balance between work and personal life, Su believes in pushing her limits and those of her employees to achieve extraordinary results. Her leadership style, grounded in ambition and discipline, has been a key factor in AMD’s rise to success.

Lisa Su’s leadership is defined by a demanding work culture that prioritizes results over all else. She believes that ambition is the key to success and that achieving greatness requires hard work and dedication, even if it means sacrificing personal time. Her expectations from employees are clear: they must be ready to work around the clock, including weekends, to meet the company’s high standards.
Su’s approach to work is hands-on and highly involved. According to reports, she doesn’t just rely on meetings to stay informed—she actively engages in the details, even if it means working late into the night. Su has been known to send out detailed memos to her executives after midnight, then follow them up with morning calls to discuss the contents in depth. This tireless commitment to excellence extends beyond administrative duties. When prototype chips arrive from the factory, Su often visits the lab personally to inspect them, ensuring that every product meets AMD’s rigorous quality standards.
Her leadership style has drawn both praise and criticism. Patrick Moorhead, a former AMD executive, notes that while Su’s approach is highly effective, it isn’t suited for everyone. Her uncompromising standards leave little room for those who fail to meet expectations, and some employees may find her demands overwhelming. However, Su’s supporters argue that her relentless drive is what has fueled AMD’s remarkable success, and her ability to lead by example has motivated others to push their limits as well.

At the core of Lisa Su’s leadership philosophy is the belief that leaders are made, not born. She has often spoken about the importance of training and developing leadership qualities, emphasizing that success comes not from innate talent but from hard work and the ability to learn from failures. “People are really motivated by ambitious goals,” Su explained in an interview with TIME. “The previous strategy of, ‘Hey, let’s just do a little bit better here and there’—that’s actually less motivational.” For Su, setting ambitious, high-stakes goals is essential for driving performance and inspiring innovation.
Su’s leadership is also shaped by a deep belief in specialization and focus. She advocates for doubling down on what a company is best at, rather than trying to diversify or pursue too many initiatives at once. Under her leadership, AMD has focused on high-performance computing, gaming, and data center technologies, all of which have become key drivers of its growth.

Lisa Su took the reins of AMD in 2014, stepping into the role of CEO during a challenging period for the company. AMD was struggling to maintain its position in an industry dominated by heavyweights like Intel and Nvidia. Under Su’s guidance, however, the company underwent a massive transformation. By focusing on innovation, investing in high-performance computing, and developing cutting-edge technologies, Su turned AMD into a formidable competitor in the semiconductor industry. Over the past decade, AMD’s stock price has soared nearly 50-fold, and the company’s market capitalization now sits at a staggering $210 billion. In recognition of her success, Su was named TIME’s 2024 CEO of the Year, cementing her status as one of the most influential leaders in tech.

Lisa Su’s journey to the top of AMD is rooted in a passion for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) that began early in her life. Born in Taiwan, Su moved to the United States with her family at the age of three. Her father’s decision to attend graduate school in the U.S. led the family to settle in New York City, where Su’s interest in technology blossomed. She spent her childhood fascinated by computers and technology, and by the time she was a teenager, she was already writing simple programs on her Commodore 64 computer.
Su’s academic journey was equally impressive. She earned a degree in electrical engineering from MIT and went on to receive a Ph.D. in the same field. Her academic achievements laid the foundation for her career in the tech industry, where she quickly made a name for herself in leadership roles at companies such as IBM and Freescale Semiconductor.

Interestingly, Lisa Su shares a family connection with another tech industry leader—Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia. Su and Huang are cousins, and both share a similar work ethic, marked by a commitment to perfectionism and relentless drive. Like Su, Huang is known for his demanding leadership style, and he, too, is often described as “not easy to work for” due to his high expectations and attention to detail. This shared ethos of excellence has undoubtedly shaped Su’s own approach to leadership, reinforcing her belief in the importance of hard work, focus, and dedication.
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