Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi pushes back on the limits of tolerating difficult top talent during a panel with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Masters of Scale Summit.
Opinion
Khosrowshahi: Uber's early scale fostered a confrontational, rule-breaking culture
“The radical scale success of Uber that was unprecedented at the time, I think led to a culture that was highly confident, A culture that was confrontational, a culture that to some extent celebrated breaking the rules, all of which made possible what Uber buil…”
Insight
Khosrowshahi: Turnarounds demand painful personnel changes to establish seriousness
“The minute when you actually make painful changes is when the organization in a turnaround knows you're dead serious.”
Insight
Khosrowshahi: Uber had to fix internal culture, not its PR strategy
“Listen, we don't have a PR problem. We've got an us problem. Like, first we have to fix ourselves, how we act, who we promote, etc. Then the PR can follow, because ultimately, especially in this world, the substance always comes out. You can't pretend anymore.”
Insight
Dara Khosrowshahi: Crowdsourcing culture yields average, indistinct opinions
“Because, you know, if you crowdsource, if you get the average of 20,000 people what their opinions are, you kind of get to the average opinion.”
Disclosure
Khosrowshahi: Uber pulled out of Barcelona because regulations protected taxicabs over consumers
“We pulled out of Barcelona just because we fundamentally disagree with something that the city government did. It was designed to protect taxicabs versus consumers, and when that happens, we won't do business there”
Insight
Khosrowshahi: Crowdsourcing company culture yields average, non-distinct opinions
“Because, you know, if you crowdsource, if you get the average of 20,000 people what their opinions are, you kind of get to the average opinion. You're not getting, you know, the really juicy stuff what makes you different.”