Uber Technologies has gone through a very tumultuous time this past year. With their many scandals involving inappropriate sexual misconduct in the office, gaffes by the CEO, information theft followed by legal action from Google’s Waymo, and other things, the company had suffered major image damage. Because of all that, the company urged former CEO, Travis Kalanick to step down, allowing a fresh start for the company by way of a new CEO. With that, they’ve named former CEO of travel company Expedia, Dara Khosrowshahi as the chief executive officer of Uber.
The difficult task of rebuilding Uber’s damaged reputation, repairing investor relationships, actually growing the company in a profitable manner, and increasing employee morale all falls on the lap of Khosrowshahi. After running Expedia for 12 years, he had a proven track record of delivering profits while driving growth. This is exactly what Uber investors wanted to see, especially from someone coming from a space where the competition and change factors were high.
The “tech bro” atmosphere that had been established at Uber thanks to Kalanick will likely be eradicated with the arrival of Khosrowshahi. Under his watch, Expedia has become the largest online travel agency based on bookings, having doubled its revenue in four years. He’s very focused and disciplined, doing what is needed to sensibly succeed. He’s been described by those who worked with him as a calm and low-key kind of person, a stark contrast of the famously confrontational and offensive Kalanick. Khosrowshahi has publically shown compassion for minorities and immigrant communities, as he himself migrated from Iran in 1978 during the Iranian Revolution. Equality in the workplace will likely be seen as it has not been under previous leadership.
Khosrowshahi is optimistic about being able to turn Uber around. The company culture which has been described as “toxic and sexist,” will be a challenge to fix, but with the right leadership, it’s definitely possible to remedy. Hopefully, this change will be the glimmer of hope needed to fix the company’s problems.
