Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi addresses the audience during the keynote at the start an Uber products launch in San Francisco, California on September 26, 2019. But after last week's selloff of tech stocks where Uber fell 16%, Khosrowshahi's company finds itself on war footing again. Building a strong corporate culture and trusting employees to take initiative by using their expertise and creativity are important traits of this leadership style. When asked about the parity, Trudeau responded, "Because it's 2015.". Employees were expected to personify these values, which called for things like toe-stepping, principled confrontation and "always be hustlin'. "I saw my family losing everything and you know what, we rebuilt a life. [20], Khosrowshahi is on the list of "Prominent Iranian-Americans" published by the U.S. The Iranian culture is more ancient than the Islamic religion. . He shared his perspective with GeekWire during the 2016 GeekWire Summit and a podcast recorded at Expedias Bellevue, Wash. headquarters on the companys 20th birthday last year. I love Dungeons & Dragons, but I dont know that character. Dara Khosrowshahi isnt your typical tech bro. "They've been in damage control mode in a professional way That will get you out of what was an epic-scale mess. Things are fine. And as you get bigger, bureaucracy takes over and you slow down. [8] His family first fled to southern France. Dara Khosrowshahi - Education (Mr. Kalanick has a new start-up, CloudKitchens, which rents commercial space and turns it into shared kitchens for food delivery businesses.) He always emphasizes accountability and transparency. Rather, he can simply make mention of past mistakes, allude to how the company can learn from those mistakes, and (perhaps) commit to being more open and transparent going forward. Dara Khosrowshahi ( Persian: , Persian pronunciation: [d' xoso'hi]; born May 28, 1969) is an Iranian-American businessman and the chief executive officer of Uber. After several deadlocked votes, Benchmark, a venture capital firm that had helped lead the effort to push out Kalanick, promised to drop a lawsuit against Kalanick if it named Whitman as CEO. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's new CEO, will have to work under the watchful eye of his predecessor, founder Travis Kalanick. She was a night elf, she played it once, and she still loved me afterwards. The company has grounded all of its driverless cars -- at least for now.And Khosrowshahi hasn't been perfect. Im not necessarily defending him, but I understand how it would be tough for him. The content in this post has beenapproved by the organization it is based on. Uber counters that it's still growing and its revenue is rising. Notwithstanding the public apology,Khosrowshahi can commit to doing what he did at Expedia. Just know that if you pour water on him, he will melt. Taking on one of the worst cleanup jobs in the history of American capitalism, at one of the most loathed companies, Mr. Khosrowshahi was like a dad who had to mop up after the frat party, put all the Solo cups away and get the vomit off the marble floor. The first Indian cab aggregator company, Ola has madeavailing cab serv, Uber Success Story - Know the History of Uber | Founders | Acquisitions, Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. I wanted it to last, because it was my second marriage and Im madly in love with Syd. FASTER! "He's an exceptional leader -- a rare combination of keen financial acumen, an eye for great product and incredible people leadership skills," says Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom, who served as CFO under Khosrowshahi. He oversaw the acquisitions of travel sites Orbitz, Travelocity and HomeAway, and quadrupled the company's revenue from $2.1 billion in 2005 to $8.7 billion in 2016. Khosrowshahi learned of the hack soon after he came on and told the public in November. Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar and Travis Kalanick are the Uber founders. Around the time of Ubers I.P.O. [4][3] He praised his wife for wearing a Slayer t-shirt to the wedding, which was held in Las Vegas. I think, just like Uber, some of them grew up too fast and some of them didnt take responsibility for their power and I think now theyre being called to reckon, and I think itll ultimately result in a better, more balanced society going forward, he said. doi. When Chloe broke the news last year that she was, as she dryly put it, an Iranian lesbian, he gave her a fist bump and told her, Its the best time in the world to be gay.. When a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research group reported that an analysis of Uber and Lyft drivers' earnings showed they make on average $3.37 per hour, the chief executive took to Twitter saying MIT stood for "Mathematically Incompetent Theories (at least as it pertains to ride-sharing).". But I think our house is going to get bigger.. Mr. Khosrowshahi had gotten through the Kalanick mop-up, the apology tour around the world, a shaky opening I.P.O. Do the captains of the cloud and industry making obscene gobs of dough deserve it? Travis Kalanick left his post and cut ties with Uber in 2019. Check your inbox and click the link. Under his leadership, Expedia extended its network to more than 60 countries. In my own research and professional life as a Chief Learning Officer and Chief Envisioner, I too know that culture can be your competitive advantage. He prefers giving his team credit to swanning. Sometimes I feel like an idiot not answering. Born in Iran, his family moved to the United States after his father was detained by Iranian authorities for six years. Khosrowshahi's LinkedIn profile states that he focuses on "driving innovation and positioning the Expedia brand for further international growth." first chief diversity and inclusion officer, criticized President Donald Trump's travel ban, Uber turnaround? Martin would concoct childrens stories set in faraway kingdoms with magical wishing flowers and golden owls that could stop time. Mr Harford's leadership style drew mixed. Uber's business model relies on a cadre of drivers right across the globe. Uber plans on letting people pay for their rides with Bitcoin. [3] This included Kalanick, even though Khosrowshahi had made clear that under his watch, Kalanick would have no role in Uber's daily operations; as he put it in one of his slides, "there cannot be two CEOs." We told investors, were going to hurt our margins in the second quarter doing so. He predicted that by September, prices will return to nearly the good old days, adjusted for inflation. I learned to not make excuses, he said flatly. . Scott Galloway, a professor of marketing at New York Universitys Stern School of Business, compares the Uber chief to Sheryl Sandberg, the pretty face that obscures the damage their firms are doing to society. ClearlyKhosrowshahi's ratio at Expedia was significantly more than Drucker's recommendation. You like the casting choices for Showtimes forthcoming Super Pumped show about Uber. Elizabeth, a marketing manager at Expedia says this about her company: Our work environment is healthy, happy and very collaborative. In 2017, he left Expedia, where he had quintupled revenue in a dozen years, to take over Uber from Travis Kalanick, whose name became synonymous with overly aggressive business moves and the gnarly bro excesses of Silicon Valley. "Khosrowshahi, recruited from travel site Expedia, started his turnaround at Uber by talking to people. I think actually some of the programs that were having now are to provide a bridge to become a coder or salesperson at Uber or to get a free education. Wayne Ting, chief of staff to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. "The final eight norms include credos like "we celebrate differences" and "we value ideas over hierarchy." "It looked messy," Khosrowshahi, 48, said at a Goldman Sachs technology conference in February. I think thatd be really cool., He continued: Well keep working on go-and-get. dara khosrowshahi leadership stylecrawford dehydrator parts Dara Khosrowshahi Getty Images Just one week ago, a decision went into effect at Uber that will have major consequences for years to come: Co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick resigned. I can completely imagine that hurting, because hed built the company. No, Mr. Macdonald said. He cares a lot about his customers and makes sure to be connected with them on social media websites and other medians. Dara Khosrowshahi is the CEO of Uber, where he manages the company's fast-growing business in 63 countries around the world and leads a global team of more than 22,000 employees. With a degree in electrical engineering from Brown University and the experience gained as an analyst at Allan and Co., an investment firm, Dara was about to embark on a stellar career path. I think the press does and the Twitter-sphere does. Ill always have this, he said. Your account is fully activated, you now have access to all content. He also met the company's staff-run clubs that support people from different backgrounds. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has kept an eye on Uber's bottom line as it pursues profitability. Eats on a volume basis is going to be bigger than Rides chiefly because with Eats, were going to go to grocery and were going to the pharmacy and were going to every single local commerce category. And one of the things that that Barry Diller, who is our chairman, always says is you want to have a company that can have a balance sheet, kind of this lock, stock, and barrel strong balance sheet that allows you to lean forward during periods of uncertainty because when everyone else is pulling back, if you lean forward, thats when you gain share. Eighteen months into his 12-year tenure at the online travel. She was laser focused on sending her sons to a good prep school, the Hackley School, in Tarrytown. It was us and about 10,000 Chinese people looking to get married because its a very, very lucky day there.. With Khosrowshahi in charge of Expedia, Inc., the company has grown massively. "For culture change to take hold at a big company, it can't come from the top down.". The Times beat me to the punch. When people wonder, Well, are capital owners advantaged over labor? it aint called laborism., But he mused that sometimes the system works too well: I think capitalism has its claws in our democratic societies in ways that has allowed it to overly optimize for its benefit.. Dara grew up in Tarrytown, New York, and received his bachelors degree in engineering from Brown University. New Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has a big job at hand: Rehabilitate the ride-hailing company's battered image and keep ridership growing at a rate that will support its $68 billion valuation. His leadership has guided brands to supremacy. In his first two weeks, he met with drivers, women engineers and even staff who worked the customer support lines. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif. Would Mr. Khosrowshahi want one of his own children to drive for Uber? Anastasiia Sapon for The New York Times Second, and more. Dara Khosrowshahi net worth is $250 million as of 2021 with a base salary is $45million, Dara is one of the highest-paid CEOs in the world. In March, one of Uber's self-driving vehicleskilled a pedestrian in Arizona. [6], In 1978, just before the Iranian Revolution, his family was targeted for its wealth and his mother decided to leave everything behind and flee the country. I think Uber is icing on the cake. Under his leadership, Expedia has become the largest travel agency in the United States. There have been several news stories alleging that Uber's technology lags behind competitors'. Weve got to fight it and weve got to fight it actively., On managing employees and creating company culture:Employee growth has been faster than we ever imagined and were always catching up to our real estate footprint. My dads a lizard person, he said. He allows other peoples voices to fill the room., Mr. Khosrowshahi said simply, I just grew up in a circumstance where getting along was the way to survive. (He is not religious but is fascinated by religious narratives. But at the same time, everything that Ive seen is that the U.S. is a genuine force for good in the world., Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline. Mr. Khosrowshahi demurred, saying that Proposition 22, a ballot measure in California that allows gig economy companies to keep treating drivers as independent contractors, never could have passed in the bluest of blue states unless a lot of drivers supported it. Our system is called capitalism. "Imagine taking over this company and all of the issues you have to deal with -- Softbank, lawsuits, this that and the other, and this was his priority," Bryndza says. They include "UberHue," which promotes black diversity, "Women of Uber," "Los Ubers" for Latino diversity and "UberPride" for LGBTQ inclusion. We sit down with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to discuss the ever-changing state of work. Kalanick didn't respond to a request for comment.Through the first half of 2017, unsurprisingly, Uber employees exited the company in droves. "For all of us who stayed, we stayed because we believe Uber can be a better company and we wanted to stay and fight for a better Uber. We have all these independent units all these independent brands that are doing their own thing. He called them both "mistakes" that can "be forgiven". I do think theres power in a name, he said. My hypothesis is that someone knew that Im a Mets fan.. There is no team, per se. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his first political cabinet in late 2015 it was gender-balanced. Khosrowshahi worked to reform the board and hereshaped Uber's shareholder structure, so that early investors and Kalanick (who is still on the board) were stripped of their supervoting rights and limited to a one vote per share system. Dara was previously CEO of Expedia, which he grew into one of the world's largest online travel companies. His family fled just before the country's revolution nine years later and eventually settled in Tarrytown, New York. Asked how he maintained his preternatural steadiness in the face of the cascading woes of the last few years, he gestured toward his home and family. Khosrowshahi could be defined as having several different styles, but I believe that he is mainly a power and social leader. During his tenure at Expedia, Khosrowshahi earned a lot of money. [3] On December 12, 2012, Khosrowshahi married Sydney Shapiro, a former preschool teacher and actress. Great! Once, she had had a cook, two gardeners, a driver and a babysitter for each child; now the woman who had never set foot in a kitchen became her own cook. Leadership; Media assets; Map beacon indicating location switcher. As CEO, Khosrowshahi is leading the company into its long-awaited IPO on Friday. Honestly, I didnt spend a lot of time figuring it out. He came in listening. Does he worry that this is not as sexy a company anymore as far as attracting investors and talent? He didn't come in guns blazing. The situation looks bleak for new Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over for founder Jeff Kalanick after the founder was ousted over frustrations that the Uber work environment turned toxic. When I joined, Eats was a $2.5 billion business, he said. He is putting it on the table for all to see. [3][4] He is the youngest of the three children of Lili and Asghar (Gary) Khosrowshahi. He criticized President Donald Trump's travel ban restricting immigration from several majority Muslim countries. Great! [13], In 2016, he was one of the highest paid CEOs in the United States. In 1979, when Dara was 9, his Muslim family fled Iran to escape the revolution, leaving the fortune they had made from their large pharmaceutical and cosmetics company. They just do it. There was a significant rise in revenue as it grew from 2.1 billion USD in 2005 to 8.7 billion in the year 2016. (The company has an arrangement with Arizona State University online to cover tuition for drivers. A regular member of the list of Prominent Iranian Americans since 2015, his qualities and hardships have put him in rarefied air. You need to up your eccentricity, she said teasingly. They moved to an uncles mansion in Irvington, N.Y., for a couple of months before getting a condo in Tarrytown. Its a bigger market., It hit him, he said, that all the businesses he had been shedding scooters, electric bikes, autonomous cars, flying cars were a distraction to the mission. She has his name tattooed in Farsi on her wrist, and he has her name tattooed in Hebrew on the back of his neck. We got out of some businesses. My goal in life is not to build the most sexy company, he said. And then, little by little, you saw that over and over and over again. (Kalanick famously dragged his feet on hiring a COO, because he reportedly didn't want to share duties in running the company.). Another cousin, Golnar, founded Reservoir Media in 2007 as a music publishing company. This made him the highest-paid executive at that time. Khosrowshahi was previously CEO of Expedia Group, a company that owns several travel fare aggregators. Mr. Khosrowshahi, who replaced Travis Kalanick in 2017, is widely perceived as a mop-up man.CreditAnnie Tritt for The New York Times. Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Expedia Inc., listens during the GeekWire Summit in [+] Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Dara Khosrowshahi is the CEO of Uber, where he has managed the companys business in more than 70 countries around the world since 2017. These "employees" have become part of the over-used and quintessential definition of the so-called "gig economy." I think if you define fairness by how you think society should value people, then I think C.E.O.s are paid too much. "One of the hard things in 2017 was that there was so much distraction and so much dysfunction," Ting says. At the time of writing it is not clear ifKhosrowshahi has accepted the offer put forward by Uber's board. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick exits federal court after taking the stand during the Waymo v. Uber trial. Yes. [10][11], In 1991, Khosrowshahi joined Allen & Company, an investment bank, as an analyst. If he gets aggressive, dont move. Before joining IAC, Dara served as Vice President of Allen & Company and spent a number of years as an analyst. What Is Creator Economy & How Is It Driving Indias GDP? He hired the company's first chief diversity and inclusion officer, Bo Young Lee, and its first chief operating officer, Barney Harford, who's the former CEO of Orbitz. My dads advice was, If a company thats a verb offers you a job, say yes, he recalled. in 2019, Mr. Khosrowshahi suggested that the company could be the Amazon of transportation. I think theres some unfortunate history there. "They are still the shadow of some of the unfortunate events of the past few years that continue to hang over the company," says Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst for Atmosphere Research Group. Period', Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Mr. Kalanick undermined his successor at the start, according to Uber insiders, but Mr. Khosrowshahi finessed the founder slowly out of the business. We compiled some ofKhosrowshahis most telling comments, from our interviews with him, to understand what Uber might look like under his leadership. New problems also keep cropping up. [8][4], In 1987, he graduated from the Hackley School, a private university-preparatory school in Tarrytown. [18] He also serves on Uber's board of directors. He said the company is leaning in and investing super-aggressively to bringing drivers back. Hes bold, but in his own way, a less obvious way. Before the disruption caused by the Iranian Revolution, Dara Khosrowshahi was all set to join his family business. The system, the way its designed with these compensation consultants, creates a significantly inflationary environment. [4], In 2001, IAC purchased Expedia, and in August 2005, Khosrowshahi became CEO of Expedia. [3] They were planning to come back to Iran if the revolution failed, but when that didn't happen, they immigrated to the United States, eventually moving in with one of his uncles in Tarrytown, New York. "Uber is fortunate to have him at the helm. Your wife wore a Slayer T-shirt to your Vegas wedding. Ola Success Story - Funding, Revenue, and more, Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. Expedia's stock has climbed more than 500% since the 2005 spinoff under the leadership of Khosrowshahi. Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline, Glowforge co-founder Tony Wright departs, 3 years after helping launch 3D printer startup, Landmark FDA approval clears the way for gene therapy treatments that fight cancer, Meet Ubers choice for CEO: Expedia chief brings internal calm and experience with big personalities, Software Development Engineer III New Initiatives, Senior Site Reliability Engineer (Seattle or US Remote), Senior Software Development Engineer Lending (Seattle Or U.S. We do the right . Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg. I had to be more forceful because of where we came from. No., Mr. Khosrowshahi laughed, noting, Her mom still cant say my name right. (Say it like this: DAR-uh Koz-row-SHA-hee.). I was nervous at first, he said, adding that some of it was fun and some of it was rough. Overcoming the odds in life is more than a test. Its important for us commercially because we want to expand outside the U.S. About two thirds of our businesses is in the U.S., one third of our businesses are international. Jessica Bryndza, Uber's global director of people experiences and employer brand. More than arguably is necessary. He said he didnt have enough time to be depressed or to feel sorry. As he was frantically trying to figure out if the company already losing billions could survive losing, in some places, 85 percent of its rides business, he discovered a glimmer moving fast: Uber Eats, an arm of the business he had been pouring money into for the previous two years, despite many investors being unhappy about it. I know this makes me really uncool, but I have not gone into TikTok yet. In the previous six months, the ride-hailing service -- one of the world's most valuable startups -- had careened out of control, providing fodder for headline after headline. However, when Immelt flubbed his presentation, Immelt's initial supporters threw their backing to Khosrowshahi. While noting that our regulatory sandbox is much more city and state than it is federal, Mr. Khosrowshahi said that this tech-lash is inevitable. Under Kalanick, Uber's board was a battleground, with some directors fighting to oust the former CEO while others tried to protect him. I dont think that investors necessarily love them one way or the other, he said, sipping a glass of California cabernet sauvignon, his Dutch shepherd, Loki, curled at his feet. Dara Khosrowshahi is an Iranian-American businessman who is currently serving as the CEO of Uber. And he's weighed in on keeping Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the US. I also believe that he is the type of leader to want all possible knowledge, so as to become even more powerful. In essence, they aren't really employees. Others left because they felt mistreated by managers. Whether it's Waymo, whether it's more governance, he allowed the company to then go back to business. I nearly got killed delivering near the baseball park. Lili taught Dara to stay humble.