Company culture (at least the previous, step-on-toes one) at Uber was heavily enforced; company culture as it is written down is also heavily enforced at Facebook (where Sullivan was before) and Google and most engineers at Uber come from either. Not sure what is Goldman Sacks (where a lot of Uber managers came from) written company culture, but there is a practiced version of it that is quite distinct (think Uber’s toe-stepping).

Dara did change the cultre at his previous company, starting by drafting a written document there too. Of course, enforcement is key and a longer process than publishing anything but firing a large number of managers will effectively change the culture. I can see how it sounds ridiculous for someone working at 99% of the companies where “company culture” is a cumbersome joke, but not in that context.

Company culture is not a joke at my company. Suggesting the CEO will start to change the culture with a memo would be. But, when your employees can’t afford to buy their options and have golden handcuffs I suppose you make the koolaid taste yummy.