In some places the CEO is a distant figurehead, and whatever his or her values, the day-to-day experience is more dominated by your local crew of < 20 people. In other places, culture is truly pervasive. I feel like the reporting is saying that culture is pervasive at Uber, but it would be interesting to hear an inside perspective.
Why in the world would you think it needs a peacetime CEO?
Uber not only deliberately and flagrantly breaks the law, but it developed systems to prevent police and regulators from doing their jobs.
Uber is like someone who wants to rob banks until he gets rich, and then use the money to stay out of jail and transition into legitimate business.
Peacetime in business means those times when a company has a large advantage vs. the competition in its core market, and its market is growing. In times of peace, the company can focus on expanding the market and reinforcing the company’s strengths.
In wartime, a company is fending off an imminent existential threat. Such a threat can come from a wide range of sources including competition, dramatic macro economic change, market change, supply chain change, and so forth. The great wartime CEO Andy Grove marvelously describes the forces that can take a company from peacetime to wartime in his book Only The Paranoid Survive.
E.g., for a long distance company fear was the cell phone. ($22B revenue to $8B in a five year stretch)
2. Not competing in self-driving.
She seems to be a unique talent who seems genuine from her interviews. I'm curious how she is viewed within Uber and what impact she may be having.
It’s a very unique opportunity for us because she is an expert on what makes companies great. Not just culturally but business strategy too. Having her as a key member of the team is an advantage that t companies don’t have because whereas other people are figuring things out on their own, she actually studied it and taught it.
I hope she stays a long time to help mold this company into one of the greatest companies.
Harvard only?