Uber is already a troublesome CEO to pick up Uber today?

At the same time, facing the never-making money to making money, from entrepreneurship to business, from negative to positive triple challenges, what kind of CEO can get rid of Uber today?

Uber's board of directors once called Khosrowshahi "a family-oriented person" as one of the elements of his personal charisma, ingeniously contrasting with the Kalanick's happy bachelor character. The newly appointed CEO not only wants to turn a negative news-ridden startup into a traditional company, but in the process, it does not sacrifice the advantages that make it successful. This "New Yorker" article restores the original complexity of things.

Gurugram, in Hindi, means “the city of experts” and is a technology and commercial center south of New Delhi.

The speed of New Delhi to this place is only 20 miles away. There are many motor tricycles and cars with smoke in the road. Occasionally, several cows can stand on the road.

The glass high-rise buildings in the city have been housed in dozens of multinational companies, including Pepsi, Google and Microsoft. In addition, Uber's largest office in India is also located here.

Just one morning, a white SUV stopped in front of the building and walked out of the car to Uber's new CEO, Khosrowshahi.

When Dara Khosrowshahi asked to become Uber CEO, Barry Diller warned him, "That is a very dangerous place."

In the minimalist hall of the Uber office, two local staff first greeted Khosrowshahi and then took him through a light ceremony called aarTI Indian tradition, which meant to drive away bad things, ushered in light and hope, symbolizing the beginning of the good.

Khosrowshahi smiled and lit a wicked wick, a bronze lamp holder, and a rose and a petal of the peony. A female employee at Uber ordered a small red dot on his forehead and sent him a bouquet of flowers.

Black sports top with a white shirt and a pair of skinny jeans.

A few minutes later, Khosrowshahi led the others to the lounge to meet Uber's employees in India.

He looked a little tired. After all, he had just arrived in India for more than 24 hours. Before that, he flew to Japan, visited Toyota's factory, and went to lobby government officials to hope that Uber could further expand the market in Japan.

Although Uber is currently in a state of loss in India, its market is growing rapidly. Khosrowshahi's tight schedule is packed with meetings with Indian officials and regulators, including Indian Prime Minister Modi. Local policy experts gave a brief report on the main points of Khosrowshahi's conversation.

He was suggested to refer to Uber's driver as a "small micro entrepreneur." This title, as Uber’s chief business manager in India said, “it makes the officials feel warm inside.”

In the lounge, Uber's Indian business president asked Khosrowshahi a bunch of living room games like:

"If you go back in time, what would you say to yourself at the age of 20?"

“Get out of the investment bank,” Khosrowshahi said.

"What book have you read recently?"

"Well... yes, I don't believe that I will read this book. It's 'Fire and Fury', a book about Trump." The people around me laughed.

“I am here for the first time in India,” Khosrowshahi said in a subsequent speech.

At the age of 48, he was the CEO of an online travel company, Expedia, who was rejected because of his Iranian background and a Muslim name. Obviously, he said, "Uber has more influence." There was a burst of applause from the crowd.

Khosrowshahi talked about Uber's future development. For example, Uber plans to go public in 2019, and its growth will reach 20-30 times.

Then his voice became heavy. "The reason why the company chose me on the board is because the company has had a lot of things lately," he said.

"In order to develop, we may have done something wrong. It has been too radical to think about competition. Some things have been wrong."

He did not list the mistakes specifically, although some mistakes are already well known.

"The mistake is not a bad thing," he continued. “The question is whether you can learn from mistakes? 2017 is a tough year, but it will all help us become a better company. ”

First, Silicon Valley only value results

In August last year, Khosrowshahi served as CEO. He took over the most successful company in Silicon Valley and was also a company caught in various scandals.

Uber has been actively expanding in the past, facing various obstacles, whether it is competition from peers or supervision by government regulators, the company is hopeless.

In many ways, this strategy has indeed worked.

Seven years ago, Uber launched a black windmill for the first time in San Francisco. In just seven years, Uber became one of the world's most well-known companies and one of the world's largest privately held companies with a market capitalization of 720. One hundred million U.S. dollars. Currently, Uber operates in 73 countries and employs 18,000 people.

In addition to the ride, he also involved Uber Eats, Uber Elevate and driverless cars.

Driverless cars require a lot of resources. In March, Uber's driverless project suffered a major setback. Uber's self-driving car crashed in Arizona and killed a pedestrian.

Since joining the company, Khosrowshahi has been a fancher, diplomat, coordinator and salesperson.

The board selected him as CEO, in part because of his personality: approachable, non-threatening, and his conversations reassure investors.

Former Uber CEO, Travis Karanic, has turned the company into a highly successful company. But under his leadership, Uber also suffered a very bad reputation, and this is the epitome of the culture that Silicon Valley only value results.

Khosrowshahi is visiting New Delhi and wants to know the worst thing Uber has ever had. In 2014, a female passenger accused Uber drivers of sexual assault. Later, it was alleged that Karanic suspected that the sexual assault was carried out by Uber's Indian competitor Ola, and a Uber manager obtained the victim's secret medical record. (The manager was later fired and Karanic denied the report.) It turned out that the driver was reported to have had several misconducts, and Uber was indifferent.

Last summer, investors removed Karenic’s CEO position. Uber was investigated by the federal government and conducted five inquiries. The company also received a large number of lawsuits due to gender discrimination, driver complaints, and data breaches. The sharp decline in Uber's reputation shocked Silicon Valley.

Nick Beim, a partner at venture capital firm Venrock, said, "This company has left a bad image for Silicon Valley." But at the same time, Uber's growing financial data has further deepened people's impressions, and cold will have a good return. .

“If you can make a lot of money, can you be forgiven for unethical behavior?” Beim asked. "It shouldn't be like this, and that's exactly what Silicon Valley has to answer."

The Uber Board hopes that Khosrowshahi will be able to repair the company's image. “He is very good at dealing with relationships,” said GV management partner David Krane. GV's predecessor was Google Ventures, which invested in Uber. He said, "Khosrowshahi is a very patient person."

Arianna Huffington is a member of Uber's board of directors. He mentioned the ancient Roman Emperor Augustus: "He can deal with the plague, aggression and betrayal. He has always been invincible." She joked that Khosrowshahi also owns these. Features.

Khosrowshahi's current mission is to transform this dysfunctional but promising company into a more traditional company without sacrificing the company's origins.

An Uber investor said, "In Uber, there is a standing word "yong fierce", I like the word very much. But now it is a bit too much to look at." He said, the question is "How does Khosrowshahi retain corporate culture?" Positive aspects? Change what you don't need to change while maintaining fierce competition?"

Second, Uber has been in constant trouble

Uber was founded in San Francisco by several young technical engineers who wanted to get taxis more efficiently.

In 2008, a Canadian software programmer named Garrett Camp began experimenting with the idea of ​​using a mobile phone to call a car in the city. He started a partnership with his friend Karanic.

Kalanic was a co-founder of two file-sharing companies. (The first company, Scour, was sued for sharing film and music resources and later went bankrupt.) Uber initially targeted high-end car services, but Karannik quickly adopted the rival Lyft model, allowing drivers to use their own vehicles to ship. passenger.

From the beginning, the Uber business is likely to violate the rules. Taxi services are strictly controlled in most cities. Instead of trying to persuade regulators to allow it to operate, the company chose to ignore the regulation directly. As a result, Uber has always been in a state of struggle. (Karanic once said, "We are in a political movement, the initiator is Uber, and the hostile party is a taxi.")

One day in 2010, Karanic was appointed CEO of the company, when the company was named UberCab. The San Francisco Transportation Authority and the California Public Utilities Commission sent a letter to the company to stop the notice, saying that the startup is a taxi service company and should be subject to their supervision.

According to Brad Stone's book "The Upstarts", Karanic removed the letter "Cab" after the company's name and then dropped the notice.

When expanding into other cities, including New York, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Washington, and Washington DC, the company adopted the same strategy: avoiding contact with local governments before the service was actually launched.

The pioneering market squad was also sent to foreign cities, in Paris in 2011 and in London in 2012, they all adopted the same approach.

In many places, users have a high level of enthusiasm for Uber. But everywhere the company goes, it can also trigger protests from local taxi drivers, prosecutions by regulators, and allegations of tax evasion. Uber has been punished and banned all over the world. In France, local officials were arrested for illegally running services. In Seoul, Karanic was tried in absentia.

In September 2015, Karannik organized a corporate event in Las Vegas. The staff enjoyed the party and the musical performances by Beyonce and music DJ David Guetta.

The focus of the event was Karanic's impromptu speech, dressed in lab coats, and introduced his 14 values ​​culture with Uber's chief product officer Jeff Holden. Jeff Holden worked at Amazon for many years before joining Uber.

According to a person at the scene, Karanic has a long discussion on these values, including “pressurizing himself” (this is Kalanick’s favorite word), “business management and never slack” (good Ideas should win, employees don't have to hesitate because they worry about offending colleagues.) "Give people a chance to work" (don't limit high-powered people), "keep progress" and so on.

January 2017 is the beginning of a year of trouble with Uber.

The company has experienced extremely rapid development. Meyhofer, head of the Uber High-Tech Group, said, “In just seven years, we have had nothing to do, and we have made $70 billion. Ford has spent 70 years on everything that has cost $70 billion.” (He said that working at this company is like sitting. I got a light rocket and I felt my head out of the window.)

However, Uber lacks the infrastructure needed to become a big company. The company does not have a chief financial officer or a chief operating officer. In a highly regulated industry, it is not uncommon for a company of this size to lack these positions.

On January 27th, Trump announced a large-scale immigration ban, which led to spontaneous protests across the country, including protests at the JFK airport in New York. The company fell into a public relations crisis in the process.

The taxi union announced that it was in line with the protesters and that the taxi refused to pick up passengers at the airport. Uber informs passengers to suspend price controls and raises fares if demand is high. The move was considered by the public to be a protest against the taxi. (Uber insists that it is a misunderstanding.)

A campaign to “remove Uber taxi software” was launched on social media, and 200,000 people uninstalled the software from their mobile phones.

At the same time, Uber hired Google's Liane Hornsey as the new director of human resources. Hornsey said she got some weird responses when she asked her peers about some of the new positions. People told her that Uber had a bad reputation and said to her, "They really need you."

Hornsey's first impression of Uber is that most employees seem to be anxious and overworked. Kalanick is in the company's concept of promoting internal competition. Different teams work together on the same project. In this environment, employees will naturally not disclose to others, and fierce competition makes them lack cooperation, even with Hostile. Hornsey said: "Uber has no sense of trust, no teamwork, and a sense of great cause."

The issue of gender discrimination is not very obvious. “From the data, the vast majority of Uber employees are men,” Hornsey said. "But this didn't make me back down."

On February 19th, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler published a long article on the blog, claiming that Uber's human resources department was deeply disturbed by the inaction of sexual harassment. The article was posted online on Sunday, and when Hornsey first saw the article, she was sitting in the car with her husband. She was shocked.

In response to the incident, Uber held an emergency meeting in which Kalanick and Hornsey, the Uber-highest female executives, Uber North America head Rachel Holt, and public and government relations head Rachel Whetstone, discussed the next step. The only female Huffington phone on the board attended the meeting.

The atmosphere of the meeting was quite serious. "I haven't heard any doubts about Susan Fowler's article. 'Should we refute this article? Is there anything wrong with the article, does the article say that it really exists?'" Hornsey said.

"I only heard, 'Damn, if the article says it is a fact, we must take this incident seriously.'" The company hired former US Attorney General Eric Holder (now a partner at Covington & Burling) to conduct an external investigation of Uber culture. .

Another law firm, Perkins Coie, was hired to investigate Fowler’s allegations and other allegations of Uber’s misconduct. Two days later, Huffington, as a corporate therapist in a sense, added Uber's culture: "No longer hiring a good bastard."

Uber's negative news continues to accumulate. On February 23, Waymo, the autonomous driving division established by Google, filed a lawsuit against Uber, claiming that Uber had stolen the confidential information of Waymo's lidar (a laser scanning technology). On February 26, Uber discovered that a senior executive had dismissed him after he left the company because of sexual harassment.

Two days later, just as Uber was about to announce measures to fix the relationship with the driver, Bloomberg released a video taken by a driving recorder showing Kalanick sitting behind a luxurious Uber black car and two young girls. Play together.

In the video, Kalickick disputed with the driver after the Uber driver complained to Kalanick about Uber's lowering rate and the driver's difficulty in making a living. As the debate escalated, Kalanick told the driver angrily. "Some people don't like to wipe their ass. They blame others for everything in their lives."

Three days later, the New York Times reported on a secret project inside Uber called Greyball, which provided law enforcement officers and government officials with fake Uber applications to prevent the government from investigating its services.

The report also revealed another hidden project, Hell, which Uber used to identify drivers who are working for Lyft and lure them away from Lyft.

Lyft's furry pink logo and corporate image are more popular than Uber, and the key is that Lyft has no scandals. Since the driver left Uber in large numbers, Lyft has become a strong competitor to Uber from the previous disadvantage. Lyft raised $1.7 billion in funds and increased its market share by more than 30%.

At the same time, Uber employees have low morale. Former Uber San Francisco branch general manager, current Uber CEO Khosrowshahi's chief of staff, Wayne TIng told us: "I think many of us understand what happened in the news media in 2017. This is shocking and unforgivable. ."

TIng described Kalanick's previous year as "a sleepwalking experience." "This gives me a lot of reflection," he said. “Do I still want to stay in Uber? In order to let me want to stay, what changes do I want to see?”

A former Uber employee told me that employees at Uber San Francisco are worried – but not for the reasons stated in the news. “The tricky question is whether Uber’s business model is viable,” he said.

Uber spends billions of dollars to subsidize the car business in order to keep interest rates low and attract passengers back. But competitors are doing the same thing. The only way Uber can make a profit is to increase the number of vehicles and increase the cost of each call.

But as long as Lyft or other car companies offer discounts to passengers, it is a fantasy to raise the fare. If you do, it is clear that passengers will switch to other, cheaper applications. As long as VCs continue to invest in the car business, Uber's competitors will continue to offer discounts to passengers.

Former Uber employees said, "How to reduce the subsidy for the car and the number of passengers is a huge mathematical problem for Uber."

In 2017, Uber grew a lot, but at the same time experienced a loss of 4.47 billion US dollars.

In early June, Uber announced the results of a survey of two workplace misconducts. The company fired 20 employees and placed 31 other employees in training and consulting positions.

On June 11, Uber's board of directors, including Kalanick, listened to the results of the Holder investigation team. The Holder team has reviewed 3 million documents and interviewed 200 current and former employees. The report describes the company's current grim situation and proposes 47 reform proposals, including restructuring the board of directors to make the board more independent and restrict the use of alcohol and drugs in the company.

A compliance consultant described the report as “one of the most eye-catching discussions on a comprehensive workplace culture disaster for companies with billions of market capitalization. If you change some of these business and legal terms, you will think that you Reading a report on an animal manor."

One week before the board meeting, Kalanick’s parents were unfortunately caught in a shipwreck. The mother died and the father was seriously injured. Kalanick was grieved. The board discussed whether Kalanick should take a break, in order to mourn his parents and also ease the pressure of negative publicity.

According to informed sources, board member and investment company TPG co-founder David Bonderman told Kalanick, "To tell the truth, Travis, I can't imagine how this company would be without you. Similarly, I can't imagine you staying there. What is caused to the company."

The board asked Kalanick to take an indefinite vacation. At the same time, the company will be jointly managed by a committee of 16 executives. Nine days later, out of Kalanick's surprise, two partners at Benchmark handed him a letter from the investor asking Kalanick to resign immediately and threatening him to openly campaign against him if he did not do so. It's hard to say what happened after the board meeting, but Kalanick followed the investor's request and retired from the Uber CEO position.

Third, We Are All Dreamers

Khosrowshahi sometimes wears a T-shirt with the words "We Are All Dreamers". He often talks about the experience of seeking asylum after his family fled Iran in 1978.

When Trump issued an immigration administrative order, Expedia and other technology companies supported Washington State's lawsuit against immigration bans. Since then, Khosrowshahi has been defying President Trump’s orders.

In August, when the public was arguing over Trump’s response to the violent protests in Charlottesville, Khosrowshahi said on Twitter, “I have been expecting the president to live up to this position, but he disappointed us, repeatedly ."

Before the Iranian revolution broke out and the country fell into chaos, the Khosrowshahi family lived in the upper class in Tehran. There is a wealthy uncle living in New York, and Khosrowshahis has been there for a while.

After the revolution broke out, Khosrowshahis temporarily fled to France, and finally immigrated to the United States to move into the Tarrytown three-room public relations apartment. Shortly after they arrived in the United States, 52 US diplomats were taken hostage in Tehran. The crisis, which lasted for a year or so, set off a wave of opposition to Iran in the United States.

Khosrowshahi's family manages the production of consumer goods and medicines under the authority of Western countries. After the revolution, Khosrowshahi's family business was nationalized by the Islamic government.

Khosrowshahi parents put all the rest of the resources into their children's education, sending Khosrowshahi and his two brothers to Hackley, their cousin's prep school.

Khosrowshahi studied in grade 5 and his English is not so good. “It’s very difficult to adjust at first,” he told me.

"But we know how to play football. My brother is a god-like figure in school. So we are accepted by our peers." Khosrowshahi fell in love with science, and his father encouraged him to become a doctor. . Khosrowshahi explained that in Iran, "the hero of the world is either an engineer or a doctor."

When Khosrowshahi was a teenager, his father returned to Iran to take care of Khosrowshahi's sick grandfather, but was arrested and detained by the government for six years. Khosrowshahi's mother stayed behind to take care of three children who were in adolescence, and also worked as a salesman in a high-end women's clothing store in Manhattan. She often visited the store as a customer before the revolution broke out.

“There has always been a potential emotion in the family – we lost everything,” Khosrowshahi told me. In his first speech to Uber employees in August, he directly said, "Immigration is the power that drives you forward."

Herb Allen III, president of investment bank Allen & Co., is a classmate of Khosrowshahi who once went to Khosrowshahi's home for dinner – the party is a warm and lively event, and ends up with a board game or a guessing puzzle.

Allen said, “They are the most family-oriented families I have ever seen. It’s not just about being happy. You represent the family, you are a member of the family, and the family has some form of expectation for you. You To be the best."

Khosrowshahi then studied at Brown University and studied bio-engineering degrees. He also likes to play dragons and dungeons. Khosrowshahi participated in a water club athlete's fraternity. Every time he went out, he would be wrongly named by others. He said, "I am just a combination of freak and wonderful, and when I go out with my teammates, others will say that you are Dara?" He started to introduce himself - Darren K. He said, "I know my name sounds like a porn star."

After graduating, Khosrowshahi took a position as a junior investment banker at Allen & Co., and he also had a brother working there. At the end of the first year, Khosrowshahi received a $20,000 prize and a free full-time tour of the African Wildlife Park.

As a large media company, Allen & Co. is famous for consulting services, Khosrowshahi soon started working with Barry Diller, who is running QVC and trying to maliciously acquire Paramount Pictures. Although the deal was not completed, Khosrowshahi left a deep impression on Diller, then Diller dug Khosrowshahi and hired him to work at his own holding company, IAC.

Seven years later, in 2005, Diller's company Expedia was competing with the second-generation online travel business, and the company was looking for a suitable CEO, and Diller wanted Khosrowshahi to pick up the banner.

"He is a typical example of a talent we can see at a glance. We want to throw people into the water and let him stay fit for a while. This process is a warm-up activity that allows him to adapt to his real role. He is operating There is no experience in this aspect of the company. We will throw him into the water for a period of time. He will be able to control the job."

During Khosrowshahi's operations, Expedia's revenue increased significantly, from $2.1 billion in 2005 to $10.1 billion in 2017 (Expedia's main competitor, Priceline, grew more during the same period.)

Khosrowshahi is very popular - when it comes to Khosrowshahi, there are a lot of words like "great" and "perfect" - under his management, the company has become a stable and satisfying workplace, with women and women in the staff. The proportion of other underrepresented groups is also high.

In August 2017, when Khosrowshahi called Diller to tell him that he was going to work at Uber, Diller advised him to give up the idea. Diller and his wife, Diane von Fürstenberg, are friends of Kalanick, and Diller understands that Uber's work environment is very bad.

"I said, 'Day, Dara, you must be crazy,' Diller said to me." Finally, in Wednesday's negotiations, he told Khosrowshahi, "'That is a very dangerous place.'"

On August 10, Benchmark sued Kalanick, which was actually depriving himself of his investment. Benchmark sued Kalanick for fraud, "consolidating his position on the Uber board to further increase his rights in Uber," and secretly clearing the way for his return.

The Uber board is divided into pro-rebel groups, and the discord in the board also affects the search for new CEOs. The potential candidates for the new CEO fall on two candidates: former GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt and Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman. Both are star CEOs of large companies.

Kalanick and his allies tend to Immelt, Immelt expressed his respect for the founders of technology companies, and expressed the hope that Kalanick will continue to participate in Uber's operations.

On the other hand, the anti-Kalanick faction led by Benchmark is more esteemed by Whitman, and Whitman has established long-term relationships with venture capital firms.

Khosrowshahi did not attach to a faction to secretly lobby. He told me that his candidacy "is just to play - I have always been the third, unknown candidate."

The most pressing question for candidates is whether Kalanick will continue to secretly operate Uber.

At the end of August in San Francisco, Khosrowshahi gave a formal speech in front of Uber's board of directors, and Kalanick was sitting opposite him. Khosrowshahi made a series of slides, and when he went to the part about corporate governance issues, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

The content on one page of slides points directly to Kalanick. "We can't have two CEOs." "I know very well that we need to be separated. If I enter Uber, I need to be treated as the only leader. We want Travis to leave," Khosrowshahi told. I.

“Travis is no longer active.” (At the end of March, Kalanick announced that he had bought the real estate startup City Storage Systems and would join the company as a CEO. He retained his membership as a board member in Uber.)

The next morning, Immelt inexplicably announced his withdrawal from the CEO competition. Khosrowshahi became a favorable contender, not because of anything else, the anti-Whitman faction needed a candidate.

Board members once again gathered in the conference room of the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco, began a secret ballot, and copied the decision to the company's headhunter. After the end of the first round, the two factions were equally divided, Whitman had four votes, and Khosrowshahi also won four votes. Most of the day is voting. Two board members are overseas and participate in voting by phone from several time zones. Others stayed in a separate room, like a stalemate juror.

Finally, Benchmark said that if Whitman becomes the new CEO, he will abandon the lawsuit against Kalanick. Some board members have been shaken by this pressure and changed the votes. Huffington convinced the board members that regardless of the outcome, the board should announce it and agree to the winning CEO.

Khosrowshahi and Diller made several phone calls while waiting for the voting results. The rumors scattered, saying that Whitman has been selected.

Diller tried to comfort Khosrowshahi, and during the call, Diller received an email. This email comes from Kara Swisher, executive editor of the technical website Recode. The email said, "The final result, Dara wins." Diller asked Khosrowshahi, "Are you sure no one will notify you?"

40 minutes later, on the way to the store to buy dinner, Khosrowshahi received a call from Huffington. "I have some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Huffington asked him. Khosrowshahi said he had to listen to the news first.

She said, "The good news is that we have chosen you to be Uber's next CEO."

Khosrowshahi asked, "What about the bad news?"

"The news has been leaked."

Fourth, rainy day visit

On a rainy afternoon, I visited Khosrowshahi and his wife, Sydney Shapiro, and a pair of 5-year-old twin boys.

Their weekend residence is located on Whidbey Island, a 45-minute drive north of Seattle. (Khosrowshahi also had a pair of children with his ex-wife more than a decade ago.) This three-bedroom house is surrounded by huge fir trees. It covers 23 acres and overlooks Puget Sound. Its decorative style is described by Shapiro as "80". Aged grandma rock star, "The room is full of oil painting portraits, animal specimens and swaying candles.

Uber's board of directors referred to Khosrowshahi as a family-owned person as an element of his personal charisma, while subtly contrasting with Kalanick's merry bachelor character.

Khosrowshahi commutes to his home in Seattle and his office in San Francisco every week, and thinks this is indeed a challenge. In an interview with the financial media CNBC in New Delhi, a young man asked him how to balance his work and family. He smiled.

“Unfortunately, work is now winning,” he said. “My family is not very happy about this.”

We were sitting at a long table in the kitchen, eating roast chicken and vegetable soup, and the boys were eating buttered pasta. At this point, Shapiro told me that their first encounter was ten years ago when Khosrowshahi wore a suit and drove the rented Volvo.

"What I think is that he is the CEO of Expedia, he should be arrogant, self, and that kind of rich man," Shapiro said. She was a preschool teacher at the time and was alert to Khosrowshahi who had just divorced. Shapiro is a tall, elegant woman, wearing skinny jeans and a T-shirt that she wears when she listens to the concert.

She said that Khosrowshahi surprised her.

"He asked me a lot of questions, and he was very interesting," she told me. When Uber found him, she immediately knew that Khosrowshahi was the right person, even though he was skeptical about the opportunity. When he was still interviewing, she began to look at California properties. She also encouraged him to dress more like high-tech practitioners, which today generally refers to jeans and sweaters.

“I was wearing a suit when I was in Brazil,” Khosrowshahi admitted. He recently visited Brazil, Uber's second largest market, to persuade Brazilian legislators to veto a new piece of legislation because it would lead to a large number of new regulatory requirements.

He said: "If it is an occasion that requires an apology, I will wear a suit." Since taking over the job, Khosrowshahi has had to do a lot of apologies.

In September last year, he publicly apologized to the City of London, which determined that Uber was “not suitable” to operate a taxi service and refused to extend the company’s business license. In November, after the media revealed that Uber did not disclose details about the hacking incident in 2016, he again apologized to the public, which damaged the personal information security of 57 million drivers and drivers.

The first action after Khosrowshahi took over as CEO was to create a new set of cultural values ​​that he sought from his employees.

He wrote on LinkedIn that the concept of "toe-stepping (to make employees boldly say their own ideas without taking into account their position in the company or the type of position)" is often endorsed by the bastards. As an excuse. "Now, the fourth principle of values ​​has become: "The right time to do the right thing. (We Do the Right Thing.Period.)"

He announced that in 2018, the company will focus on improving the safety of drivers and drivers. He hired experienced executives, including Barney Harford, former CEO of Orbitz, and Tony West, former PepsiCo official and chief legal officer.

Khosrowshahi also tried to bring Uber to the market, partly in its more cautious consideration of the pursuit of ideas.

At the end of March, the company agreed to sell its Nanyang business to a local competitor, Grab, to free up resources for other Uber departments.这个消息并没有得到公司所有员工的欢迎，有人担心，Khosrowshahi可能缺乏实现Uber最为雄心勃勃的目标所必需的驱动力。

如果Khosrowshahi达到了一定的目标，包括在2019年将公司带上市，同时使公司估值达到1200亿美元，那么他就可以得到1.2亿美元。

一位对其表示钦佩的前雇员告诉我，“如果我是Dara，我的做法是：解决董事会问题，完善高管团队，通过上市来给投资者带去流动性，以及使公司成长。”

他继续说，“现在，使命太多了。但我认为Travis就像是在说，让我们把它变成一个价值5000亿美元的公司；投资飞行汽车吧；一起改变人们的饮食方式；改变人们的生活方式。这些听起来可能差不多，但那是完全不同的东西。”

一位前高管指出，经过八年的生存抗战，Facebook已经扼杀掉其它大部分的社交网络公司，而谷歌则几乎垄断了线上搜索领域。另一方面，Uber在推出八年后，“还没赢过。”在Kalanick的领导下，Uber出售了其在中国和俄罗斯的业务。同时，许多欧洲国家的盈利能力被视为太受制于当地法规的牵制。

而该名前高管告诉我，Uber印度“在与当地的竞争对手混战。”因此，Uber主要是在北美和南美拥有完全自主的运营权。

他说：“我们处在一个竞争非常激烈的行业。现在不是改变公司文化的时候，不是什么倾听员工对零食消遣的抱怨。该是继续侵略的时候了。”

人们担心硅谷公司会被外国竞争者赶超，这是业界一个更大争论的一部分。

一月，风投公司红杉资本的合伙人Michael Moritz在金融时报发表了一篇社论，他认为，美国企业追求员工的工作与生活的平衡，这可能会使他们输给中国的高科技企业，因为后者的“工作节奏特别快，”办公室强调纪律性，“没有人会抱怨错过一局Little League比赛，或是没能与朋友出去打篮球。”

印度民航部长在新德里举行的一个会议上向Khosrowshahi谈到了类似的看法，他建议Uber在印度建立一个工程中心。他说，当地工程师没有较三藩市工程师那么多事儿，他们不会抱怨长时间工作，或是要求现场按摩和有机食品。

在惠德比岛用过晚餐后，Khosrowshahi把餐盘放到水槽里，Shapiro带着男孩们上楼洗澡。然后我们漫步穿过大厅，来到一个舒适的图书馆，在角落里有一只白色孔雀标本，以及一张供Khosrowshahi周末办公的红木桌子。

他四肢摊平躺在天鹅绒沙发里，谈到了他人生中最为痛苦的职业经历之一——在2008年金融危机爆发后，他被迫在Expedia召开会议宣布裁员。“就我个人而言，这是一个非常百感交集的时刻，”Khosrowshahi说道，他的猫Moshe在啃他的脚。

“尽管我是一个裁员任务的提出者和主持者，但员工们能看出我很难过。”他觉得展示脆弱可以让这一过程变得更容易。

“管理基于一项契约，也就是说，你管理我是因为你的能力在我之上，你要付给我薪水，并审查我的工作。”他说道，“领导在于人心。”

和许多科技公司一样，Uber也受到了一些女性工程师的起诉，她们声称自己的工资低于男性。（3月27日，该公司同意和解。）在Expedia，Khosrowshahi特意聘请那些“不像我”的高管，并采取措施来增加女性员工的数量。

“在Uber推行这些计划的时机还不太成熟，”他说，“但是我们会做到的。”

硅谷对创始人态度虔诚，后者仍然掌管着许多行业的龙头企业，包括亚马逊和Facebook。风险投资公司Greylock Partners的合伙人Simon Rothman告诉我，一个公司的文化往往反映了其创始人的个性。

“有一个比喻是说，如果你有父母，他们的DNA就在你的身体里。”他说，“如果是其他人抚养你长大，你会有所不同，但不会完全不同。我认为创始人在公司呆的时间越长，要改变该公司的文化就得花费越长的时间。”

根据创始人即文化理论，改变Uber要比仅仅改变一些口号要复杂得多。当我问及Khosrowshahi在接任前对Uber文化的印象时，他说，“感觉糟透了。我惊讶于坏事怎么能接而连三地出现。”但他补充说，Uber的员工急于改变。

“我相信，如果你有一个很好的产品，其他很多东西都可以自行运转，”他说。

五、合伙人Bill Gurley

技术风投们往往分成两类：投资于Uber的，以及没有投资Uber而追悔莫及的。他们都敏锐地意识到了苹果曾经的错误——背弃其联合创始人乔布斯，转而支持职业CEO约翰·斯卡利，后者没有为苹果带来变化，直到乔布斯回来重建公司。

很多人告诉我，有人（董事会成员或投资者）应该在领导Uber方面扮演一个更加积极的角色，毕竟Uber已经是一个大企业。经常出现的一个名字是：董事会成员和Benchmark的合伙人Bill Gurley。

Gurley身高六英尺九英寸，他的大块头与其硅谷杰出人物的称谓相得益彰。他的声音深沉而粗暴，带有德克萨斯口音。当他穿门而过时，把自己折成了一个望远镜。（最近，他为Waymo对Uber的起诉做庭证，法官开玩笑说他是法庭史上个头最高的证人）

当我和Gurley坐下来谈论Uber的遭遇时，他说，“我的公司被问及最多的与此相关的两个问题是，'我无法相信你会这样做'，以及'你为什么不早点这样做？'”

Gurley说，他花了几个月的时间来鼓励Kalanick聘请一位经验丰富的CFO。他喜欢告诉创业者们，“更创新的融资计划不会让你赢，更创新的法律程序不会让你赢，重塑人力资源也不会让你赢。这些地方更看重经验。”Uber在这三个方面都很弱，而Kalanick从未找到他的“Sheryl”——雪莉·桑德伯格（Sheryl Sandberg），马克·扎克伯格在创办Facebook四年后带入团队的高管。

Gurley从沙发中跳起身来，开始在白板上涂抹，向我展示引发Kalanick改变意图的一些业界事端。两家成功的硅谷公司——软件公司Zenefits和血液测试风险公司Theranos最近双双遭遇了公众丑闻，似乎就快撑不下去了，且在2017年春天，Gurley开始担心Uber可能遭遇相似的命运。Benchmark向Uber投资了1200万美元，而这笔钱现在已经上升到大约85亿美元。其潜在损失会非常巨大。

Gurley还收到过创始人Katrina Lake的电子邮件，来自他所投资过的一家在线服装零售商STItch Fix，该公司最近成功上市。Gurley回忆说，“那封邮件基本上是说，'我真的很喜欢和你一起工作，但我不能忍受你与那个人有关联。'”

Gurley告诉我，硅谷投资者们即使表面上气场十足，却已无法驾驭得住那些年轻的男性（大多）技术创始人，后者通常拥有其公司的表决控制权。

“担任董事会成员的风险资本家们已经得到越来越多的尊重，我想说的是，他们现在更像是啦啦队员而非演员，”他说。他把这一变化归因于“一种在其余历史记录之外的现象：获得无限资本。”

Benchmark的竞争对手一直在利用其在政变中的角色，以向其他初创公司的创始人批评该公司。

“你不想拿他们的钱，看看他们对Uber创始人做了什么，”Gurley说道，“我敢打赌，这种对话已经发生了一百次。“尽管Kalanick的下台产生了很多分裂与隔阂，Gurley并不后悔。他说：“我相信历史会眷顾我们所做的一切。”

每天，Uber与数成千上万个客户和司机互动，而参观该公司在皇后区占地3万平方英尺的司机中心，则给人一种拜占庭式的交互感。

每天早上都有成百上千个人（其中许多是移民）到此地登记为Uber司机。他们拿出汽车贷款、报名参加体检，并在相关人员的指导下向纽约繁重的许可证体系申请许可。

外面的大街上停放着一排排的黑色轿车，而一楼甜甜圈店的广告上是一只8美元的特制咖喱饺（印度萨莫萨三角饺）甜甜圈。

Uber被指责利用司机，没有为他们提供工作保障或福利，还不止一次地降低佣金。在Kalanick离职前不久，Uber认识到这是一个战略性的错误——公司需要吸引司机，而不是排斥他们，如果它想继续增长的话。

与此同时，许多车手觉得，这款App（零工经济剥削的代表）的使用体验越来越差。现在，关爱司机是公司的一个优先事项，公司称他们为“司机合伙人”。

在旅行印度期间，当地司机会周期性地举行数天的罢工活动，抗议工资下降，Khosrowshahi接触了一群司机征求意见。

一些人抱怨说，Uber的新德里地图未能反映出当地的自发绕行路线。一个身材发福、身穿白色衬衫的司机建议该公司提供语音接口，因为印度的许多人都不具备读写能力。

最后，一个司机说：“对于那些在Uber上花了很长时间的司机伙伴们来说，是否有办法帮助他们存钱并解决养老问题？一些可以激励我们成为忠诚司机的办法，就像你的员工那样？”

Khosrowshahi点头同意，“不光是印度，世界各地都有这个问题，”他回答说，“我们考虑得太短期了。”

事实上，Uber的长期计划是减少司机参与，以降低成本和随之产生的诸多问题。

六、自动驾驶行业的现实

该公司已在四个城市开展自动驾驶车辆试验计划，还在测试无人驾驶长途卡车。包括谷歌和通用汽车在内的几家公司都在竞相开发自己的自动驾驶技术。

Uber的项目是行业首发之一，其先进技术小组（the Advanced Technologies Group）在2015年初启动，今年它的车辆达到了300万英里的里程式自驾距离。这个部门目前有员工1500余名，他们大多工作在匹兹堡市中心海滨处的一个改装工厂内。其办公空间装修华丽，安装有一块80英尺高的玻璃墙、再生木桌、天花板式壁炉，以及70种现代风格的椅子。每个房间的名字都取自一级方程式赛车。

对Kalanick来说，自动驾驶单元是公司的宝贝。Khosrowshahi上任后，他决定关闭该部门，因为那可能会花费数十亿美元。在与该部门主管Eric Meyhofer交谈后，他决定不这样做了，“如果你在这里随处走走就会知道，这不是几个人在车库里建造一些小机器人汽车那种事，”Meyhofer再加入Uber前曾在卡耐基-梅隆大学联合创办了Carnegie Robotics，他告诉我。

“这个项目完全是关于打造一款规模化的自动驾驶乘车共享平台。”Meyhofer说到，“这是我们的未来。现在的问题不是公司能否打造自驾车，而是能否雇人来迅速并低成本地解决Uber的盈利问题。”

在一月份一个潮湿而温暖的一天，我来到先进技术小组，爬进一辆沃尔沃XC 90的后座。这款车是沃尔沃的豪华车型之一，拥有柔软的皮革内饰。其车顶配备了价值190美元的激光雷达装置，车身装有64个激光器和8个摄像头，以及一堆液冷式电脑硬盘驱动器，发出温和的嗡嗡声。

我的自动驾驶汽车操作员是一名业余摩托车手，他像幼儿园老师那样语调平静，他告诉我：“汽车的身手会让你大吃一惊的。”他的工作就是把手放在方向盘上，随时应对突发状况。“你是在头脑中开车，”他说，“你只是没有用手。”他和其他操作员已经在跑道上接受了应急能力测试，例如以每小时60英里的速度转弯。

他点击了仪表盘处的iPad，选择了一个行车路线——汽车会依据这个线上地图，像火车那样有效地沿着虚拟轨道行驶——并按下了仪表盘上的一个银色按钮，让汽车进入自动驾驶模式。车辆平稳地向前移动。

“现在我几乎什么也不用做了，”这名操作员在等待红灯时评论道。“但是，如果这个白痴决定在我们面前驶离，我可能会接管汽车。”对面车道上有一辆白色丰田车，果然，它在我们的前面转了个弯，在灯光变绿的时候向我们左转。“这就是所谓的匹兹堡式左转，”他解释说，这辆车收集了有关驾驶的各方信息，并将数据传回给Uber的工程师。

“假设我们出了事故。“我们将有完整的视频证据，”他说，“汽车不会疲劳，不会生气，不会喝酒......它总是会做正确的事。 ”

每一次当一个行人出现在我们面前时，他或她在iPad上都会显示为蓝色，这表明车辆“看见了”他们。该操作员说，这辆车一次可以监视数百名行人，其设计要求就是额外小心地对待周围的人。

然而，当我们穿行于匹兹堡鳞次栉比的建筑群落中时，操作员时不时地就会接管驾驶，比如一辆停放着的车的车门突然被打开了，或是通行学校安全区的情况，此时车辆会自动减速到每小时15英里。

操作员告诉我，汽车有时会陷入尴尬的局面，例如其他司机示意让它朝前开，而汽车却接收不到这种信号。有时，中继线硬件堆栈中的一个节点崩溃了，我们不得不把车拉拖回来重新启动。我的操作员向我保证，这种情况很罕见。

3月19日，Uber的整个自动驾驶试点项目都被搁置了——亚利桑那州的一辆测试车辆杀死了一名49岁的女人Elaine Herzberg。第二天，亚利桑那州警方发布了一段事故录像。怪异的夜间画面显示，当这名女士骑自行车穿过街道时，汽车正以每小时40英里的速度向她滑来。在部分可以看到操作员的视频中，他低头扫视了几秒钟，可能是在看仪表盘处的iPad，然后再抬头时已经为迟太晚。操作员的脸部扭曲，表情震惊。

当我与Khosrowshahi通过电话后不久，他似乎心灰意冷，并被这份新工作的严格审查而吓倒了。他告诉我，自动驾驶部门一直致力于在年底前交付无人驾驶汽车服务，沿途不可避免地会出现“颠簸”。“上周发生的事情真是悲剧。”他说道，“我们显然已经倒退了一大步。”他正在密切重新检查Uber在自动驾驶汽车方面的工作。

我在匹兹堡时，Meyhofer告诉我，与Uber的其他部门一样，自动驾驶汽车小组也面临着巨大的压力。他表示,及早掌握技术是企业生存的问题,卡拉尼克对竞争和短期结果的痴迷,直观地理解了这一点。尽管改变了很多,但压力依然存在,部分原因是因为已经投入了太多。

“问题在于,如果有人将这项技术建立在一个共享网络上,他们的成本竞争力将比我们的更强。如果其他人这样做了,而我们没有,我们还能活多久?”Meyhofer说。“那么你是在和这个鬼魂比赛。不管你做什么都不够。Dara不会施加那样的压力,但是他不需要这样做。这就是我们所处的行业的现实。”

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