Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi — Bringing a culture back from the brink
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2023
⏱️ 48 minutes
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Summary
Early-stage startups are a lot like pirate ships — they need a buccaneering spirit to survive. But every startup needs to shed its pirate nature at some point, and evolve into something more akin to a navy — no less heroic, but more disciplined. Dara Khosrowshahi, as Uber CEO, took on the most extreme pirate-to-navy transition in startup history. Though Uber blitzscaled to become the most valuable startup in the world, it was also notorious for its toxic culture — and Dara turned the company around. His method? Truth-telling and doing the right thing
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Bob Safian. You've been hearing me as the host of rapid response in this feed for a few years now, |
| 0:07.8 | with short newsy interviews alongside the deeper dives of Masters of Scale. Well, I'm excited to share that rapid response is expanding into its own feed. |
| 0:17.0 | We'll be putting out shows twice a week, focusing on the urgent issues that business leaders are dealing with in real time. |
| 0:24.8 | So search for rapid response in your podcast player and subscribe to make sure you get all our episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | I'll see you on the other side. |
| 0:32.8 | Hi listeners, it's Reed. Today we're sharing an episode |
| 0:37.6 | with Uber CEO Dara Kostrachehi. Today's show will tackle some of the most fascinating and complex topics you can encounter |
| 0:46.1 | when you lead a company from startup to scale. |
| 0:49.9 | But at its core, this episode is based on a simple timeless story so simple you could |
| 0:56.7 | tell it to your kids at bedtime and that's how we'll start the show. Okay, Jack, Amelia, do you want to hear a story? |
| 1:06.0 | Yes. |
| 1:07.0 | A story! |
| 1:08.0 | Okay, what story should we read? |
| 1:10.0 | A Pirate Story. |
| 1:12.0 | Okay, you got it. |
| 1:14.0 | The Adventures of Captain Jess Spekelcrow |
| 1:18.0 | Just Spekelcrow here. |
| 1:21.0 | What? |
| 1:22.0 | Her band of Pirate Roads. |
| 1:24.0 | Ar! |
| 1:25.0 | Chapter 13. |
| 1:27.0 | The pirates agree to change their ways. |
... |
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