CEO Travis Kalanick van Uber heeft verlof genomen voor onbepaalde tijd na een reeks schandalen en het overlijden van zijn moeder. Hij heeft zelf al aangegeven dat het bedrijf een ervaren nummer twee nodig heeft. Adam Lashinsky, hoofdredacteur van zakenblad Forbes en auteur van Wild Ride: Inside Uber’s Quest for World Domination, legt uit waarom de zoektocht naar een geschikte bestuurder zo lang duurt.
Hieronder het transcript van de video in het Engels:
He [Travis Kalanick] needs to find the kind of person who has the experience that he lacks and the temperament that he lacks but also whom he trusts and admires.
The question of who Uber should hire to be Travis Kalanick’s No. 2 is an extremely difficult one and I think that’s why it’s taking them some time.
Originally everyone said that Uber needs its Sheryl Sandberg that was a preposterous statement, to begin with, because Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook lucked into some very clearly defined roles.
She wasn’t going to be involved in engineering, he wasn’t going to be involved in marketing or communications for example and off they went.
Travis Kalanick is interested in all aspects of what Uber does. He fancies himself somebody who can be involved and should be in involved in everything.
He needs to find the kind of person who has the experience that he lacks and the temperament that he lacks but also whom he trusts and admires and wants to work with so badly that he willing to give up some of his power for that person and that’s a very tall order.
There are a few paradigms, a Silicon Valley person would be a help because it would be important to speak the lingo of engineering. It could also be someone from a very strong consumer background, but there’s probably an operations person from a giant successful consumer company like a Coca-Cola or a Pepsi or a McDonalds or a Johnson and Johnson who might also fit. Those aren’t the only types but I think those are some ways of thinking about it.