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Tag: "business owner"

Is Uber CEO a Bad Leader Or Just An Asshole?

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is in the news yet again.  This time it’s because of a heated argument between Kalanick and an Uber driver that was videoed.  The conversation between the Uber driver and the Uber CEO starts innocently enough, but quickly turns dark when the driver calls out Kalanick for his continued changes of pricing and services which as the Uber driver puts it has “bankrupted” him and cost him “$97,000.”

Now add to this the recent scathing blog post written by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler  which recounted claims of unbridled sexual harassment, and the indifferent reaction from the Human Resources department.  Reports of a corporate culture of pure Darwinistic survival of the fittest environment pollute the internet.

So the question is this; is Uber CEO Travis Kalanick a bad leader or just an asshole?  Now some of you may say, “what’s the difference?” And you may be right to say this as we are in the midst of a  generational leadership crisis.   As Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker once wrote, “The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.” If Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is willing to tolerate sexual harassment, allow a predatory corporate culture, and as we witnessed in the video altercation, speak condescendingly to an Uber driver, what can me make of this? Legendary Navy SEAL Commander Jocko Willink has said, “It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate.”  And sage Chinese philosopher Confucius tells us that, “There is never a case when the root is in disorder and yet the branches are in order.”

If Uber is in such disarray internally, we can wisely infer that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is also internally in disarray.  A leader’s internal mental state is projected outwardly and is manifest within the organization. A leader that is stable, fair and prudent has an organization that is stable, fair and prudent.

Of course once the embarrassing video came out Kalanick had to offer the standard mea culpa.  In a memo to his employees, he wrote, “To say that I am ashamed is an extreme understatement. My job as your leader is to lead…and that starts with behaving in a way that makes us all proud. That is not what I did, and it cannot be explained away. It’s clear this video is a reflection of me—and the criticism we’ve received is a stark reminder that I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up. This is the first time I’ve been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it.”

He’s obviously a bad leader.  And it’s obvious that’s he’s never bothered to read about how Alexander the Great, Hannibal Barca, General George S. Patton and other leaders were revered by their followers.  You see, a great leader leads from the front.  He knows that any failure his followers suffer is his failure first and foremost.

And as to whether or not Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is an asshole, watch the video and decide for yourself. As for all of you Uber drivers out there, the writing is on the wall, as soon as self driving cars are approved and ready to go, you’re all going to be replaced.

If Kalanick is serious about getting some leadership help, I’m more than happy to help. Give me a call Travis.

 

 

March 1, 2017 | 0 comments | View Post

Hardcore Leaders Lead From the Front

One of the common themes occurring today is how many “leaders” lead from behind. Whether it be the chicken hawk politician grandstanding and eagerly offering to send young men and women to fight and die in some third world shit hole, or the CEO that promises the Board of Directors revenue goals that have no basis in reality and then expects everyone else in the organization to move heaven and earth to make it happen, one doesn’t need to look far to see that what passes off as leadership today is sadly lacking. In order to get the most out of your people, you’re going to have to lead from the front.

Over 2,300 years ago, a young Alexander the Great was preparing his men to go into what would be a very brutal battle. What he told his men is something that all leaders and aspiring leaders. At one point in his talk, he said this, “‘Perhaps you will say that, in my position as your commander, I had none of the labours and distress which you had to endure to win for me what I have won. But does any man among you honestly feel that he has suffered more for me than I have suffered for him? Come now, if you are wounded, strip and show your wounds, and I will show mine. There is no part of my body but my back which has not a scar; not a weapon a man may grasp or fling the mark of which I do not carry upon me. I have sword-cuts from close fight; arrows have pierced me, missiles from catapults bruised my flesh; again and again I have been struck by stones or clubs—and all for your sakes: for your glory and your gain. Over every land and sea, across river, mountain, and plain I led you to the world’s end, a victorious army. I married as you married, and many of you will have children related by blood to my own. Some of you have owed money—I have paid your debts, never troubling to inquire how they were incurred, and in spite of the fact that you earn good pay and grow rich from the sack of cities. To most of you I have given a circlet of gold as a memorial for ever and ever of your courage and of my regard. And what of those who have died in battle? Their death was noble, their burial illustrious; almost all are commemorated at home by statues of bronze; their parents are held in honour, with all dues of money or services remitted, for under my leadership not a man among you has ever fallen with his back to the enemy.”

Can you imagine a CEO today giving the modern version of this speech? Alexander made it clear to his men that he had always fought side by side with them.  He didn’t talk about it, he LIVED it!

Are you leading by example as Alexander did?  Would your team die for you?  No, okay, then what would be the modern day work related equivalent? Perhaps working on a weekend for no pay?  Perhaps missing a wedding anniversary in order to make a deadline. Would your people do any of these things for you?  No?  Then ask yourself this, what have you done for your team in order to engender the kind of ferocious loyalty that Alexander the Great did.

 

 

February 29, 2016 | 0 comments | View Post