03/13/2017

Lessons From the Uber Crisis

When damaging information goes viral, leadership training is often too little, too late

A viral video has put the company’s CEO in hot water, but that’s not Uber’s only concern. Help is on the way, but help for troubled organizations is complicated.

Some are born great leaders. Some achieve greatness. And some have leadership training thrust upon them after video of them berating an employee goes viral.

OK, so we’re actually talking about just one person here: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who in the past two weeks has received a very public lesson in the importance of soft skills when it comes to managing an organization. Late last month, Bloomberg released a video of Kalanick arguing with his Uber driver about the company’s fare structure changing to the detriment of drivers. You can watch the video at the link if you haven’t already, but suffice it to say that saying “Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own [expletive]” is a bad look for any executive. And it’s also a candid glimpse of the kind of temperament executives can struggle with when they think they’re not being observed.

Please click here to read the complete article from Associations Now.