Running head: THE EFFECT OF LEADERSHIP AT UBER 1 

The Effect of Leadership at Uber 

Elise Ashby and Julius Hayes 

Kempsville High School   

 THE EFFECT OF LEADERSHIP AT UBER 2 

The Effect of Leadership at Uber 

"If we can get you a car in five minutes, we can get you anything in five minutes," said Travis 

Kalanick, former CEO of Uber (qtd. in Kosoff, 2015, para. 21). This o​ ptimism​ stands to be the path 

that Uber has taken regarding their business practices and the work environments for their employees. 

Uber is striving for efficiency through their employees and dreaming big for the future to continue to 

grow and succeed. A

​ lthough Uber, a relatively new company, lacks elements of a strong business, 

various leaders connect people and provide benefits for their employees as the company continues to 

grow. 

Uber has a short but rich history of leaders and innovations. Uber is now an international 

company operating in more than 58 countries and that's valued over $60 billion dollars (Hartmans & 

McAlone, 2016). But, Uber was started as just an idea from UCLA drop-outs Garrett Camp and 

Travis Kalanick who went on to be the second and longest CEO of Uber (Fiegerman, 2016). Uber is a 

car-for-hire company where the cars are owned by the people who drive them and they can only be 

hailed over the internet, through the Uber app. The first successful app of this kind. (Julius) 

Leadership at Uber has been fluid with three different CEO’s over the years including Ryan 

Graves, Travis Kalanick, and the current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. New ideas in businesses are 

formed and leaders and their personalities play an important role in forming new ideas. The formation 

of Uber and it's consecutive leaders has had lots of controversies but they are doing something correct 

because they are one of the most successful start-up businesses in the 21st century. One of the most 

successful and controversial CEO’s is Travis Kalanick. He has had many articles, both good and bad, 

written about him and this has been said in an article criticizing Kalanick. “‘There's a difference 

between founder, visionary and day-to-day operations,’ said Meeks, chief investment officer at Sloy, 
 THE EFFECT OF LEADERSHIP AT UBER 3 

Dahl & Holst.” (McGee, 2017).​ T

​ his observation from Meeks hints at the fact that while leaders like 

Kalanick are innovative and driven to form new ideas they don't play a huge role when it comes to the 

details. However, it seems that things in Uber regarding leadership are starting to change for the better. 

With the new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber is trying to clear up its controversial history, this might 

also include more management involvement regarding projects, day-to-day operations, and public 

relations. The new CEO Khosrowshahi (2018) had this to say about the previous business practices of 

Uber, “We were probably trading off doing the right thing for growth, and thinking about 

competition maybe a bit too aggressively, and some of those things were mistakes” (para. 10). (Julius) 

Uber provides an open work environment, which creates a unique opportunity for work and 

collaboration for their employees. The company built “work clusters...with access to shared supports 

and collaborative work zones,” which can be organized “according to the changing needs of the 

company...reflecting the company ethos of connecting people” (Chen, 2017, para. 4). Uber has 

created their workspaces to be flexible for their employees. The workspaces include many areas that 

are comfortably usable for individual work or can be easily changed for group and collaborative work. 

Referring to a particle office, Studio O+A called it “a collection of team meeting spaces---each tailored 

to a specific capacity and each a freestanding mini-ecosystem” (qtd. in Ptacek, 2016, para. 2). 

Workspaces are built with dry erase boards for individual or collaborative work. The company 

provides numerous comfortable working areas each with its own unique touch and furniture fitting 

the needs of various employee working styles. Also, Uber’s newly renovated workspaces provide a 

clean and appealing look for their employees to work in. The company provides inspiring quotes 

around the offices to keep up the creative spirit of their employees (Ptacek, 2016). Due to the 

workspace environments that Uber chose to build, their offices satisfy everyone’s needs and working 
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styles, and the designers also incorporated a way to inspire their employees to make the work more 

enjoyable. (Elise) 

There are many benefits to working for Uber, but with this type of business, there are several 

substantial downfalls. According to Mishel (2018), “Uber drivers lack benefits both to cover the 

programs provided by employer-paid social insurance taxes—Social Security, Medicare, 

unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation—and nonwage benefits such as health 

insurance and pensions” (para. 49). Uber does not provide special compensation for its employees, 

which then effectively reduces their salary. Part of the money that the employees receive as salary has 

to be used for the compensations that are normally provided, decreasing the amount they have to 

spend on other vital factors. Although, Uber has many benefits as well. Uber has effects worldwide, 

and some places receive benefits from the company that others do not, reaching as far as India. Not 

only has Uber created thousands of jobs in India, but it provides “an air-conditioned cocoon for an 

office” compared to “the heat and dust” most have to work in (Agrawal, 2018, para. 4). While this 

factor may not seem to be a benefit to some, in India and other places around the world, 

air-conditioning is a valued benefit that Uber provides its employees. (Elise) 

There are several main reasons employees love Uber. Uber allows for “flexible hours, an 

efficient workday, and a giant marketplace for labor” (Agrawal, 2018, para. 1). A valued aspect to 

Uber is the flexible hours. The company allows employees to make the work timeline fit their own 

personal schedules. Not only that, but the area in which an employee works is vast; this factor makes it 

easier for an employee to work within a region they live, instead of having to constantly commute to a 

distant workplace. Another commonly loved reason is that through this company you can meet many 

new and interesting people (“Uber uber driver reviews,” 2008-2019). As the employees drive around 
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picking up and dropping off various people, they meet many new people. Plus, Uber drivers may meet 

numerous other drivers that they never knew before. (Elise) 

Lacking elements of a strong business, the leaders of Uber connect people and provide benefits 

for their employees as the company continues to improve. Even through the disagreements about and 

changes in leaders and leadership style, Uber has pursued their mission statement of being able to 

transport everyone from anywhere they are. As Uber grows, many new workspaces are being built to 

create a flexible space for their employees to be the most efficient. While Uber lacks many benefits and 

safety elements, they have a vision to solve these problems to make their company better for their 

employees and customers. Uber has substantial dreams for the company and has a plan to achieve 

their goals of being able to transport everyone from anywhere.   

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References 

Agrawal, R. (2018, July). Gives Uber 5 Stars: Gig work offers a leg up in the developing world. ​Foreign 

Policy, (229)​, 24+. Retrieved from 

https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A549156207/GPS?u=vbcps&sid=GPS&xid=fe02cace  

Chen, T. (2017, February 8). ​Uber office embraces local juxtaposition of culture and modernity​. 

Retrieved from 

https://www.frameweb.com/news/uber-office-embraces-local-juxtaposition-of-culture-and-

modernity  

Hartmans, A., & McAlone, N. (2016, August 1). ​The story of how Travis Kalanick built Uber into the 

most feared and valuable startup in the world.​ Retrieved from 

https://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-history?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=refer

ral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=desktop 

Kolhatkar, S. (2018, April 9). A

​ t Uber, a New C.E.O. Shifts Gears. ​Retrieved from 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/09/at-uber-a-new-ceo-shifts-gears  

Kosoff, M. (2015, June 1). ​19 quotes that illustrate the unrelenting​ genius of controversial 

multibillionaire Uber CEO Travis Kalanick​. Retrieved from 

https://www.businessinsider.com/travis-kalanick-uber-ceo-quotes-2015-5  

McGee, C. (2017, June 22). ​Travis Kalanick's resignation should be a warning to other big personalities 

in Silicon Valley, says investor. R

​ etrieved from 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/22/travis-kalanicks-fall-is-a-lesson-for-tech-founders-says-pa

ul-meeks.html  
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Mishel, L. (2018, May 15). ​Uber and the labor market​. Retrieved from 

https://www.epi.org/publication/uber-and-the-labor-market-uber-drivers-compensation-wag

es-and-the-scale-of-uber-and-the-gig-economy/  

Ptacek, M. (2016). ​A tour of Uber’s new San Francisco office​. Retrieved from 

https://www.officelovin.com/2015/08/16/a-tour-of-ubers-new-san-francisco-office-expansio

n/ 

The origins of Uber are a lot wilder than you thought​. (2019). Retrieved from 

https://uncubed.com/daily/the-origins-of-uber-are-a-lot-wilder-than-you-thought/  

Uber uber driver reviews​. (2008-2019). Retrieved from 

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Uber-Uber-Driver-Reviews-EI_IE575263.0,4_KO5,16.

htm