Track Masters

On Tuesday June 13th Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber, resigned from his post as chief executive. “Kalanick, whose public persona has been variously characterized as aggressive, juvenile, and brash, is both reviled and beloved in Silicon Valley. Depending on whom you ask, he’s either the tech industry’s best representative––a successful, visionary entrepreneur––or its very worst. On Wednesday morning, Bill Gurley, one of the board members who pushed for Kalanick’s ouster, tweeted that there would be “many pages in the history books” dedicated to Kalanick, adding that “very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world.” The New Yorker

As a successful business leader and executive coach I have had the privilege of working with many talented people who have shaped organizations and in some cases industries. They are people who drive operating speed, growth, and double digit returns. Making the big moves. Dominating not participating. The stuff that business schools write about. These are business leaders who want sustainable growth and increasingly look to human capital experts to understand and practice the values that are at the center of any successful organizations culture. Together working as an executive team we are able to create an infrastructure of business practices and processes that support and align everyone who is a stakeholder in an organization to live those shared values. Only then can an organization retain and motivate the existing Talent, attract the needed Talent, both necessary to achieve sustainable high performance and growth. The outcome is leadership and talent working strategically in a culture where everyone is aligned to win the race for the customer in an ever increasing global competition.

“Travis Kalanick’s combative personality created the culture that let Uber grow from startup to behemoth in just eight years. But under his direction the ride hailing company had trouble growing up, leading to his downfall.” Financial Post