GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani has recalled a piece of advice from his former boss, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, that changed his approach to learning, making mistakes and speaking up at work.
Khosrowshahi said the demanding culture was part of his efforts to transform Uber after he took over as CEO in 2017. At the time, the company was losing between $2.5 billion and $3 billion annually, he said. The company generated $9.8 billion in free cash flow last year, which he cited as evidence that the company’s demanding culture is delivering results, according to Khosrowshahi.
Because he felt others in the room had considerably more experience and expertise than him, bhutani said that he was once asked a question about marketing but hesitated to speak up during a leadership team meeting. Khosrowshahi subsequently asked Bhutani why he did not contribute to discussions about marketing, given how important the function was to the company. “If you don’t talk about it, you never will. If you don’t talk and make mistakes and say the wrong things and get beat up by the CMO, how are you going to learn? “I enjoy the idea that I’m learning something new. Under his leadership, Uber changed its strategy and work culture as it sought to improve its financial performance. And the approach paid off.
You can’t be afraid to be wrong,” Khosrowshahi told Bhutani. Bhutani said that the advice encouraged him to reconsider his reluctance to speak up about subjects outside his area of expertise. He said that learning something new, even at the risk of making mistakes, keeps him young, happy and engaged. It keeps me young, it keeps me happy, and it keeps me engaged,” Bhutani said.
