Uber CEO – Why Not Marissa Mayer?

Marissa Mayer, the name which we can find in the list of the powerful technology leaders in the world. Though, she is not the CEO of Yahoo! now, we can look forward to the news about her in short time saying that XX company had roped in Marissa as its new CEO. I had assumed that Marissa would be the best bet for the CEO position at Uber.

But, the news about Dara Khosrowshahi (Cause-Row-Sha-hee) as Uber’s new CEO made me dig further more on the reason why Uber did not choose Marissa.

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Here is the latest information. The current Expedia CEO had mentioned that he is planning to accept the CEO of uber position. It is to be noted that there were other leaders too like Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE and HP CEO Meg Whitman in the shortlisted candidate’s list.

I had started to admire Marissa Mayer – a tech leader with great competency from the moment I saw her one-page resume over the internet via Linkedin.

I had read and followed the news more about Marissa when compared to the other eligible candidates mentioned above. Hence, I am gonna jot down my understanding of why uber had not chosen Marissa for their CEO position.

Image Credit: Linkedin

Uber – A Company With No Shepherd For Now:

Yes, the leading transportation service provider in the world is without a CEO since June after the founder CEO Travis Kalanick had moved out. With the negative images gained recently, the company needs a most efficient person to lead. To bring them back to track especially to erase the negative impressions from the memory of their own employees and the users who rely on this great startup.

Qualities That Uber Might Have Looked For In A Candidate:

• Experience in the field of Travel and Transportation.

• A person who will go along rather than dominating.

• Peer friendly leader.

• A leader with more positive feedback on their records.

• An individual who can positively impact the employee morale.

• A person who can help grow the revenue of the company

All these being said, let us now see the reasons that could have forced Uber to drop Marissa Mayer’s name from the CEO pick list.

All the below mentioned are purely based on what I had read and learned from various sources. Some of you might deny some points too but still, I am going ahead…

Why Not Marissa Mayer?

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May be because,

• She is a person who had got more products based experience and not operational based.

• Her style of work. She relies more on data-driven management and very particular about everything in detail.

• The peer feedback – People who had worked under her leadership says that she is robotic.

• Approval rating as per glass door went down from 99% in 2012 to 64% at the time of Marrisa leaving the company.

• She is not inclined towards delegation.

• Marissa does not speak much even with the people who directly report to her unless required.

• Read that she had once micromanaged a senior person when that person’s team members were present.

• She is not always punctual.

Everyone has got their own style of work which sometimes becomes a hit and sometimes a flop. This awesome tech leader had lost the grace because of the above-mentioned traits as some of them did not go well with her peers and people around.

Why Dara Khosrowshahi?

Image Credit: recode.net

• He is the CEO of Expedia, a travel company. Remember that Trivago advertisement nowadays on TV? It is also owned by Expedia.

• Has also got the required finance background with a stint of 7 years at Allen & Co bank.

• A Great leader according to the employees of Expedia.

• He has a proven track record of increasing the revenue of Expedia from $2.1 billion in 2005 to $8.7 billion in 2016.

• Honored as a Highest Rated CEO with an approval rate of 93% according to the glass door.

• A friendly and outspoken type.

• He is surrounded by relatives with huge potential in the field of business as well as in the technology area.

• A great motivator.

The Take Away’s:

Both Marissa Mayer and Dara Khosrowshahi are great leaders and there is no doubt about it.

But still, from the above mentioned Why and Why Not, it is very clear on what is required to become a “Highly” successful leader.

I am using the term as “Highly” as I strongly believe that Marissa is also a successful leader.

Who has not got negatives?

I agree, that certain things did not go well for Marissa at Yahoo but that does not mean that it is going to be like that forever.

From my understanding on what I read about Marissa, she is a great listener. That is one of the best and great trait a business leader should have. She is a role model for many.

Keeping my fingers crossed now to hear the news about the firm which she would soon be leading.

Happy Tuesday 🙂