Uber’s Biggest Mistake #UberFail

Uber’s biggest mistake caused a significant shift that Lyft, their competitor, is very thankful for. Pretending to be an Uber driver, I pick up my business partner, Ruddy Ortiz. These days Ruddy and his wife Rosy run their own operation in Desplaines, IL. I chop it up with Ruddy and talk about how we avoid this biggest mistake, in our business.

Uber’s Biggest Mistake – Not Taking Care of Your People

What they cover is:

• How do you treat your best people?
• How do you recruit and retain you best talent?
• How do you reward loyalty by those who have stuck with you through the ups and downs?
• Is compensation everything?
• What is the upside for people to grow and willing to work?

Granted, Uber did very well by giving an opportunity to many people especially in a rocky economy. However, getting big can create a new layer of decisions and that’s where Uber made their biggest mistake.

In the words of my mentor, Patrick Bet-David, “Take care of your people or someone else will”. 

I’ve been through many company experiences as an independent contractor, employee and co-owner. Getting caught up in widgets, new technologies and “stuff” can easily get one away from the greatest asset of a company.

It’s people.

A company doesn’t build itself. People build a company and create an environment together that make it special. Status, titles and income opportunity may attract people there but taking care of the relationships keeps them there.

I can think of a competitor right now that is not taking care of it’s people in my industry. This is a big reason why many of them have reached out to me, looking for a new home. Keep it up!

UPDATE: I just took an Uber and upon closing out the app, I noticed they have a place to ADD TIP for the driver.