Uber CEO: Hard Work is the Most Important Skill in Life

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, has shared his approach to work expectations at the company, revealing that he expects employees to be available across weekends as part of the company's high-performance culture.

In an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Dara shares his philosophy when it comes to the company's people strategy.

He says: "Part of working hard is sending emails to the team on a Saturday. And if I don't get a response on Saturday, sending them an email on Sunday with a question mark. 'What's going on?'"

Since becoming CEO of Uber in 2017, Dara has cultivated a culture centred on high performance within the organisation, saying on the podcast. "To me, the most important skill in life is a skill of working hard," he notes. 

Rebuilding Uber's workplace culture

Uber transformed its company culture in 2017 following the departure of its previous CEO, which led to an overhaul of its HR department, taking it from a recruiting tool to a strategic driver designed to improve employee experience.

This included the hiring of its first ever Chief Human Resources Officer Liane Hornsey, who was replaced by Nikki Krishnamurthy.

Upon her appointment, Nikki said she was "excited to help build a company where the highest-performing and most diverse talent comes to solve some of the world's toughest problems."

The company has also adopted an approach that values "ideas over hierarchy", which is designed to encourage innovation from all levels of the business. This, combined with the expectation that employees "act like owners" of the business, is designed to facilitate growth and encourage high performance from all employees.

Dara's leadership style

Dara says that as part of this culture, the company is "going to be really demanding". He says: "If you're not performing, we're going to let you know. And if you don't fix it, we're going to push you out."

Before his CEO appointment in 2017, the company had lost US$4.5bn, according to its financial results.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company saw a 130% year on year increase in net income from its operations. Dara says: "While you will have worked hard, you're going to have a great time. But don't come here if you want to coast."

Alternative approaches to productivity

While Uber's CEO expects employees to be consistently available, other companies have taken a different approach.

Kickstarter has a fully remote, four day working model which, according to CEO Everette Taylor, does not impede productivity or business performance.

Everette told the New York Times that he has "a very high bar for work and excellence" in the company. Kickstarter has found that a shortened schedule encourages teams to eliminate non-essential tasks and improve their focus on high priority outcomes.

Staff are likely to work harder, Everette says. "The level of intensity, intention and velocity that you have to bring in everything that you do is extreme," he notes. The company reports that adopting this model allows it to reach 90% of its objectives – compared to just 70% before the implementation of the four day working week.