Uber's CEO says he never sought the job, and that encapsulates his best advice for young people: Don't overplan your life.
- Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was asked about the best advice he ever received, and the best advice he has for young people, at a luncheon this week.
- The Iranian-American executive said his best advice came from Herbert Allen of Allen & Company, which is to bet on people, not companies.
- For young people, Khosrowshahi says, his best advice is to never overplan. Confirmation bias can cause you to miss opportunities, like a new job as CEO of Uber, if your goals are too rigid.
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Dara Khosrowshahi never expected to be the CEO of Uber.
But in 2017, as headlines were swirling about the ride-hailing startup's toxic culture and public missteps, the former Expedia CEO agreed to take a meeting with Uber's leadership about a potential job - one that would eventually set in motion a drastic change both for his career and the company's trajectory.
It all comes down to being open to any and all opportunities, Khosrowshahi told Julie Sweet, chief executive of Accenture, at a hotel luncheon hosted by the Economic Club of New York on Thursday. Not overplanning, he said, was the best advice he'd offer to young people.
"I tell people: don't overplan," he said. "I see people make wrong decisions all the time because they have this picture of where they're going to be. Usually when you have a picture of where you want to go, or what that should be, it leads to confirmation bias."
Confirmation bias is a logical fallacy that can hijack any decision humans make because the brain often sees challenges to beliefs as a threat. In other words, its a human tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that conforms to preexisting beliefs.
For example, there's a classic experiment from 1954 in which Princeton and Dartmouth students were shown a game between the two schools. At the end, Princeton students remembered more fouls committed by Dartmouth, and Dartmouth students remembered more fouls committed by Princeton.
"When we overplan in an increasingly volatile world," Khosrowshahi said, "We stop looking for opportunities. I was not looking for this Uber opportunity and I'm so glad I found it."
The Iranian-American CEO had another piece of advice for recent graduates too: "Work in a place where you can make a difference," he said.
People over companies
Khosrowshahi was also asked the best piece of advice he ever received, and pointed back to a mantra oft-repeated by Herbert Allen of the boutique investment bank Allen & Co.: "I bet on people not companies."
"As a 20-something-year-old it was like 'yes sir, Mr. Allen, that sounds great'," Khosrowshahi said, "But in a world where so much is changing - businesses change, environments change, countries change - the one constant is that good people stay good."
