LIANE HORNSEY, Chief Human Resources Officer of Uber is a picture of perseverance. In a candid conversation with People Matters, she spills the beans on what motivated her to join Uber, her resolve amidst Uber’s leadership crisis and HR challenges, diversity at Uber and more.
Liane Hornsey is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Uber Technologies and leads efforts in scaling Uber’s entrepreneurial, start-up culture across more than 80 countries. Prior to Uber, Liane was the Chief Administrative Officer & Operating Partner of Softbank Group International, where she helped a number of portfolio companies hire diverse and high performing employees. Before SoftBank, Liane spent nearly a decade at Google, where she led People Operations for Global Business, and became Google’s first female Vice President in HR and led Google's human resources department.
From Google to Softbank, to changing Uber's culture. Tell us what motivated you to join Uber.
When Uber called me (back in 2016), I was very clear that this is where I wanted to work. Nothing else mattered because the reason was simple — I truly believed that Uber was an iconic brand; it was the darling of the valley and ‘the’ company to work for. The other thing that motivated me to join Uber was the fact that I understood the ridesharing business as I was involved with Grab and Ola at Softbank. But I think the most decisive factor for me was that I knew and had seen what ridesharing did for people, the economic opportunity it provided to people who had no real means of living. I had seen that in India and South East Asia particularly, and I wanted to be a part of something that truly made a socio-economic difference. Today, Uber has 3million drivers who interact with its platform, and the fact that we are providing them with the economic opportunities just feels right. The decision to join Uber was an unequivocal one.
You came into Uber when there was a significant leadership crisis and you had the responsibility of rehabilitating Uber’s public image. What kept you going at Uber?
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