Recently, and to little surprise of many tech watchers, Uber Technologies Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick announced his resignation from the company which he co-founded. Kalanick had faced a growing number of problems in recent months including several personal missteps and serious allegations of company-wide sexual harassment (Somerville and Menn, 2017). At present, Uber is privately valued at $68 billion (Somerville and Menn, 2017). Perhaps this is what makes Travis Kalanick’s fall grace even more devastating. There is no denying the fact that Travis has built arguably one of the most disruptive companies in our lifetime. It is difficult to comprehend the transition from the construction of one of America’s great companies to forcefully handing in a resignation letter years later. What happened at Uber? More importantly, what happened to Travis Kalanick?
I felt that it would be interesting to take an in depth look into how well Travis Kalanick embodies the three-skill approach as introduced by Northouse (2016). Business leaders today are quickly noting the importance of developing a set of well rounded skills. Interestingly, R.L. Katz produced a piece in a 1955 edition of the Harvard business review that described the necessary required skills at each level of an organization. At the top of organization, Katz argues that CEO’s should maintain strong human and conceptual skills (Katz, 1995). However, there is a noticeably smaller requirement in technical skills (Katz, 1995). It is important to remind yourself that this information was created nearly 70 years ago. I mention this due to the fact that I believe this model is inaccurate with today’s business environment. However, pertaining to the three-skills approach, we can conclude initially, that Travis Kalanick has experience in all of of the underlying categories. Although Kalanick has technical, human and conceptual skills, it does not mean that he has the adequate training and or capability to perform effectively in each category.
As the leader and co-founder of Uber, one can quickly deduce that Travis Kalanick has superior technical skills. Northouse (2016), notes that those with this skill set often maintain excellent analytical capabilities. He mentions that these individuals have the ability to take on complex tasks and learn new skills such as software languages and programming (Northouse, 2016). Creating a company such as Uber was in no part a simple task. The complexity and intelligence required to create the company infrastructure is beyond the scope of most individuals technical training. We can conclude that this is not where Travis failed. The next concept introduced by Northouse relates to a leaders conceptual skill. Leaders who excel in this category are able to create a strong vision and strategic plan for their company (Northouse, 2016). Early on, as Uber remained in its infancy, Kalanick was seen as a genius; he was visionary. However, as the company grew in size, he lost his ability to create a path forward for his employees. An important aspect of conceptual skills relates to the leaders ability to shape the vision of the organization (Northouse, 2016). Leaders need to understand what their company stands for (Northouse, 2016). Unfortunately, Travis’ failure in conceptual skill also bled into his human skill capabilities. This category of the three-skill approach requires leadership individuals to work effectively with others. Northouse (2016) mentions that effective leaders will create an environment where employees feel safe and secure. It is hard to give Kalanick an outstanding grade in this category with severe company-wide sexual harassment claims hanging over the organization. It just didn’t appear that Travis Kalanick was able to work well with everyone in the Uber organization. Perhaps the most relevant analogy that I can make relates to politics. Being a corporate leader in today’s society demands the tight-rope-walking ability of an establishment congressional figure. Leaders are required to excel in human and conceptual skills. The ability to have an appropriate company vision that works for all members of the organization is essential. However, as we move further into a tech-based future, technical skills can no longer be ignored by corporate leaders.
Works Cited
Katz, R.L. (1955). Skills of an Effective Administrator. Harvard Business Review, 33(1), pp. 33-42.
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Somerville, H., Menn, J. (June 21, 2017). Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Resigns Under Investor Pressure. Reuters News. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-ceo-idUSKBN19C0G6
tmp5400 says
BXK46,
Uber Technologies is great current example to exploit using the three-skill approach. You alluded to fact that he has a great understanding and experience of all skills (e.g. technical, human and conceptual) on the early outset of his company. Did he really though? I am not disputing the fact that he was a visionary in creating, in my opinion, one of the greatest web application of all time. However, if he was this sexual harassment scandal has been going on for years, since the inception of the company, can we really say he had an understanding of the conceptual skill. In fact, if he did have an understanding of what his company stood for or was going, he would have had a sexual harassment policy from day 1. While as mundane as it sounds, how nice would it have been for him to show this document to the board of directors when they were calling for his resignation. Effective backing up his position on sexual harassment since the company’s inception would have shown that his values were not displaced and he was a true advocate for sexual harassment prevention.
I digress. His company grew exponentially at an alarming rate. I can only try to understand his struggle with controlling such a popular and transcending company while trying to stay in touch with his technical skill (e.g. web application design) and human skill (communication between departments). However, you cannot discount the fact that you need to be a strategic planner throughout the growth of the company. According to Northouse (2016), “conceptual skill is the most important at the top management levels.” When you don’t have those skills, you can jeopardize the company and that is exactly why the board of directors were calling for his resignation.
References
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.