Amidst crisis, Uber's new CEO urges employees to be emotionally intelligent

Uber is currently being plagued with controversies and leadership woes during a nasty and particularly lengthy phase. In the midst of this crisis, Dara Khosrowshahi is setting an example of how to handle one's team when morale is low and the future seems bleak.

It is a globally acknowledged fact that Uber is currently suffering a nasty and particularly lengthy phase peppered with controversies and leadership woes.  It is amid this crisis that the company's newly appointed CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is setting an example on how to handle one's team when the morale is low and the path ahead seems bleak.

First, Uber's board of directors decided that former chief Travis Kalanick was no longer the right person for the job. Then, Uber's application for a new London license was rejected, saying the company is not a "fit and proper" private car rental company. However, Uber cars will not suddenly disappear from the roads as its current licence expires on 30 September.  Also, the company plans to challenge the ruling by London's Transport Authority in the courts immediately.

Uber is currently available in 66 countries and 507 cities across the globe including London, where it has around forty thousand drivers who depend on Uber for their livelihood and around 3.5 million Londoners who rely on its services to get around.  So, you can imagine the major dent it would make on the life of the people associated with it.

It is in the midst of this sticky wicket that Khosrowshahi has taken the higher road and outrightly accepted the company's shortcomings, instead of going brashly on defence mode.

Khosrowshahi has responded with a much-needed message to his employees, asserting that it's time to self-reflect and figure out the core reason for the worrying developments.  He has urged his team to look at the bigger picture and not become discouraged by the current situation in his straightforward but brilliant email. Take a look at his entire email below to learn why emotional intelligence is a must, no matter what field you work in. The ability to be able to identify your possible flaws and conscientiously work on it is the highlight of Khosrowshahi's mail.

Eric Newcomer of Bloomberg was the first to report on the mail: “Like all of you, I am extremely dissatisfied with the decision made by Transport for London and the Mayor of London. It could have profound negative consequences for the 40,000 drivers who depend on Uber for work and the 3.5 million Londoners who rely on Uber to get around.

It's particularly discouraging that this is happening in the UK, where the team has led the way on partnerships with local groups to increase the number of wheelchair-accessible and electric vehicles on the road. 

While the impulse may be to say that this is unfair, one of the lessons I've learned over time is that change comes from self-reflection.  Therefore, it's worthwhile to examine how we got here. The truth is that there is a high cost to a bad reputation.  

In a global business like ours, where actions in one part of the world can have serious consequences in another, it really matters what people think of us, regardless of whether we did everything that is being said about us today in London (which, to be clear, I don't think we did). We need to learn how to be a better partner to each city we operate in and act with integrity in everything we do going forward. We will vigorously appeal TfL's decision, so we are not abandoning our principles; rather, we are building trust through our actions and behavior.

By doing so, we will demonstrate that Uber is not only a fantastic product but also a fantastic company that makes a significant contribution to society beyond its business and profit margins. Thanks for everything you're doing to make Uber the best company it can be, and particularly to our teammates in London and across the UK."

correspondent by: