2020 taught me how valuable it is to put purpose at the heart of decision-making.
Even when the business is nose-diving.
In fact,especiallywhen the business is nose-diving.
For me and my colleagues at Uber the start of the pandemic last year was a moment of contrasts.
For a company focused on enabling the world to move, we were in a tight spot.
So we went back to our core mission: to reimagine the way the world moves for the better.
And led from there.
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Go back to your core mission
Does it still stand?
Is it relevant now?
If it is, great.
Thats what we dug into.
But… our team is tiny, and the world is big.
Thats always important, but never more so that when money is tight but the need is big.
After Covid started to spread, Uber went into overdrive.
Employees from different cities and countries and functions had hundreds of ideas about how we should show up.
It was copied around the world.
In Italy, the UberEats teamsupported local food banksby enabling customers to purchase extra items through the app.
So start by checking in with your local teams and ensure your actions benefit the community.
I ran tiny non-profits for over a decade.
Ubers leaders realized we needed a single, overarching goal for everyone to focus on.
1 million free rides, meals, and deliveries for frontline workers and those in need around the world?
No, too small.
Commit to a timeframe you’re able to deliver it in.
Commit to tracking your progress.
Commit to sharing what youve done.
Thats what builds trust.
Otherwise, its all spin, no substance.
And its what motivates teams to do it.
Uber is data-driven to its core.
Its a lot harder to integrate pro-social and environmental objectives into standard products or services.
But that integration is key to long-term impact, so is well worth the extra effort at the start.
And Im glad of it.
It forces us to be smart with deploying our resources.
Partnerships might run their course.
New issues might surface and light up the minds of millions around the world.
Drivers took doctors home in India.
Couriers delivered prescriptions to home-bound patients in South Africa.
Vulnerable families received food baskets in Mexico.
Tons literally of surplus food was trucked to food banks in the US and Canada.
Consumers noticed, and liked it.
The press was positive.
We even ended up on Newsweeks list oftop 50 companieswho stood out.
How we showed up for drivers, couriers, and communities during Covid was unique.
Yet both before and after the pandemic, as well as during its peak, our ambition stayed constant.
Were here to reimagine the way the world moves for the better.
How we do that now will be different from how we showed up last year.
It has to be.
Draw a Venn diagram.
Write Purpose on one circle and Profit on the other.
Then fill it in.
All the business activities that are purely profitable, put in the Profit section.
Ditto all the purposeful activities.
And then the activities that have a bit of both, put them in the middle.
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She is a Clore Social Leadership Fellow and was named one of the UK’s 35 Women Under 35.
