In 1978, Dara's family was targeted by the radical opponents of Iran's then leader, the Shah. After the revolution in Iran, their business was nationalized and lost to them. "What it taught me was that when you think you've lost everything, you really haven't," he says.
Early-stage startups are a lot like pirate ships — they need a buccaneering spirit to survive. But every startup needs to shed its pirate nature at some point, and evolve into something more akin to a navy — no less heroic, but more disciplined. Dara Khosrowshahi, as Uber CEO, took on the most extreme pirate-to-navy transition in startup history. Though Uber blitzscaled to become the most valuable startup in the world, it was also notorious for its toxic culture — and Dara turned the company around. His method? Truth-telling and doing the right thing
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