Khosrowshahi, 56, has run the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company since September 2017. He told host Steven Bartlett that “The most important skill in life is a skill of working hard,” and that Uber isn’t the place for anyone looking to take it easy. The remarks drew fresh attention after Fortune resurfaced them Sept. 27.
What Khosrowshahi says happens when performance slips
“We’re going to be really demanding,” he said on the podcast. “If you’re not performing, we’re going to let you know. And if you don’t fix it, we’re going to push you out.”
Uber posted a $3-billion operating loss in 2016 and a $4-billion loss in 2017, the year Khosrowshahi took over, according to its IPO prospectus. Years of growth had left the company comfortable, he said, and he claimed part of his fix was cultural. It extended past the workweek.
He cited Uber’s numbers as proof the approach works. The company’s free cash flow came in at $9.8 billion in 2025, up from $6.9 billion in 2024, according to its annual report. He also argued employees get a lot of autonomy and learn quickly. “While you will have worked hard, you’re going to have a great time,” he said. “But don’t come here if you want to coast.”
The CEO checks email at 9:30 p.m. and again at 5:30 a.m.
“I’m not going to let anyone outwork me,” Khosrowshahi said. “They may be smarter, more talented, et cetera, but I’m not going to let anyone outwork me. And I think that’s a huge advantage that you have, and over a period of time, that advantage compounds.”
His own kids get the same advice, and he thinks people agonize too much over picking the right career in the first place. It matters less whether someone becomes a programmer or a doctor, he said, than how hard they work at it.
On days he’s not traveling, Khosrowshahi sets aside two hours for dinner with his family. By 9:30 p.m. he’s back in his email, and at 5:30 a.m. he starts the day in his inbox. Hard work and flexibility can coexist, he added, though people often assume otherwise. “Of course, there are trade-offs,” he said. “Life is about trade-offs.”
Questions worth asking before you take a job like this
Weekend work is hardly rare in the U.S. Some 30% of employed people worked on an average weekend day in 2025, compared with 81% on an average weekday, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Khosrowshahi has simply put Uber’s version on the record, before anyone applies.
Nobody puts that sort of thing in an offer letter, so the interview is the place to ask. Find out to have an idea if the team really emails on weekends, and what your manager would expect from you when one shows up on a Saturday.
Whether the job is worth it comes down to the money, the work and whatever else you’ve got going on outside it. At Uber, at least, you know what you’re signing up for.
Godwin Oluponmile is a content specialist, SEO strategist and copywriter with seven years of expertise in finance, Web 3.0, B2B SaaS and technology. His work has been featured in publications such as Entrepreneur, HackerNoon, Blocktelegraph and Benzinga.
