What do a car service and a soft drink manufacturer have in common? There is a surprisingly large amount of similarities that between the two when it comes down to business practices. Recently, “Uber Technologies Inc said on Friday it hired a new chief legal officer to guide the company through its many legal quandaries.” (2017, Heather Somerville, p. 1) The person that is set to replace the previous chief legal officer, currently Salle Yoo, is Tony West. Tony West is the chief legal officer for Pepsi and he is now stepping into the area of Uber to help deal with “a long list of legal tangles.” (2017, Robert Gallbraith, p. 6)
When I first saw this article, I was extremely confused. Why would a car service want a representative from a soda drink manufacturer company? It then occurred to me how versatile
Picture by Darryl Dyck from: https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/uber-hires-pepsis-tony-west-as-new-chief-legal-officer/article36754901/
and how quick at adaptation people need to be to prosper in a business field. Even though both Uber and Pepsi provide a completely different service to one another, the baseline and guidelines of running a business is still there. This has really made me consider all the factors and precautions I would have to be aware of if I continue down this career path in business.
I am astonished at the risk that Tony West is about to take with Uber. As of late, Uber has not had the greatest reputation in terms of service. Even Tony West himself realizes “that the company over-indexed on growth without putting in the appropriate guardrails.” (2017, Hamza Shaban, p. 4) There is a lot of work that needs to be done for Uber to continue its’ success and West decided to take the mantle with his name and reputation on the line. Uber is still “reeling from high profile sexual harassment complaints, executive departures, a significant trade secrets lawsuit from Alphabet” (2017, Hamza Shaban, p. 9) and many more issues that West will have to tackle head on.
Picture by Jerry Seper from: http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tony-west/
Of all the articles I went through about this topic, I can’t seem to find the reason why Tony West took this job besides satisfying Uber’s self interest of survival. I have no idea if he was bribed or forced to but whatever the reason is, West has a lot on his plate. I am interested to see how this will play out for West as he will have to really show his skills of being versatile in this field if he hopes to be the man that can save Uber from itself.
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References:
http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-hires-a-new-chief-legal-officer-to-replace-salle-yoo-2017-10