In this incredibly candid conversation, Nikki Krishnamurthy (Chief People Officer at Uber) joins Jessica Neal (former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix) to discuss the high-stakes reality of leading people through crisis, transformation, and the AI revolution.
Nikki opens up about the "Strategic Calmness" required to navigate Uber’s most turbulent years, from handling global layoffs to dismantling a culture of leaks and entitlement. She shares the internal mechanics of her 13-year partnership with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, explaining why a Chief People Officer must act as a business leader first and why being "the mirror" for a CEO is the most important, and loneliest, part of the job.
We dive deep into:
- The C-Suite Burden: Why the HR role has shifted into a hybrid of Chief Medical, Diversity, and AI Officer.
- The "Entitlement" Trap: How Uber moved from "investigating everything" back to a culture of high judgment and "doing the right thing."
- Managing Up: The exact moment Nikki gave Dara feedback and how that blunt honesty built a foundation of radical trust.
- AI vs. Innovation: Why Nikki is prioritizing "AI-native" college grads and her warning to big companies: Don't let efficiency kill your ability to invent.
- The Art of "Disagree and Commit": Navigating executive hires and knowing which hills are worth dying on.
This is a masterclass in leadership, human psychology, and the raw reality of what happens behind the closed doors of the world’s biggest tech companies.
