Struggles to Success: Dara Khosrowshahi
What would be your state of mind when you have to go away from your motherland? What would be your response if the only thing you can reconcile from your childhood days is blood and screams all around? Not only this, but what about spending your teenage life without the physical presence of your father? It is not easy to imagine life with hardships. However, the only difference between stumbling blocks and the stepping stones is how one uses them both. Here’s the story of the man who defied the odd times and later stood out as the highest-paid CEO in the United States: Dara Khosrowshahi.
Dara Khosrowshahi is an Iranian-American businessman and the chief executive officer of Uber. Khosrowshahi was previously CEO of Expedia Group, a company that owns several travel fare aggregators. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of BET.com and Hotels.com. Adding to the golds, he also handed round on the board of The New York Times Company.
Early Life
Khosrowshahi was a silver spoon child born on May 28, 1969, in Iran. He is the youngest of the 3 children of Lili and Asghar (Gary) Khosrowshahi. The Iranian revolution of 1978 targeted their family, and they had no option left but to flee. They stayed in southern France until they got an invitation from their uncle residing in the United States. His father again turned back to Iran to take care of his grandfather and wasn’t allowed to move out of Iran for six years.
Gearing up for Profesional Life
He graduated from Hackley School in 1987 and later completed a Bachelor in Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Brown University. Immediately, he clung to the role of the analyst in Allen & Company. He then moved to Diller’s USA Networks, where he held the positions of senior vice president for strategic planning. Afterward, he was recognized as their president, and then as the chief financial officer of InterActiveCorp (IAC).
Moving to Expedia and Uber
In 2001, IAC purchased Expedia and 2005 saw Dara becoming the CEO of it. June 2013 saw him receiving a Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year award from Ernst & Young. In 2017, Uber was facing issues revolving around its professionalism, and its entire management was scratching its heads to get it into shape. Uber then paid Khosrowshahi $200 million to take up the position of CEO.
The arrival of Khosrowshahi has brought significant growth trends in the company’s revenues. Hence, proving the statement,
“Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.”
Harminder Singh
Originally published at https://globalshala.com.