Uber. Indeed.

UberWikipedia defines Uber as “denoting an outstanding or supreme example of a particular kind of person or thing” I agree.  Uber–a new service for getting a ride–is a great example of a business addressing the shortcomings of an industry.  As covered in last Sunday’s Star Tribune article, cab companies have dropped the ball.  Uber is getting push back from entrenched competitors.

The push back isn’t in the form of better service.  Rather, it’s in trying to use legal measures, lobbyists, etc. to stop Uber from entering new markets.  Uber has taken the core problems of an industry and solving the issues.

  • Wait times.   A few months ago, my wife and I waited nearly an hour for the cab (based 2.5 miles from our home) to arrive at our home.  I called the company a bunch of times.  When we got in the car, we saw the problem first hand.  When leaving our house, the dispatcher called for a car near an address which was no where near our address.  Our driver, talked to the dispatcher and said he was “almost there,” and then laughed to us saying, “that’s the way you do it.”
  • Discrimination.  As noted in the Star Tribune article, cabs discriminate. I’ve experienced it based on distance.  Around the same time as our hour-long wait time noted above, my wife and I got into a cab in St. Paul (we live a couple of miles from downtown).  As we pulled away, someone tapped the window.  The driver rolled the window down.  He asked, “Where are you going?” They said, “Bloomington.” which is about 15 miles further than our drop.  Our driver said to us, “Get out.”  We have also been declined numerous time when asked where we wanted to go, and have had to share a fare because the other people (picked up a few blocks from where we were initially picked up) were told they could just get in because they were traveling to Minneapolis.  I called the number in the cab.  They said it wasn’t in their jurisdiction.
  • Ratings.  Good for both drivers and passengers.  With Uber, both the driver and the passenger can rate the experience.
  • No $ transactions.  Over decades of traveling, I’ve run into cab drivers who “Didn’t have change” or “Couldn’t process a credit card.” With Uber, the payment and tip are all settled with your online account and there’s no transaction.
  • Extra long drives.  In first visited cities, I’m clueless.  Especially today, with two semi-toddlers, I’m not researching the “best route from airport to hotel.” The Uber app handles this with a post trip email with a map.

Uber indeed (as a disclosure, I’ve only used Uber’s service that uses vetted ‘black car’ services).

standardJuly 1Tom SalonekIT

Building a Winning Business – Bias in Hiring

Building-a-Winning-Business-Book

Building A Winning Business — Section: Hiring

To improve your interviews with job candidates, be aware of your own biases and the tendency to make snap judgments. Author Malcolm Gladwell, in his best-selling book Blink, chronicles the human tendency to make huge decisions in the “blink of an eye” based on a person’s appearance, the color of her eyes, or whether he reminds us of someone else.

 

 

 

 

  • Most of us don’t even realize we make decisions about others based on such shallow “information,” which is why we need systems to override our very human tendency to size someone up unconsciously and subjectively.
  • Here’s a tip for keeping biases in check. Make a note of your initial impressions and then set that aside. Try to keep your mind open as you learn more about the potential candidate and be willing to alter your original impression. Your goal should be to keep your initial impressions from outweighing other evidence about the person gleaned from a rigorous hiring process.

Tom’s Takeaway:  “It’s human nature to size someone up in the ‘blink of an eye,’ but savvy hiring managers consciously set their initial impressions aside and take the time to assess a candidate thoroughly before making a decision.”

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Thoughts Since the Book

An in depth, five to 10 step, gated process with many people involved in the interview helps eliminate any one person’s bias.

Today, we also look for bias in the candidate.  A previous candidate was interviewing with one of our teams.  During the interview, he didn’t look at or address a female employee.  Clearly, we chose not proceed with this candidate.

standardJune 24Tom SalonekBuilding a Winning Business