Latest news with #Risher
Time of India
10-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Lyft CEO David Risher shares key lessons he learned from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
Lyft CEO David Risher said he has spent years working with two of the biggest names in business — Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and is now applying the lessons he learned from both of them to shape his leadership at Lyft. Risher joined Lyft as CEO in 2023. In a letter to employees that year, he shared what he had learned from his earlier jobs: "From Microsoft, I learned how to compete ... Operation Sindoor 'Pakistan army moving its troops in forward areas': Key takeaways from govt briefing 'Pak used drones, long-range weapons, jets to attack India's military sites' 'Attempted malicious misinformation campaign': Govt calls out Pakistan's propaganda From Amazon, I learned how to obsess over customers," he wrote. Lyft posted record-high ride numbers in 2024. Risher says he's relying on another important lesson he picked up from Gates: focus more on weaknesses than on strengths. Lyft CEO on lesson he learnt from Bill Gates Risher recalled a key moment from the 1990s when he saw Gates answer a question at a Microsoft conference. Gates was asked about plans for Excel, which was already very popular at the time. "Gates just very honestly, and frankly, very directly said, 'I don't spend any of my time thinking about Excel because I know that right now we've got [around] 60% market share, and I know that's going to go to 80 or 90 ... I don't have to worry about that. I don't have to think about that," Risher told Fox Business in March 2024. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Invest $200 in Amazon without buying stocks to earn a second salary Marketsall Sign Up Undo At the time, more than 30 million people around the world were using Excel. Gates' thinking, Risher explained, was that it was better to focus on weaker areas where improvement was needed, instead of spending time on products that were already successful. Tackling Lyft's challenges head-on In a letter to shareholders in April 2025, Risher praised Lyft's "best-ever results" in 2024, but quickly turned to the company's ongoing challenges. "Looked at as a whole, the rideshare experience had become worse than it was a decade ago," he wrote. To better understand Lyft's problems, Risher said he regularly becomes a driver himself. "Every six weeks or so, I open my Lyft Driver app and hit the road. It's the best way to understand the experience of drivers, to pick up on frustrations we can improve upon, and to talk to riders. I love every minute of it," he wrote. One big complaint he noticed was about surge pricing — the practice of raising ride prices when demand is high. After hearing frequent complaints from riders, Risher asked his team to work on fixes. These included adding more drivers and giving riders the option to lock in set prices ahead of time for regular trips. "By the end of 2024, we could see that these were the right investments when drivers chose us at record rates," Risher wrote. Risher also admitted he hasn't always gotten it right in the past. "Over the years, I've made mistakes on both ends — avoiding the work of diving into a troubled area, swooping down on issues that don't matter, the works," he wrote. Still, he believes focusing on weaknesses is key to leadership success. "But I've never met a great leader who isn't curious about the details," Risher added.
CNBC
09-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Lyft CEO: I worked for both Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos—here are the most important lessons I learned
Lyft CEO David Risher spent more than a decade working under two of the world's most successful businessmen, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Perhaps predictably, Risher learned a lot, he says. When he joined Lyft as CEO in 2023, Risher pointed to specific lessons he picked up from Gates at Microsoft, where Risher was the general manager in charge of the Access database, and under Bezos at Amazon, where he was the tech giant's senior vice president of retail. "From Microsoft, I learned how to compete ... From Amazon, I learned how to obsess over customers," Risher wrote in a 2023 letter to Lyft employees. More recently, after Lyft posted record-high annual ride numbers in 2024, Risher is leaning into a specific lesson he learned from his time under Gates: Spend more time focusing on your weaknesses than your strengths. Specifically, Risher experienced a "revealing" moment watching Gates get asked during an executive conference in the 1990s about the company's plans for Microsoft Excel, which was relatively new and highly popular at the time, Risher told Fox Business in March 2024. "[Gates] just very honestly, and frankly, very directly said, 'I don't spend any of my time thinking about Excel because I know that right now we've got [around] 60% market share, and I know that's going to go to 80 or 90 ... I don't have to worry about that. I don't have to think about that," Risher said. More than 30 million people around the world used Excel in 1996, giving it a dominant position in its market, said the company. That runaway success is exactly why Gates didn't want to spend too much time focusing on it, said Risher: The billionaire understood that he could create more value and make better use of his time by focusing on areas and products that needed improvement. In an April letter to Lyft's shareholders, Risher briefly touted the company's "best-ever results" in 2024 before switching to the areas where the company still needs to improve. "Looked at as a whole, the rideshare experience had become worse than it was a decade ago," wrote Risher. To address this, he's spent his time at Lyft looking for weaknesses in the company's business model, he wrote. "Every six weeks or so, I open my Lyft Driver app and hit the road. It's the best way to understand the experience of drivers, to pick up on frustrations we can improve upon, and to talk to riders. I love every minute of it," Risher wrote. He observed the "deeply unpopular" practice of surge pricing, where ride-share platforms raise prices during times when customer demand for drivers is particularly high. After hearing riders express their frustration with that practice, Risher told his team to focus on changes, like an initiative to increase the supply of drivers and a feature that allows riders to lock in a set price ahead of time, during their most frequent commute periods. "By the end of 2024, we could see that these were the right investments when drivers chose us at record rates," Risher wrote, adding that the company's recent success is a direct result of its willingness to drill down into areas where it was falling short. "Over the years, I've made mistakes on both ends — avoiding the work of diving into a troubled area, swooping down on issues that don't matter, the works," Risher noted. "But I've never met a great leader who isn't curious about the details."
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Inside the Lyft CEO's plan to capitalize on the boomer economy with 4 main features
Lyft CEO David Risher recalls the tough conversations with his late mother about the realities of aging. 'One of the most unpleasant conversations I ever had with her was, 'Mom, I think it's time for you to turn over the car and keys,'' Risher tells Fortune. His personal experience—coupled with the demographic shift where 80 million people are expected to be 65 and older by 2040—pushed the CEO to consider how the multi-million-dollar rideshare company can better serve older adults. Today, less than 6% of Lyft's passengers are over 65, according to data provided by the company. This week, Lyft announced 'Lyft Silver' to make their rideshare service more appealing to older adults. Risher thought of his mom, who embodied the desires of many older adults: eager to stay involved with those around them and have easy access to travel. 'The physical world is a really important part of our lived experience, and that is only more true as you get older,' says Risher. The number one priority for Risher during product development was ensuring it would be 'easy for people to use.' The program will, therefore, have bigger fonts and fewer options to choose from. During the research phase, the team also found that older adults feared they would do something wrong on a rideshare platform, which could dissuade them from using it. To address this, Lyft Silver will have a more customer-service-enabled button at the top of the screen to address "everything from 'I'm not sure who my driver is' to 'I think I just put in the wrong destination,'" Risher says. Caregivers and family members are a central part of Lyft Silver. Older adults using the platform can easily share their rides with a loved one or caretaker, who can add money to their balance if needed. And, users will be more often paired with cars that are easier to get in and out of for comfort and space. Lyft partnered with the Foundation for Social Connection Action Network and Self-Help for the Elderly, among other organizations, to help design the feature. This week, the option to switch your interface to silver is open, and the company will enroll up to 25,000 people in the offering. Monitoring user habits will inform whether or not the service is rolled out in full and under a subscription model. "It's really just about trying to get as many people to try it and give us feedback," Risher says. The rideshare's rival, Uber, has launched a similar service as more companies recognize that responding to boomer's needs is a smart economic move.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lyft CEO says he swears by ‘falcon mode' leadership to fight off the ‘enshittification' of his company
Today's leaders must balance big-picture vision with an ability to dive into operational detail. For Lyft CEO David Risher, that dual focus comes to life in what he calls 'Falcon Mode,' a leadership framework inspired by the agility, precision, and instincts of the bird of prey. Unveiled in a recent shareholder letter, Risher's model rests on three pillars: customer obsession, operational excellence, and purpose-driven growth. Like falcons that soar to survey their environment and dive at speed to seize a hunting opportunity, Risher believes leaders must know when to zoom out and when to swoop in. "Once [falcons] see something that might power the next leg of their journey, they'll dive down to capture it, then zoom back up to ensure they stay on track," he wrote. At Lyft, Falcon Mode is his response to what he calls the 'gravitational pull of enshittification,' the slow erosion of product quality in the pursuit of short-term gains. From high altitude, Risher shapes strategy and anticipates market shifts. But he also dives into the details, particularly where customer experience is concerned. Every six weeks, Risher drives for Lyft. In one ride, a commuter flagged how surge pricing disrupted her routine, challenging internal assumptions that prime-time pricing was broadly beneficial. In another, he learned that performance benchmarks masked deeper problems: long wait times and driver cancellations were eroding trust. Those insights led to major changes. Lyft restructured driver incentives, introducing delay pay, route deviation compensation, and clearer earnings, improving the driver experience to better serve riders. A new price lock feature helped ease fare anxiety. The results include $400 million in rider savings, a drop in driver cancellations from 14.4 percent to 5.6 percent, faster average ETAs than Uber, and a reported 20-point lead in rider preference. Still, Risher warns that operational deep dives must be deliberate. 'Once you go deep, it's tempting to take over,' he said. The key is diagnosing high-impact issues without micromanaging—and clearly explaining why the deep dive matters. When executed well, Falcon Mode becomes contagious, says Risher, as teams ask sharper questions, uncover blind spots, and align more tightly around customer needs. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
As Girl Scouts celebrate 113 years, a local camp asking for community help
MARTINEZ, Ga (WJBF)- Wednesday, the Girl Scouts of America is celebrating its 113th birthday. Camps across the country are preparing for an influx of girls, except for one local one. The Girl Scouts are wrapping up cookie season and preparing to head to camp. But with tens of thousands of dollars of work to do on Camp Tanglewood, it's not likely it will be open in time for summer camp. 'I mean, 113 years of legacy. And that is amazing,' exclaimed Shawn Risher, Community Engagement Manager for Girls Scout of Historic Georgia. Girl Scouts is a global organization that empowers young girls to become leaders in their communities. But the organization had humble beginning, starting in Savannah with 18 girls on March 12, 1912. 'All the volunteers and all the staff work really hard to give the girls such a positive pathway into entrepreneurship and self-motivation and, you know, just willingness to be that empowered young lady,' Risher said. Cookies and camp are two words that are synonymous with Girl Scouts. Camp Tanglewood in Martinez has been a fixture for more than 80 years. During Helene it sustained major damage, losing 11 structures. For many who love the camp– seeing the damage was devastating. 'We were actually supposed to be camping the day after, our troop and another troop. We were supposed to be camping there. The cabins we were going to be in had a tree in it. And so just shock and awe and it still, like, makes me cry or get teary, because that would have been awful. But then all the memories,' explained Mona Cox, Youth Coordinator and Troop Co-Leader. We checked in with Camp Tanglewood in November and saw the devastation for ourselves. Now, 4 months later, the camp looks much different with the storm debris cleaned up. 'We've got most everything cabin wise and structure wise tore down and ready to be replaced. We're just waiting on the proper channels to clear up,' said Risher. The Girl Scouts organization has insurance on the camp, but Risher explained that it's not enough to cover the cost of the work. They've set up a GoFundMe, asking for the community's help to raise the $50,000 they still need to rebuild. 'These cabins that were destroyed are being replaced at the value of those cabins. So, you know, you can imagine how old those cabins were. So we you know, we just need a little extra help.' While they won't be open in time for summer camp, the organization is hoping to be ready for one of it's big annual events in September. 'It gives you hope. Everything's going to be okay. It's all going to work out. We're going to rebuild. We'll make new memories. Everything's going to be fine,' said Cox. If you are interested in volunteering or would like to make a donation to the cleanup effort at Camp Tanglewood, you can find their website HERE and the GoFundMe page HERE. Also, in honor of its birthday, the Girl Scout of America will be gifting baby girls born March 12, 2025 with a year of membership once they turn 5. Locally it will be given to baby girls born at Doctors Hospital. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
