The blueprint on how to become a CEO whisperer (spoiler alert: there is no blueprint)

Career paths can be linear, with progressive upwards moves towards a set destination. But more often they involve sideways moves, backward twists and turns and sometimes we land somewhere completely different to what we planned. But most people would agree with Jodie Auster, Strategic Advisor to the CEO, that regardless of which path you take “every move has value”.

We sat down with Jodie to find out how she landed in her role as Strategic Advisor to the CEO and what she learnt along the way that contributes to her success today, even if she didn’t plan it that way!

“I have a partner, Rachael, a son who’s almost 13 and a daughter who is 9. Outside of work I spend a lot of time with my partner and kids. I am also part of an amateur choir and do my best to keep fit through walking and peloton. I love music and seeing live gigs – broadway shows, old bands at local hotels. So that’s a bit about me!”

“I do a lot of cross-functional global strategy work and projects of all types that drive the business to deliver on our strategic goals. These can be varied and wide-ranging depending on the business priorities and needs at the time. I run the Executive Leadership Team weekly meeting agenda which means I work closely with Dara’s direct reports and their teams. I also try to engage with anyone else that comes to present to help them position their work in the right way so they can have an effective conversation, because it’s a different forum to what most are used to. Several times per year, I drive the agenda and content for leadership team strategy days. I am an observer in some portions of Uber’s global Board meetings. I also spend time with Dara every week to discuss a mix of tactical and strategic topics.” 

“We actually approach problems differently and so sometimes I can push him to see things in a different way while other times, it’s a great learning opportunity for me as I never would have thought of that issue in a particular way. A big part of my role is really understanding how he thinks and what trade offs he is making. That helps me to understand why a decision is being made which I can then communicate to others, because sometimes that context gets lost and doesn’t get communicated. You can have a lot of impact by just giving context to people.”

“It wasn’t intentional. Before I joined Uber I was a VP at a venture capital backed company in San Francisco, which felt like a very big and important role. When we moved back to Australia, I spoke to Uber about a General Manager role in Melbourne. Uber in Melbourne was only 6 months old at the time and I had an 8 person team and a tiny P&L. I felt like I had to swallow my pride a little but it was such a great entry point to learn about Uber and I now know that every move has value.

We then shifted away from city based leadership and there was a competitive process for the GM of Australia role. That was the obvious next step for me so I went for it. I think what surprised me about that role was how broad it was because the business was growing very quickly. I spent more than half my time on policy, comms, legal, tax, recruiting, sales etc and learnt truly holistic general management and leadership. 

I later stepped up to the APAC Regional General Manager role which gave me the opportunity to lead diverse cultures and businesses across the region. At that level you have a voice on the global leadership team and so being able to really shape the global strategy was a great opportunity. This was a tough gig during the pandemic so once we made it through the other side I needed a change.

So I then went into what was supposed to be a short term strategic projects role to drive organizational effectiveness. It was my first IC role in more than a decade and I had to figure out how to do everything myself end-to-end. I worked on a variety of things from consumer strategy to the experience for an Earner that loses access to the platform. This evolved into my role today, reporting to Dara doing a combination of strategy and chief of staff work. Every move has enhanced the skills and relationships that I now rely on in my current role.”

“Taking the time to get to know people beyond the work that they do. It makes a difference in so many ways through the relationship and the loyalty that it builds. The pace and scale that we operate within at Uber means you can easily become super transactional and task focused. I like asking someone how their child is doing by that child’s name–it is so easy and powerful. That’s one thing that I really go out of my way to do and that in turn has helped me build a very big informal network of people that I can ping with questions or for context, or to check anything and that has been a very useful ingredient to my success here. It’s so enriching for me and I also think it just makes me better at my job when I hear all of those different perspectives.”

Interested in starting your own journey at Uber? Explore open roles →