If you’re a San Francisco resident, beware: The cyclist whizzing past you might be Lyft’s new CEO. David Risher, who drinks a lot of coffee, rides to the ride-sharing company every day, where he often holds meetings or checks out products.
Risher’s day starts between 6:30am and 7am, he says wealth— an early riser, but one that fits the schedules of many employees better than other pre-dawn CEOs.
“My mother was a firm believer that the early bird gets the worm,” he said. “So it’s a lifelong thing. I used to deliver newspapers a long time ago.”
For the 58-year-old, the can of worms is the ride-sharing titan he inherited in its recent heyday. Lyft has struggled with declining market share and low morale wall street journal The report said.and Fierce competition From Uber and difficult to navigate Post-pandemic marketLyft then hired Rischer to help turn the company around. Rischer is a graduate of Harvard Business School and worked at Microsoft and Amazon in the 90s. In his four months as the company’s CEO so far, Rischer has already made waves by issuing a slew of bonds. downsizing And forced to return to the office.
His day is meticulous, rigorous, and sometimes offbeat, filled with typical meetings, bike rides, and Starbucks runs.he’s gone wealth Although he is the CEO, his day-to-day life is not that different from most employees.
coffee, coffee, coffee
6:30 am: Risher woke up before warming up. “I do some exercise in the morning, just stretching on the floor,” he said, adding that he’s been doing it for the past 15 years.
It all started when he went to the surgeon with back pain and said the surgeon basically wanted to “get out the knife and start cutting me.” Looking for an alternative, he went to a strength and conditioning coach who helped him develop an exercise and stretching routine that he now “does every morning … I do it kind of religiously.”
Then he drank his morning espresso — “I’ve been drinking coffee for years,” he says — while getting a little exercise and perusing his phone. He says his phone calls are “pretty regular” as he scrolls through Twitter, Threads and news. “I actually try to leave an email later because I want to get things together and actually see New York Times A little bit,” he added. “Before other people start asking me about things, I try to understand what happened that day. ”
Rischer also never skips breakfast, at which point he reverts to the old-fashioned way of consuming news by reading a newspaper. San Francisco Chronicle, Delivered to his home every morning.
8:30 am: Risher says he’s “lucky” because he lives just a 20-minute bike ride from Lyft’s offices, so he rides his Lyft bike to work every day. He usually grabs a second cup of coffee at Starbucks along the way and uses an app to order ahead. “I’m a regular there and literally when I walk in they’re already saying hello and making me coffee,” he said.
9 am: Risher arrived at the work place and waited for a few minutes. He almost always has time with his team, what he calls a goal-driven team. On Mondays, this means group meetings lasting several hours, but other times meetings are usually one-on-one. “That’s always the top priority,” he noted. Company meetings are also held monthly, and as Rischer points out, they try to “overcommunicate with our employees as we go through so much change.” He also met with the finance team.
“I spend a lot of time in meetings with other people, but we’re also very strict with our schedule during the day,” he said, adding that it’s basically less, if not more free time. He likes to spend unscheduled time “walking around the big loop” on the Lyft campus, chatting with other people and seeing how they’re doing.
The day often also includes product reviews where they explore new features they want to roll out, always talking about the journey from a customer perspective.
lunch time: Risher said he often finds himself eating lunch at his desk in the afternoon, but has lunch once or twice a week with team members or at Lyft’s cafeteria. Inspired by his vegetarian daughter, he says he tries to “eat a little veggie” because it’s healthier and better for the planet.
But he said he didn’t like Lyft’s “basic food service,” which typically includes salads, pizza and soup. So he hopes to do an “Iron Chef” level challenge in the next few weeks before everyone goes back to the office, “where we can bring in people who basically ate the same thing every day for the last year and say, ” Well, you’re going to show us how to use these ingredients to put together and make it really fun. ”
Rischer would also take a quick walk during her lunch break to “breathe and think” or call her kids. To keep his caffeine levels high, he usually drinks a cup of matcha tea. “As you know, I’m kind of obsessed with Starbucks,” he admits.
5:30 to 6:30 afternoon: After a long day at work, Rischer hops home on his bike and connects to “the physical world, not just the virtual world of the screen.”
While every night is different, Risher said he hits the gym “very religiously” a few times a week. He also gets along very well with his wife, often watching TV together or calling the children.
10:50pm: Rischer usually spends the last half hour of the evening unwinding with reading, which he says is a lifelong hobby and helps him see the world from a different perspective.he will also work on New York Times’ A spelling bee or some kind of puzzle, “just to get my mind into a different space.”
He also responds to emails a little bit to get something done or get ready for the next day without going completely off-net.
11:20pm: The lights went out, and “a new day has begun.”
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