Continuing our series featuring Professionals in Sustainability, meet Sharny Mullally, Senior Operations Manager at Uber. She shares insights on sustainability and her vision for the future of transportation.
1. What is one book that has helped you in your career that you recommend to others? Required to answer.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
2. What is one concept that has most helped you in your career/role & why?
Customer centricity, always thinking about the customer experience and ensuring sustainability strategies align with the best possible customer experience.
3. What is one podcast or newsletter that you subscribe to, and love? (Related to sustainability or your role)Required to answer.
Volts by David Roberts
4. What is one jargon/acronym that you think is important to understand for your career/role & why?
There are so many electric vehicle acronyms and jargon... perhaps the most important is understanding Kilowatt hour (kWh) so that you can make sense of how different charging speeds and battery ranges work. Kilowatt hour is the energy transferred in one hour by 1,000 watts of power. EV batteries are measured in kWh.
5. What is one person or organisation that you follow that inspires you in your career/role & why?
Not a person or organisation, and maybe this is biased but I'm really inspired by the "One Less Car Initiative" Uber are running in Australia which intends to reduce private car ownership and use in major cities (ideally through increased public transport, walking/cycling modalities and some uber/taxi where needed) I'm inspired by the future of transport being less and less in privately owned internal combustion vehicles.
https://www.uber.com/au/en/u/one-less-car/
6. What skill(s) do you think is/are most important for your career/role & why?
Stakeholder Management: In order to meet our electrification targets, my role requires me to influence and collaborate with cross-functional teams across the business to prioritize our EV initiatives.
EV expertise: Having a good understanding of electric vehicles, how they work and market trends, allows me my team to make informed decisions. . Business acumen: I also need to possess an understanding of all the factors that influence business profitability and success, so that I can partner with the wider business to prioritize reaching our electrification goals.
Problem-solving: My role requires me to use problem-solving skills to identify the root causes of issues and test solutions to drive EV growth.
7. If you could make one change in the world that would help your sector what would it be?
More government investment in electric vehicle subsidies, particularly for low to medium income earners, & in building public charging infrastructure.
Links to Sharny’s recommendations:
Thinking, Fast and Slow - https://www.google.es/books/edition/Thinking_Fast_and_Slow/ZuKTvERuPG8C?hl=en&gbpv=0
Volts by David Roberts - https://www.volts.wtf/podcast
One Less Car - https://www.uber.com/au/en/u/one-less-car/
