Assume that you, as CEO, chose to make the decision whether or not to go fully into autonomous cars solely by yourself - an entirely individual decision. Based on what is known about individual decision-making biases, identify three recurring biases (that often happen to smart, well-meaning people) and illustrate how they could happen in this context. Next, integrate the six-domains of leadership model, and describe if you, the CEO, can still inspire and support your team, even after making the decision alone. Make sure to discuss the importance of credibility, trust, and a sense of community to inspire and support your team. In addition, what types of conflict you expect? Finally, considering everything we've covered throughout Leading Organizations what would be your top people-based priority, as CEO, to ensure the employees you have working on the autonomous Ride service will be successful in their roles? Please justify your response.

Appendix I

RIDE: A STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS IN THE AGE OF DRIVERLESS CARS

You are an entrepreneur, and about 6 years ago you launched your most successful business venture: a ride-sharing service called "Ride" that is currently available in more than 400 cities across the United States. Two years ago the company went public amidst much fanfare, but share prices have leveled-off.

Ride contracts with over 35,000 drivers each month. Drivers work as often as they wish and set their own hours. Drivers use their own cars and decide their own hours. Passengers use a smart phone application (the Ride app) to request a ride and Ride drivers in the area use the same app to accept their request. Typically, drivers make $20 an hour in fares. With maintenance, insurance, and gas factored in, most drivers net $10 an hour. According to Ride's internal records, 40% of its drivers are driving as a second job to help make ends meet, while 27% rely on Ride as their primary income. Approximately 33% of Ride's drivers are working to finance their education. Ride's drivers are extremely loyal and most stay with the company for many years.

One example of a Ride driver is Amelia Maher, a single mother of two who began driving when she was laid off from her job during the recession. Driving for Ride was one of the few jobs that could allow her to work during the hours her children were in school so that she would not have to pay for daycare and could stay home when they were sick. She has been with the company for nearly five years now and her loyalty has not wavered. Another such driver is William Bednarz. William drives for a few hours each day before his night shift as a janitor at the local high school begins. He first began driving when his daughter was applying to college and he realized how expensive the next few years would be. Driving for Ride helped William pay for her college experience and even after she graduated, he continued to drive because he enjoys meeting new and interesting people.

To stay ahead of competition from Uber, Lyft, and other upstarts, Ride needs a new path to guarantee its success, growth, and competitive edge into the future. Shareholders seem restless. You must think long term. Recently you learned that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers predicts that by 2040, 75% of the vehicles on the road will be autonomous. You are wondering about the pros and cons of Ride moving to a driver-less business model. On one hand, it would require an enormous amount of capital to purchase fleets of autonomous vehicles, but - after the initial major expense - the cars would only require routine maintenance and could work 24/7/365 without ever taking bathroom breaks. Plus, such a bold move would remove the most expensive element of Ride's current cost structure: drivers. Furthermore, in the transitionary period, to avoid capital expenditures on autonomous vehicles, you are cautiously optimistic that an autonomous vehicle rental option may develop in the market, avoiding the need for Ride to buy the vehicles.

Currently, there are a few major autonomous vehicle manufacturers competing with each other to control the marketplace. Most of the manufacturers compete on production efficiency to be able to supply the market in the most cost-competitive way. Because these cars are completely autonomous, these companies have had to make difficult decisions concerning how the car is programmed to deal with potentially dangerous situations. For example, some companies are programming their cars to protect the passengers as a first priority, even if it means risking the lives of those outside of the car; while other manufacturers are taking the opposite approach and programming their cars to protect those outside the car, even at the expense of the passengers. New laws haven't been passed to address all these issues, so first movers are taking significant legal and ethical risks with regard to allocation of potentially deadly accidental harm.

Where you choose to focus your operations may impact your choice over programmed safety features: for example urban center versus suburban service. This target customer may impact your ride-service pricing model as well. You are getting very sophisticated in your data collection and analytics, and are spotting more and more opportunities for customizing prices across customer segments. Clearly some riders have willingness to pay for your services that exceeds the willingness to pay from others.

You must develop a plan to ensure the long-term growth, competitive strength, and continued success of Ride, including a decision about whether Ride should adopt an autonomous car strategy. Your plan requires consideration of a variety of business factors, technological challenges, legal concerns, ethical values, public policy implications, and other corporate responsibilities. This is going to be tough.