Ola vs Zomato: The leadership styles of the CEOs, assuredly are within tabloids in the world of start-ups, where a customer can break or make the company. Two of the big names, Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola Electric, and Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato, are making headlines, but for very different reasons. Their styles of interaction with the customers speak volumes about their personality but this is how these patterns cascade affecting the satisfaction perception of the customers.
The Aggressive Posturing of Bhavish Aggarwal
October 6th was when comedian Kunal Kamra stoked a social media storm when he tweeted an Ola Electric scooter picture reportedly sitting idle in a service center. Instead of agreeing to the very pertinent concerns regarding the quality and safety of his products, Aggarwal continued to enter into a hot exchange with Kamra. Aggarwal’s litany of fiery retorts included personal jabs at Kamra, branding him someone who would malfeit Ola’s image with “paid posts.” Far from signs of dialling back, Aggarwal’s angry retorts were anti-poles repelling potential customers to bring forth his perceived arrogance.
The after-effects of this public spat came into the fore: while OLA CEO Bhavish Aggarwal continued sparring online, his company received about 80,000 monthly complaints about its scooters. Added to that was total disregard for customer complaints, which turned the backlash against him. He was pilloried for his “crass” posturing and the world wondered if his PR machinery could handle such a PR debacle.
Ola vs Zomato – Social Media Reacts
After this heated debate between Kunal Kamra and Bhavish Aggarwal social media erupts with lots of reaction. People are expressing their disagreement with Bhavish behavior and his replies and sharing their Ola vs Zomato posts. One person Shared both tweets of Ola and Zomato CEO and wrote, “I come from India, where we have efficient CEOs and also the opposite. Another person Tweeted, “Ther behaviour is reflected in the products they have built. Arrogance will get you nowhere; always keep learning.”
The strategy undertaken by Deepinder Goyal was empathetic
In sharp contrast to this, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal has won the respect and admiration of all due to his empathetic and hands-on approach to leading. He started taking the Zomato orders lately, so one could understand the issues of the delivery partners, who are facing a lot of problems on the ground. The act of humility combined with a willingness to engage with the reality on the ground of the business became so popular not only amongst the employees but also amongst the customers.
When Goyal was refused entry into a mall while on duty issues about treatment with gig workers began to shine. His proactivity, as he is the one who tweets about improvements in working conditions that he needs, emanates a leader who is very concerned with his team and all the operational problems they are encountering. There would be a form of engagement that brings loyalty and satisfaction into the customers’ lives because they believe in having a CEO who leads from the top but comes out to roll up his sleeves and get involved.
Customer Satisfaction Impact
Conflict between Aggarwal and Goyal validates that a relationship should exist between leadership style and customer satisfaction. The aggressive personality of Aggarwal, along with fostering personal grievances, has tarnished his reputation, which may badly affect the trust of customers towards Ola Electric. Such an incident will affect customers today by escalating the saga of customer experiences and public opinion through social media, and therefore, it may bring long-term effects.
On the other hand, Goyal’s empathy-based leadership approach has earned him recognition and acceptance. He does not hesitate to interact with customers as well as delivery partners, which helps to achieve a good brand image and, therefore, loyalty and satisfaction in turn. Customer retention and growth of companies have tremendous implications in such cases as more and more would be inclined toward those brands that have approachable and understanding leaders.
Two characters could not be any different than Bhavish Aggarwal and Deepinder Goyal; their contrasting behaviors serve as an essential lesson to leaders in this start-up ecosystem. The style with which the CEOs handle criticism and customers may go a long way in determining the reputation of a brand and the eventual customer satisfaction levels. Since loyalty by customers can neither be won easily nor lost, if ever Deepinder draws out and exercises that balanced approach which focuses on empathy and understanding then it will prove to be the key to long-term success.
