Many professionals would jump at the idea of helming a billion-dollar company—after all, the top job comes with power , prestige, and a sizable pay bump . But when Lyft CEO David Risher was offered the chief executive role two years ago on Valentine’s Day, he was anything but ecstatic.

“My phone rings, and the [Lyft] board chair, Sean Aggarwal, is on the line, and he says, ‘David, we’ve got an offer we think you can’t refuse,’” Risher said in a recent interview with The Verge. “And I’m preparing myself for, ‘We want you to be the chair of the audit committee.’ Some terrible thing that he’s trying to butter me up for.”

Risher had been serving on the board since 2021—but as it turns out, Aggarwal wasn’t trying to convince him to lead the business’ financial reports. Lyft’s two

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