Travis Kalanick did not build Uber into a global force by playing nice.
Mr. Kalanick, the chief executive of Uber, a ride-hailing service, aggressively pushed the start-up into new markets, taking combative stances toward regulators and the powerful taxi industry — and the news media.
But Mr. Kalanick and his team have begun to trade the art of Sun Tzu for a full-throated charm offensive.
In January, Mr. Kalanick delivered a speech in Munich filled with talk about compromising with regulators he once sparred with, wanting to “make 2015 the year where we establish partnerships with new European cities.” The company also released two rosy, data-heavy reports about the service’s advantages on cities, drivers and communities. And on Friday, in an uncommon display of humility, Uber pledged to strengthen its user data privacy practices, acknowledging that “we haven’t always gotten it right.”
The striking reversal in tone comes at a crucial time for Uber, which once somewhat prided itself on its antagonistic attitude. The company is now valued by investors at over $40 billion after the most recent round of financing, largely on the promise of rapid growth. To build a business worthy of that valuation, though, the company must prove to investors that it can continue its breakneck pace of expansion in markets abroad at the same rate it has domestically.
And to reach those targets, the company will almost certainly need better relations with governments around the world.
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“It’s not fun for Uber’s employees, who are bright and mostly wonderful, to have to keep explaining to their friends why they work for” an organization that would act that way, one person close to the company said.
Some also noted that Uber had partnerships with image-conscious companies like Spotify, United Airlines and Starbucks, and that future partnerships could be at risk if its reputation did not improve.
Mr. Kalanick seems to be getting the message. As he indicated in Munich, by working with, instead of against, regulators in Europe and the Asia Pacific region, the company stands a much better chance of sustaining its rapid expansion.
“Unless they examine the costs as well as the rewards of this kind of reflexive pugnacious stance, they run the risk of having the carpet pulled out from underneath them, regardless of the quality of their service,” Mr. van Bever, the Harvard Business School professor, said.
A version of this article appears in print on February 2, 2015, on page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Hard-Charging Uber Tries Olive Branch. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
