Dara Khosrowshahi doesn't have time for your hot takes.

Since taking over as Uber's CEO six years ago, Khosrowshahi has taken a beating from critics. Most acknowledge that Khosrowshahi has had a difficult task – turning around a toxic culture – but they also claim he hasn't done enough to leverage the company's potential since then.

Take Uber's former chief business officer Emil Michael. On a podcast earlier this year, Michael admitted that he and former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick left Khosrowshahi with "challenges." 

Khosrowshahi worked out those challenges, said Michael, because he was a better diplomat, and someone who the press simply "liked a lot more" than him and Kalanick. But likability and effectiveness, said Michael, are separate things.

"Ideally you want to be both," Michael said. "[Khosrowshahi] clearly ranks high in the likability score. But from an effectiveness standpoint, if you're measuring by stock price, that's been a D or a D-minus."

Michael also goes on to criticize Uber for getting "whooped" by DoorDash in the US food delivery business. The reason?

"Tony Zhu [DoorDash's CEO] is an entrepreneur," Michael said. "Not sort of a, you know, caretaker, diplomat type CEO."

When confronted with Michael's comments in a recent interview with Wired, Khosrowshahi had a perfect response.

"These are sound bites," said Khosrowshahi. "I don't label people. If you're a founder, you have your strengths and weaknesses. And if you're a professional CEO, you have your strengths and weaknesses. I have a lot of respect for Tony. I think we've got the best team in the business and a competitive advantage in scale and in our platform. So, I'll let the results speak."

Khosrowshahi's reply is full of lessons in emotional intelligence, the ability to balance and manage emotions. But five words really stick out: 

"I'll let the results speak."

Just a few hours after Khosrowshahi's reply was published, the world found out via a quarterly earnings call what Khosrowshahi already knew: 

Uber had become profitable. 

Yes, for the first time since the company began reporting earnings, Uber reported a quarterly profit – to the tune of $326 million in operating income for the second quarter. And Khosrowshahi says the company plans to be profitable every quarter moving forward.

Let's analyze why Khosrowshahi's response is so valuable, and see what business owners can learn from it. (If you enjoy this article, check out my free emotional intelligence course, which will help you and your team build emotional intelligence.) 

How to reply with emotional intelligence: Focus on results

As a business owner, it's easy to get distracted by noise from critics. 

Sometimes, that noise takes the form of a thoughtless comment. Other times, it may be a sound bite that's been taken out of context. And, yes, sometimes it's a direct attack on your performance, or even your character.

It's easy to take comments like this personally. But doing so is self-defeating. When you sit and fume – or, even worse, expend extra energy responding to those comments – you lose time and distract yourself from your primary goals.

That's why this response is so great.

With just five words, Khosrowshahi:

• Doesn't take the comments personally
• Avoids getting baited into a meaningless fight
• Shifts focus to what really matters

In doing so, Khosrowshahi provides a real-life case study in emotional intelligence, and shows how to make emotions work for you, instead of against you.

So, the next time someone criticizes you, or relays criticism from someone else, resist the urge to take offense. Instead, stay focused on what's important and ...

Let the results speak for themselves.

Inc