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Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

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Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#91

Post by prostoalex »

loudin wrote: post #77

Serious question - why hasn't the Uber board replaced Kalanick yet? While it is indisputable he successfully brought Uber to where it is now, it doesn't seem like he has the good judgement to be leading Uber at this stage of the company's lifecycle. Wouldn't the best thing for the company at this point be a complete overhaul of leadership?

Because the boards act in structural manner, rather than by spur of emotion.

The new CEO will most likely get some key performance objectives related to current problems as well as revenue (or margin) growth.

If there's a reason to believe TK can commit and be evaluated against the same indicators, the incumbent CEO is a better choice since no time is wasted on onboarding and getting familiar with the business. If he refuses to commit or commits and is then unable to execute, now that stipulates a much more productive board discussion on how the current CEO should step away to let a "more mature" or "more tenured" CEO that can execute against those objectives.

So if any resignation is imminent, expect it in 3-6 months, not now.

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#92

Post by bigiain »

rickycook wrote: post #35
taude wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. There's enough social awareness that people don't want to support a company run by jerks like Travis Kalanick. In an era with socially conscious consumers, integrity of leadership matters. It is easy enough to switch to Lyft (I live in major metropolitan area) without any inconvenience. And the Lyft driver's I've talked with about all the controversy say they make more $$$ and are happier driving for Lyft.

i wish that were true outside the US :( i really really want lyft here in AU so that i can ditch uber as it stands, the options are taxis and not getting private transport, which is the option i've taken when it's not too inconvenient

FWIW, at least here in Sydney, the taxi people have significantly upped their game. The Silver Service app is close-to as good as the Uber one (at least from a rider's point of view, the drivers prefer the Uber app).

Another interesting thing I've noticed, my taxi trips for a few commonly used trips turn out to be occasionally cheaper, and rarely more than 5 or 10% more expensive than the Uber rides I used to use... (And that includes getting home at 1am on the nighttime surcharge rate here in Sydney...)

As a friend commented on Twitter recently: "it's pretty hard to make taxi owners look good - (not drivers, most drivers NOT owners) but Uber's making it happen"

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#93

Post by jacquesm »

TorKlingberg wrote: post #57
tyingq wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The short tenure, job description, and his history makes this bit believable: "Jones determined that the situation at the company was more problematic than he realized."

Yes, this clearly looks like Jones getting out before his reputation is sullied by further association with Uber's leadership.

The most likely thing that happened was that Jones said 'you go or I go' and that that ended with him going.

Without inside knowledge that's speculative but this is how these things usually play out when founders dig in against a new outsider.

The letter feels like spin to reduce the feeling of a fractured company towards the rest of the cadre. Not that they will be fooled (for long, anyway).

Anyway, it's Travis Kalanick's ship to sink if he so desires so Jones is right to leave, but if I were him I would not wait too long before coming to my senses. The Uber brand is starting to look damaged beyond repair and they still have not begun with the salvaging operation, things are only getting worse.

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#94

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Jare wrote: post #16
aphextron wrote: post #13

I really hope that Uber serves as a warning to companies who think they can ignore customer complaints. I've never dealt with such an opaque company in my entire life, in terms of getting any actual human support whatsoever regarding anything.

Google wants to have a word with you. Or rather, they don't want to, and won't let you if you do.

I pay for Google Apps. Their phone support is excellent. They literally built a feature for me (compliance-related tags in Vault) within a few days of my call.

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#96

Post by Gargoyle »

kosei wrote: post #87
tyingq wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The short tenure, job description, and his history makes this bit believable: "Jones determined that the situation at the company was more problematic than he realized."

Not sure if this update came before the HN share, but this is a very explosive statement from Jones: “It is now clear, however, that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business."

Yeah, good luck getting another career corporate exec after someone leaving says something like that in an official statement.

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#97

Post by Gargoyle »

whalesalad wrote: post #81
loudin wrote: post #77

Serious question - why hasn't the Uber board replaced Kalanick yet? While it is indisputable he successfully brought Uber to where it is now, it doesn't seem like he has the good judgement to be leading Uber at this stage of the company's lifecycle. Wouldn't the best thing for the company at this point be a complete overhaul of leadership?

You say that -- and externally the place looks like a catastrophe -- but we don't know what's going on under the covers. If they saw him as a true risk he'd be gone by now.

The question is when does he become a liability for the IPO aka VC exit?

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#98

Post by icelancer »

bogomipz wrote: post #95

What is the role of "President" of the company? Where does that title fit in to an org chart or relate to the C-level execs? I am not familiar with this title in tech companies.

I am the President of my company, and the founder. I gave up the CEO title to someone who bought a piece of my business. The way we split it is:

President (me): Head of corporate strategy, networking, and vision. (I also am the acting CTO but that's kind of not relevant here)

CEO (him): Fiscal policy, hiring planning, org chart projections, etc. He is the main executor of plans and also somewhat the Chief Revenue Officer. He's also the COO and his work is more meaningful in being the ops director, actually.

I loved giving up the CEO title. I don't want it back. Ever.

EDIT: Essentially the President title is flexible. In my company's case, I am the head of the entity and the buck stops with me for 85-90% of use cases across 30+ employees. But that's not always the case.

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#99

Post by thedarkginger »

notyourwork wrote: post #55
itchyjunk wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same, I scan trough comments way more than I scan through articles.

So we might as well paste the articles in the comments section?

Thought it was useful to give the reason he was quitting, as indicated by the text.

Guess it didn't help here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#100

Post by bsg75 »

btian wrote: post #89
bsg75 wrote: post #21

> He is leaving after apparently deciding the current controversies are too much to handle. Not exactly leadership material. Edit: Apparently an unpopular opinion. Do those here think otherwise given he joined the company less than a year ago (and is thus not part of the original culture), but instead could try to repair the damage done by the uber-bro culture instead of looking for an easier paycheck?

you know he's not the CEO right?

Correct, he was president. Not exactly unempowered.
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