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Uber CEO to take leave

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Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#61

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

dvt wrote: post #21

I really don't buy the Travis Kalanik hate. Yeah, Uber started out as your typical SV unicorn (bro warts and all). Yeah, Uber's entire business model can be described as "grey-area" at best and its business practices as sometimes exploitative. But this is exactly how you're supposed to run a massively successful startup in its first decade. This is exactly how FB started out. And this follows every rule in the startu…

>But this is exactly how you're supposed to run a massively successful startup in its first decade.

Is this sort of behavior what we'd like to condone? I mean you even admit that its business practices are sometimes exploitative and that's what? How we're supposed to do things? "Grey-area" is a pretty large understatement as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber_protests_and_legal_action...

>There was literally nothing wrong with the email

4) Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic "YES! I will have sex with you" AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command. Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip. #CEOLife #FML

How do you not see the problem with this? Travis is a full-grown adult, he's not even some kid fresh out of college and this is the culture he's setting? We've already seen the results of this culture through Susan Fowler and others.

>Uber is a cultural phenomenon that arguably has more longevity than something like Facebook.

Well first it needs to run a profit...

>I just think he's been treated unfairly because of his playboy flair, but he's actually a pretty smart, ruthless business leader. Even this story tries hard to dehumanize him

Travis is the worst vision of this sort of techno-utopian capitalism. He's a billionaire running a company which can't make a profit. A business which breaks the laws in almost every country it enters, which doesn't seek to even understand why the regulation it is breaking exists in the first place. He runs the company like a frat house. This company also has two viable paths to profit:

  1) Become a monopoly and raise prices.
  2) Automate his employees (drivers) away.
You're right, Travis has been ruthless so I'm not so sure why we need to put on the kid gloves when we talk about him or his company.

Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#62

Post by brepl »

PatrickAuld wrote: post #20

Culture comes from the top and Uber's is pretty rotten. I did an interview there this year and it was the most aggressive questioning I've ever had. Two of 5 interviewers were really in my face while architecting systems; it was bizarre and I almost walked out. Nothing compared to the 'cultural' interview where there gave me an example of them knowingly breaking the law because "they knew they were right" and then as…

> in the end they never returned my calls or contacted me to say if I got the job or not.

You didn't get the job.

Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#63

Post by m12r »

burkaman wrote: post #41
dvt wrote: post #21

I really don't buy the Travis Kalanik hate. Yeah, Uber started out as your typical SV unicorn (bro warts and all). Yeah, Uber's entire business model can be described as "grey-area" at best and its business practices as sometimes exploitative. But this is exactly how you're supposed to run a massively successful startup in its first decade. This is exactly how FB started out. And this follows every rule in the startu…

> this is exactly how you're supposed to run a massively successful startup in its first decade. Why? Can you not think of any massively successful startups that didn't rely on exploitative grey-area business practices?

Can you?

Microsoft Antitrust nightmare that probably set them back 5 years. Google for invading our privacy, they are still fighting big important battles in Europe. Facebook for similar privacy invasion, the whole beacon debacle.

There are a lot of things that they probably did wrong, but not to the extend that the press is picturing it.

Agreed 100% w/ dvt.

Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#64

Post by barsonme »

rajathagasthya wrote: post #45
dvt wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber has 12000 employees; 20 were reprimanded for sexual harassment. That's 0.001%

What percentage do you need it to be to acknowledge sexual harassment is a problem in that company?

Why not flip it around a bit: what percentage do you think?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating for Uber or sexual harassment or any nonsense like that.

I (seriously) just want to know if you're advocating for giving every company with a > 0.0% harassment rate the Uber treatment.

Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#65

Post by navalsaini »

PatrickAuld wrote: post #20

Culture comes from the top and Uber's is pretty rotten. I did an interview there this year and it was the most aggressive questioning I've ever had. Two of 5 interviewers were really in my face while architecting systems; it was bizarre and I almost walked out. Nothing compared to the 'cultural' interview where there gave me an example of them knowingly breaking the law because "they knew they were right" and then as…

> never returned my calls or contacted me to say if I got the job or not.

That is very unprofessional. Saddens to hear that.

Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#66

Post by rising-sky »

dvt wrote: post #21

I really don't buy the Travis Kalanik hate. Yeah, Uber started out as your typical SV unicorn (bro warts and all). Yeah, Uber's entire business model can be described as "grey-area" at best and its business practices as sometimes exploitative. But this is exactly how you're supposed to run a massively successful startup in its first decade. This is exactly how FB started out. And this follows every rule in the startu…

Just because someone is "really smart" does not give them license to be "really dumb" when it comes to enabling an inclusive culture, in a company where they have the responsibility of being it's CEO: vis-a-viz, being responsible for the company's employees.

He facilitated a workplace culture that, whether my omission or commission, was toxic for some of the people who worked there. Even if that was 0.001% and he wasn't demonstrably trying to bring that number down, he failed. Being a CEO is not "just" about bringing in profits at any cost, including that of the welfare of the employees.

Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#67

Post by redm »

PatrickAuld wrote: post #20

Culture comes from the top and Uber's is pretty rotten. I did an interview there this year and it was the most aggressive questioning I've ever had. Two of 5 interviewers were really in my face while architecting systems; it was bizarre and I almost walked out. Nothing compared to the 'cultural' interview where there gave me an example of them knowingly breaking the law because "they knew they were right" and then as…

That aggressive nature is both the reason they have problems and the reason they have been so successful.

Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#69

Post by tedmiston »

> The recommendations included reviewing Mr. Kalanick’s responsibilities and reallocating them, with an increased emphasis on a chief operating officer at the company.

Does that mean moving him from CEO into more of a COO role, or bringing on a COO and reallocating those responsibilities to that person?

Re: Uber CEO to take leave

#70

Post by TarpitCarnivore »

dvt wrote: post #39
exogeny wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He presided over a culture of widespread sexual harassment that has been echoed repeatedly by multiple employees and you don't really understand why he's being criticized? Cool story, bro.

Uber has 12000 employees; 20 were reprimanded for sexual harassment. That's 0.001%

20 out of 200 cases found by the investigation. Who knows how many others were not logged or never reported.
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