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Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

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Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#81
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.

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#82
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. I've had positive experiences interacting with Uber support. The few times I've contacted them via the app to report an issue with a ride I've gotten a response relatively qu…

>But that's not what any of the recent talk about Uber is about. The issues are about being there as an employee, the culture they promote, and the values they espouse. I really think it is related, though. Those values flow from the top down, and when executives set the tone for treating people unfairly the rest of the business will suffer down to the lowest level of employees.

That's what media has you believe. And you fell for it, and probably made them some money with pageviews.

Sure there are many problems with Uber, but user-facing is not one. You saying 'I really think it's related' is just your opinion, and every ordinary person I know (who don't hate them for social justice purposes) love Uber and their service.

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#83
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 kalanick and early investor control the class B stocks, which means they control the voting power. Additionally kalanick has been outspoken about running uber himself so its unlikely that he'll step down.

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many items on that list aren't actually bad things, they're just described using language with negative connotations. For example >Uber breaks laws all around the world to enrich itself, including allegedly trying to deceive government officials across the world.[4] Detecting malicious users and protecting drivers by shadowbanning malicious users is neither illegal nor wrong. Uber has no legal nor moral obligation to…

> Uber has no legal nor moral obligation to help the governments entrap its drivers, or perform sting operations. Uber does, however, have obligations to obey the law. Part of which would include not using technology to hide law-breaking actions from local law enforcement.

[deleted]

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#85
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?

Why replace him? He's publicly unpopular but the company is worth more than ever, and the investors care most about money.

Why get rid of him when they're plenty of ways to spin the narrative. Like making unrelated but scandalous sounding press releases, and finding an occasional fall guy

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#86
post #60

Update 1: > Travis Kalanick just sent out a company-wide email. It essentially says after Uber said it was naming a COO, Jones decided to leave. [0] https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/843586902817099777 Update 2: Ex-president Jones makes statement > "I joined Uber because of its Mission [sic], and the challenge to build global capabilities that would help the company mature and thrive long-term. "It is now clear, h…

The content of that internal email is at the bottom of this article: http://www.businessinsider.com/report-ubers-president-jeff-j...

Kalanick certainly wanted to put his spin on the reason for leaving.

"After we announced our intention to hire a COO, Jeff came to the tough decision that he doesn't see his future at Uber."

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#87
post #10
post #8

Uber doesn't have a prayer of rehabilitation until Kalanick himself goes. The rot goes straight up to him. Jeff Jones was a much more recent acquisition who came from staid corporate America (Target) -- I don't think he was the problem.

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."

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber has no legal nor moral obligation to help the governments entrap its drivers, or perform sting operations. Uber does, however, have obligations to obey the law. Part of which would include not using technology to hide law-breaking actions from local law enforcement.

> Part of which would include not using technology to hide law-breaking actions from local law enforcement. I very much doubt there's a legal clause specifying that uber has to provide service to undercover agents. If there was, I expect uber's legal department would not allow that program to go through.

If you're lying to a government agency, that's almost certainly breaking some law. I suspect that Illinois's §31-4 applies here (assuming this were in Illinois):

(a) A person obstructs justice when, with intent to prevent the apprehension or obstruct the prosecution or defense of any person, he or she knowingly commits any of the following acts:

(1) Destroys, alters, conceals or disguises physical evidence, plants false evidence, furnishes false information

(I'm not sure if the "prevent the apprehension or obstruct the prosecution or defense" would apply case, but I'm not about to try traipsing through Illinois law decisions to find precedence).

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#89
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?

Re: Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting

#90
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 kalanick and early investor control the class B stocks, which means they control the voting power. Additionally kalanick has been outspoken about running uber himself so its unlikely that he'll step down.

Im guessing if uber crashes and burns, it will make investors re-evaluate stock-but-no-control deals.
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