Tag: Uber

The purple prose of Shervin Pishevar: the limits of passion at work

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Investor Shervin Pishevar wrote a letter defending his friend, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, as investors attempted to eject him from Uber’s board of directors. It’s the most florid business communication you’ll ever see. In a moment of passion, you may be tempted to write like this. Don’t — it’ll come back to haunt you. … Continued

Garrett Camp brings mild and meaningless words to the Uber disaster

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Uber has repeatedly screwed up. Its CEO, President, CMO, and CFO are gone. Now Uber cofounder and chairman Garrett Camp says things are going to get better. Sorry, Garrett, but hoping is not a viable plan. Peter Drucker said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” At Uber, both are broken. The win-at-all-costs culture has generated a … Continued

Uber just ensured that their toxic culture will persist

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Uber’s culture is aggressive with questionable ethics. Yesterday they announced the reforms they will make, and also said CEO Travis Kalanick would take a leave. Kalanick’s leave will ensure that none of the proposed cultural changes will happen. Everything Uber did wrong OK, that heading is inaccurate. I haven’t got space to list everything Uber did wrong in … Continued

United Airlines and the cost of being hated

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I’ve analyzed lots of corporate screwups in this space. Most of those companies will recover just fine. But a few now have a permanent reputation for being a bad and hated company, with real costs that will continue for decades. Let’s look at some of the corporate stupidity on display in the last year or so and … Continued

As Uber president Jeff Jones quits, CEO Travis Kalanick ignores the toxic context

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The bad news at Uber keeps on coming. This weekend, its President of Ridesharing and second-in-command, Jeff Jones, quit after only six months. This was an opportunity for Uber’s founder and CEO, Travis Kalanick, to take responsibility for problems that contributed to this departure. He failed. The context for the Jeff Jones departure First, some background. … Continued

The Uber lesson: behave like an asshole and people never forget

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What’s Uber’s future? Consider these three principles: If you frequently and publicly behave like an asshole, people think that’s who you are. If you behave like an asshole with employees, contractors, regulators, competitors, and reporters, then you’ll be seen as an asshole, regardless of how nice you are to customers. It’s very hard to recover … Continued

The Waymo-Uber lawsuit: how to call someone a thief

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Waymo, the autonomous-car division of Google’s parent Alphabet, is suing Uber and its autonomous car division Otto. Waymo claims Otto stole its intellectual property. To win a battle like that, you need credible facts and an unemotional approach. Waymo does it pretty well. As I described earlier this week in another case against Uber (it’s been a … Continued

Why the Susan J. Fowler sexual harassment story at Uber rings true

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Susan J. Fowler published a compelling blog post detailing continual sexual harassment — and HR malpractice — at her former employer, Uber. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has promised an “urgent investigation.” I analyze why her account is so believable and powerful. Women claiming sexual harassment face nearly insurmountable challenges. Managers are more likely to be men. Management … Continued