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I'm definitely not on Uber's side in this and would not be surprised if it's completely true, but is there clear evidence that Travis is the root of the problem

I'm definitely not on Uber's side in this and would not be surprised if it's completely true, but is there clear evidence that Travis is the root of the problem? I see that HR doesn't want to fire people he's fond of, but is that on orders from Travis himself? I think he probably should resign anyway just as a good faith gesture, but I'm curious how culpable he is personally.

chetanahuja 10y ago
> I see that HR doesn't want to fire people he's fond of If the the descriptions we've read so far about Uber HR's response to sexual harassment and discrimination claims as well as Travis's role in them are corroborated, the board needs to do a major housecleaning at Uber starting from the CEO, many people in HR and many of these managers who were directly carrying out these actions. Anything short of that sends the signal that women are indeed considered second class citizens in the tech ecosystem. Anything short of this would leave Uber as a silicon valley pariah. Top engineers and managers would be reluctant to join the company. Those who stay in Uber long term will have their brands tarnished. If we, as a group (silicon valley startup ecosystem) fail to respond in this manner, the entire industry's brand will be tarnished forever. We claim to be a meritocratic and progressive bunch. It pains me to say this as a guy in this industry, I had never imagined how serious and ugly the sexism in some parts of the industry is. Yes I had known at a surface level that women have more obstacles to overcome to make it in this industry. But still Susan Fowler's blog was shocking to me. This new blogpost has doubled the shock. I hope my actions from this point on will be guided by this knowledge.
- xkcd-sucks 10y ago
  >Anything short of this would leave Uber as a silicon valley pariah. Top engineers and managers would be reluctant to join the company In the era of alt-right ascendence and president trump? That would be nice...
- vinceguidry 10y ago
  It's been stated here that Uber's board cannot fire Kalanick, they don't have the power to. Ultimately Uber is still a privately-held company so unless they're doing something illegal, justice has to come from the market. Then again, even if they were acting illegally, they have a lot of experience with that.
  - amyjess 10y ago
    Y'know, back in the day, a condition for companies to get VC funding was for the Founder-CEO to step down (typically becoming the CTO or a similar position) so the VCs can install adult supervision. We need to go back to those days.
    - vinceguidry 10y ago
      Interesting idea, and it made me think of the converse. Would anyone really want to go back to a world before Uber? People tend to forget this. We're living in a world that has already been changed by Founder-Gods. Would we be throwing out the baby with the bathwater by restricting their ambition? I'm not saying we shouldn't solve the problem at hand. Just that maybe corporate governance isn't the root cause. At the end of the day, Uber's fighting an important war that we only watch through headlines, but is still pretty important. The founder is the keeper of that vision, the champion of that fight. There's no way Uber would be able to stay lean and mean and fight against local governmental intransigence if it had "adult supervision".
- throwanem 10y ago
  > We claim to be a meritocratic and progressive bunch. "Claim", yes. It sure is odd that, over the span of my career, observed incidence of workplace bullying and harassment has shown a strong positive correlation with the frequency of such claims as those you describe; by comparison, at those places I've worked which have no such attachment to one specific end of the political spectrum, the worst I've seen is thoughtlessness. That's bad too, to be sure, but those who've engaged in it have mostly been mortified when called on it and tried hard to avoid it in future - which is the correct, and honorable, response. Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley... Well, I was going to make a reference to the emperor having no clothes, but that's not really apropos, is it? After all, he had his dick hanging out by accident.
  - chetanahuja 10y ago
    "bullying and harassment has shown a strong positive correlation with the frequency of such claims as those you describe" "which have no such attachment to one specific end of the political spectrum, the worst I've seen is thoughtlessness." My comment was not to start a partisan political thread but your anecdotal claims hold no merit here since CEO of Uber is known to spout Ayn Rand bullshit in public and is known as a Trump supporter. I was not calling Uber's culture progressive and meritocratic. It's clearly not. I was challenging the rest of the community to treat Uber in a way that was appropriate for a meritocratic and progressive community.
untog 10y ago
> is there clear evidence that Travis is the root of the problem? The more we hear about Uber the less I can believe that its CEO isn't responsible. Perhaps he is not the root of the problem, but when issues are this widespread, and this well known, lack of action from the top is inexcusable.
achow 10y ago
From another and latest whistleblower story "I'm an Uber Survivor"... The HR team was known to be deftly afraid of Travis’s tendency to blame and ridicule the women and yell at HR whenever they went in with complaints of abuse. I heard about Travis personally congratulating Mike#2 for meeting strict deadlines months after I complained to HR about my abuse. It was clear to me that the regressive and abusive attitude towards female employees was trickling down from the top. https://medium.com/@amyvertino/my-name-is-not-amy-i-am-an-uber-survivor-c6d6541e632f#.olyitldzi https://medium.com/@amyvertino/my-name-is-not-amy-i-am-an-ub...
- Uhhrrr 10y ago
  Travis might be largely responsible, but an anonymous account is not good evidence of it.
  - simplehuman 10y ago
    Sorry, but what's your age on the internet? Anonymous account is more than enough for a witch hunt.

chetanahuja 10y ago

> I see that HR doesn't want to fire people he's fond of If the the descriptions we've read so far about Uber HR's response to sexual harassment and discrimination claims as well as Travis's role in them are corroborated, the board needs to do a major housecleaning at Uber starting from the CEO, many people in HR and many of these managers who were directly carrying out these actions. Anything short of that sends the signal that women are indeed considered second class citizens in the tech ecosystem. Anything short of this would leave Uber as a silicon valley pariah. Top engineers and managers would be reluctant to join the company. Those who stay in Uber long term will have their brands tarnished. If we, as a group (silicon valley startup ecosystem) fail to respond in this manner, the entire industry's brand will be tarnished forever. We claim to be a meritocratic and progressive bunch. It pains me to say this as a guy in this industry, I had never imagined how serious and ugly the sexism in some parts of the industry is. Yes I had known at a surface level that women have more obstacles to overcome to make it in this industry. But still Susan Fowler's blog was shocking to me. This new blogpost has doubled the shock. I hope my actions from this point on will be guided by this knowledge.

xkcd-sucks 10y ago
>Anything short of this would leave Uber as a silicon valley pariah. Top engineers and managers would be reluctant to join the company In the era of alt-right ascendence and president trump? That would be nice...
vinceguidry 10y ago
It's been stated here that Uber's board cannot fire Kalanick, they don't have the power to. Ultimately Uber is still a privately-held company so unless they're doing something illegal, justice has to come from the market. Then again, even if they were acting illegally, they have a lot of experience with that.
- amyjess 10y ago
  Y'know, back in the day, a condition for companies to get VC funding was for the Founder-CEO to step down (typically becoming the CTO or a similar position) so the VCs can install adult supervision. We need to go back to those days.
  - vinceguidry 10y ago
    Interesting idea, and it made me think of the converse. Would anyone really want to go back to a world before Uber? People tend to forget this. We're living in a world that has already been changed by Founder-Gods. Would we be throwing out the baby with the bathwater by restricting their ambition? I'm not saying we shouldn't solve the problem at hand. Just that maybe corporate governance isn't the root cause. At the end of the day, Uber's fighting an important war that we only watch through headlines, but is still pretty important. The founder is the keeper of that vision, the champion of that fight. There's no way Uber would be able to stay lean and mean and fight against local governmental intransigence if it had "adult supervision".
throwanem 10y ago
> We claim to be a meritocratic and progressive bunch. "Claim", yes. It sure is odd that, over the span of my career, observed incidence of workplace bullying and harassment has shown a strong positive correlation with the frequency of such claims as those you describe; by comparison, at those places I've worked which have no such attachment to one specific end of the political spectrum, the worst I've seen is thoughtlessness. That's bad too, to be sure, but those who've engaged in it have mostly been mortified when called on it and tried hard to avoid it in future - which is the correct, and honorable, response. Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley... Well, I was going to make a reference to the emperor having no clothes, but that's not really apropos, is it? After all, he had his dick hanging out by accident.
- chetanahuja 10y ago
  "bullying and harassment has shown a strong positive correlation with the frequency of such claims as those you describe" "which have no such attachment to one specific end of the political spectrum, the worst I've seen is thoughtlessness." My comment was not to start a partisan political thread but your anecdotal claims hold no merit here since CEO of Uber is known to spout Ayn Rand bullshit in public and is known as a Trump supporter. I was not calling Uber's culture progressive and meritocratic. It's clearly not. I was challenging the rest of the community to treat Uber in a way that was appropriate for a meritocratic and progressive community.

untog 10y ago

> is there clear evidence that Travis is the root of the problem? The more we hear about Uber the less I can believe that its CEO isn't responsible. Perhaps he is not the root of the problem, but when issues are this widespread, and this well known, lack of action from the top is inexcusable.

achow 10y ago

From another and latest whistleblower story "I'm an Uber Survivor"... The HR team was known to be deftly afraid of Travis’s tendency to blame and ridicule the women and yell at HR whenever they went in with complaints of abuse. I heard about Travis personally congratulating Mike#2 for meeting strict deadlines months after I complained to HR about my abuse. It was clear to me that the regressive and abusive attitude towards female employees was trickling down from the top. https://medium.com/@amyvertino/my-name-is-not-amy-i-am-an-uber-survivor-c6d6541e632f#.olyitldzi https://medium.com/@amyvertino/my-name-is-not-amy-i-am-an-ub...

Uhhrrr 10y ago
Travis might be largely responsible, but an anonymous account is not good evidence of it.
- simplehuman 10y ago
  Sorry, but what's your age on the internet? Anonymous account is more than enough for a witch hunt.