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> Do you think that's because he has experienced a genuine change of heart and intends on doing all in his power to repair at least some of his myriad grievous

> Do you think that's because he has experienced a genuine change of heart and intends on doing all in his power to repair at least some of his myriad grievous failures in the exercise of his responsibilities? I think that's impossible for anyone to judge but himself. He said he's going to seek help. That's (a) admission he did something wrong and (b) a proactive attempt to do something about it. That is precisely the style of leader who has been missing in the tech world, and politics, in my opinion. If you don't see that then I can't change your mind. I just wonder what kind of perfect person you're dreaming of. Nobody is perfect. CEOs and politicians make mistakes. If you don't accept when people admit their mistakes, you'll only end up surrounding yourself with liars. At this point, I can only support his statement, because there's no better reaction I could imagine than the one he decided. BTW in case anybody thinks I'm some kind of shill, I've been pretty critical of Uber in the past. I think what they did in Austin and in the airport taxi strikes were awful. This statement is different and an action I support. > Or do you think it's because, this time, he's actually in the video, and really has no options beyond a) try to seem sincerely humbled and intent on improving, or b) do literally anything else, and look like such an unbelievably transparent asshole that no one will ever again take even slightly seriously anything he or his company tries to say or do to defuse the ongoing PR shitstorm, to say nothing of actively worsening said shitstorm? He could have deflected. We've seen plenty of people deflect worse. "locker room talk", etc. He could've said this was a private conversation, feels his privacy was invaded, etc. He didn't deflect. He accepted responsibility. I don't know what to say if you can't see that he had that option. > or he doesn't know what's been happening on his watch, and he's so arrantly incompetent that he's failed to recognize the possibility that, left unchecked, behavior like that apparently endemic within Uber would guarantee a catastrophe sooner or later His statement is an admission of incompetence. I don't see how you read it any other way unless you intend to just believe he lies about everything. If you insist on calling him a liar then he may just fall back on that. I don't think that would be good for Uber or the health of tech. Support people when they seek help, whoever they are.

M_Grey 10y ago
If the local school bus driver turns out to be hooked on meth, and tearfully apologizes, says they're going to get help and get their life together, and means it... but won't stop driving the bus... ...would you feel the same way? Support them getting help, respect that we're all human and frail and subject to fall, but don't let them keep their fucking job.
- unityByFreedom 10y ago
  > Support them getting help, respect that we're all human and frail and subject to fall, but don't let them keep their fucking job. Yup I agree. It'd be up to the board whether he remains as CEO or not. I find his statement interesting and worthy of support because I've never had a boss who would admit when he made a major mistake, much less say he's seeking help for it. I think the chances of Uber improving with a new CEO are small. It'll just be someone from the same culture. If Travis really intends to seek outside help then that may do something to change the culture there. I don't see any benefit from calling for Travis' head. It's not something you or I have much influence over. Jim Collins' Good to Great convinced me that leadership consultants actually work.
throwanem 10y ago
I pretty much covered that when I said that option A was what he did, and option B was anything else. Deflecting would be "anything else". It would have had the result I described. Instead, by tossing off a couple short paragraphs of apparent and frankly rather self-congratulatory contrition, Kalanick's PR staff has managed to actually pick up a little credibility with, among others, you. That's an impressive accomplishment on their part, and it says a lot about your own lack of cynicism. I hope that doesn't end up screwing you over, because Silicon Valley, as anywhere else in the US that's rife with any kind of politics, can be cruel as hell to people who believe a lot of what they read. > Support people when they seek help, whoever they are. Woman beats her husband regularly for years. Eventually, he gets up the gumption to ditch her. When he tells her he's done, she bursts into tears and promises between sobs that she'll get help and do better. You buy that, too?
- unityByFreedom 10y ago
  I don't live in SV because I didn't want to be in a bubble. I made that choice 15 years ago. You seem to have it all figured out, including how Uber has brainwashed me and how the only imaginable scenarios are the ones you've written. > Woman beats her husband regularly for years. Eventually, he gets up the gumption to ditch her. When he tells her he's done, she bursts into tears and promises between sobs that she'll get help and do better. You buy that, too? Would I stay if I were the guy? Probably not. As a 3rd party, I'd certainly support the woman's admission of guilt and her effort to get help. What kind of society would we be if we did not have services to support people who sought help? Again, if you only seek perfection in CEOs, you're going to end up with better liars.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Well, again, I did define option A as this and option B as everything else. That wasn't by accident. You're doing the same thing, too, but on the sly. Don't think I didn't see you palm the card: > Again, if you only seek perfection in CEOs Don't you think it's a bit of a stretch to characterize Kalanick as merely less than perfect? Not that you're wrong in so doing, exactly, but it does seem to take the principle of charity to a pathological extreme. You might have a point here, if we weren't discussing someone who has such a long record, both personally and on the collective part of the company for which he is ultimately responsible, of bad behavior. But we are.
rabidrat 10y ago
The level of help he needs is beyond what he can get while serving as the CEO of Uber, and won't happen fast enough to matter to Uber's practices and culture. I support his desire to get help, after he's stepped down as CEO.
x0x0 10y ago
You don't have to be all that suspicious a person to think that a 40 year old man, who has demonstrated a repeated pattern of behavior over his life, in a situation where his job is on the line and a crisis manager is writing letters like this, should probably be assigned a prior greater than 0.95 of, well, lying.

M_Grey 10y ago

If the local school bus driver turns out to be hooked on meth, and tearfully apologizes, says they're going to get help and get their life together, and means it... but won't stop driving the bus... ...would you feel the same way? Support them getting help, respect that we're all human and frail and subject to fall, but don't let them keep their fucking job.

unityByFreedom 10y ago
> Support them getting help, respect that we're all human and frail and subject to fall, but don't let them keep their fucking job. Yup I agree. It'd be up to the board whether he remains as CEO or not. I find his statement interesting and worthy of support because I've never had a boss who would admit when he made a major mistake, much less say he's seeking help for it. I think the chances of Uber improving with a new CEO are small. It'll just be someone from the same culture. If Travis really intends to seek outside help then that may do something to change the culture there. I don't see any benefit from calling for Travis' head. It's not something you or I have much influence over. Jim Collins' Good to Great convinced me that leadership consultants actually work.

throwanem 10y ago

I pretty much covered that when I said that option A was what he did, and option B was anything else. Deflecting would be "anything else". It would have had the result I described. Instead, by tossing off a couple short paragraphs of apparent and frankly rather self-congratulatory contrition, Kalanick's PR staff has managed to actually pick up a little credibility with, among others, you. That's an impressive accomplishment on their part, and it says a lot about your own lack of cynicism. I hope that doesn't end up screwing you over, because Silicon Valley, as anywhere else in the US that's rife with any kind of politics, can be cruel as hell to people who believe a lot of what they read. > Support people when they seek help, whoever they are. Woman beats her husband regularly for years. Eventually, he gets up the gumption to ditch her. When he tells her he's done, she bursts into tears and promises between sobs that she'll get help and do better. You buy that, too?

unityByFreedom 10y ago
I don't live in SV because I didn't want to be in a bubble. I made that choice 15 years ago. You seem to have it all figured out, including how Uber has brainwashed me and how the only imaginable scenarios are the ones you've written. > Woman beats her husband regularly for years. Eventually, he gets up the gumption to ditch her. When he tells her he's done, she bursts into tears and promises between sobs that she'll get help and do better. You buy that, too? Would I stay if I were the guy? Probably not. As a 3rd party, I'd certainly support the woman's admission of guilt and her effort to get help. What kind of society would we be if we did not have services to support people who sought help? Again, if you only seek perfection in CEOs, you're going to end up with better liars.
- throwanem 10y ago
  Well, again, I did define option A as this and option B as everything else. That wasn't by accident. You're doing the same thing, too, but on the sly. Don't think I didn't see you palm the card: > Again, if you only seek perfection in CEOs Don't you think it's a bit of a stretch to characterize Kalanick as merely less than perfect? Not that you're wrong in so doing, exactly, but it does seem to take the principle of charity to a pathological extreme. You might have a point here, if we weren't discussing someone who has such a long record, both personally and on the collective part of the company for which he is ultimately responsible, of bad behavior. But we are.

rabidrat 10y ago

The level of help he needs is beyond what he can get while serving as the CEO of Uber, and won't happen fast enough to matter to Uber's practices and culture. I support his desire to get help, after he's stepped down as CEO.

x0x0 10y ago

You don't have to be all that suspicious a person to think that a 40 year old man, who has demonstrated a repeated pattern of behavior over his life, in a situation where his job is on the line and a crisis manager is writing letters like this, should probably be assigned a prior greater than 0.95 of, well, lying.