8 ms·

‘I must fundamentally change and grow up’: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s apology

111 points by leetrout 10y ago

pdovy 10y ago
I'll be very interested to see what happens if Uber does decide to go public. Prior to recent events I'd have thought if they did go public they'd almost certainly follow the recent trend of setting up a class structure that gives little to no voting control to most common shareholders. Will they be able to get away with that if it means Travis retains control?
dandare 10y ago
Maybe those hashtags are cutting deeper than I expected? :D
YPCrumble 10y ago
This would be grounds for termination for a mere peasant. When you're the boss at Uber, however, you can just apologize for condoning sexual harassment and move along your merry way. This is a good reason for people who think sexual harassment is wrong to remove Uber from their phones.
- _dark_matter_ 10y ago
  I wish to hell there was a good alternative where I live. I'd pay more for it.
  - coldpie 10y ago
    Are there not taxis where you live? They may be slightly less convenient (or they might not be!) but sometimes that's the price for doing the right thing.
    - hashmal 10y ago
      depending on where you are, taxis can be much, much worse. "no I won't bring you there, it's not on my way" is just one tiny example.
      - Bartweiss 10y ago
        Similarly, "no, those two addresses aren't the territory of the same company, there's no way to get there from here by cab."
    - patrickaljord 10y ago
      Taxis are even worse, they literally corrupt the government and violently threaten (and harass on social media) competition here in France.
    - Broken_Hippo 10y ago
      Some places I lived in the states, you couldn't rely on a taxi to get you to work on time. I specifically asked. You had to call when you needed it and they said you'd wait anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Nothing like being nearly 2 hours early for work when the place isn't even unlocked yet.
    - arethuza 10y ago
      The taxis here in Edinburgh are great - the problem I have is when you travel somewhere else and they are often awful: rude, attempting scams, refusing to take you somewhere.... I guess services like Uber have that advantage of relative ubiquity....
    - lfuller 10y ago
      From what I've seen, Uber is far more convenient than taxis. When I call a taxi I have to wait anywhere from 20 - 40 minutes only to ride in a usually dirty vehicle for inflated prices by an aggressive driver. Never mind the typical "our VISA machine isn't working" bit. I've literally never waited more than 5 minutes for an Uber and it's usually closer to 2 - 3. They're fast, clean, fare splitting is a non-issue, and the drivers are almost always friendly. It really is on a different level than taxis in my experience.
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  - blisterpeanuts 10y ago
    You don't have any Lyft drivers where you are?
    - aianus 10y ago
      Lyft is US-only
  - rdiddly 10y ago
    Would you pay less for it? Biking places in any weather and with reasonable amounts of cargo is very much a solved problem. Been doing it for years, have never needed an Uber or Lyft. Granted I don't know where you live, but moving to where this is possible, is kind of part of the deal. I moved across the country.
    - differentView 10y ago
      But I enjoy going to Costco.
      - rdiddly 10y ago
        Oh me too - look for me with my 48 rolls of TP in the trailer!
- empath75 10y ago
  He didn't apologize for the sexual harassment stuff, even.
  - smacktoward 10y ago
    Nobody caught that on video.
  - athenot 10y ago
    If I had to take a guess, his lawyers probably counseled him not to. That would be an admission and then he would get incriminated pretty quick in court. (To be clear, I still think management there should be held responsible for turning a bling eye on this stuff. It's never excusable and it's the perception of being unaccountable that keeps this stuff happening again and again.)
    - wpietri 10y ago
      Sure, lawyers will always counsel you not to. It's their job to minimize risk. But if you are getting advice from a lawyer, it's your job to decide when to listen to it. In particular, taking responsibility for a problem requires things like admitting it and apologizing. Especially so when it's a big company culture problem. If Kalanick has put short-term Uber cash flow above solving his company's culture problems, then it's a sign they are going to remain the same bro-y toxic cesspit.
- rev_null 10y ago
  Except, his apology wasn't for the dysfunctional culture and harassment. He was apologizing for his treatment of a driver.
  - YPCrumble 10y ago
    My comment is what should happen when people in positions of power condone sexual harassment. When they issue an apology for something that is also wrong, the fact that they have also systematically condoned sexual harassment is absolutely relevant. This should be brought up until either they resign or they get fired. Then, it should be brought up about the members of the board of directors who condone his actions until they resign or are fired. Until people decide that people like this shouldn't be in positions of power, we're going to live in a society where behavior like we've seen at Uber is commonplace.
- redm 10y ago
  Given Travis's experience with Redswoosh [1], and to a lesser extent Scour, I doubt he put himself in a situation to be ousted from his startup by investors. I suspect it's a situation akin to Mark Zuckerburg. [2] It would probably take Garrett Camp [3] push him out. [1]: http://allthingsd.com/20111108/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-on-how-he-failed-and-lived-to-tell-the-tale/ http://allthingsd.com/20111108/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-on-h... [2]: http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/01/zuck-power-play/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/01/zuck-power-play/ [3]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettcamp/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettcamp/
- otterley 10y ago
  I'm not so sure. I don't know about Uber's specific corporate structure and bylaws, but in many corporations, the Board of Directors has the power to fire CEOs for cause. If that's the case there, Kalanick might have been on the other end of a very painful phone call with Uber's board. Yesterday's news might have been the last straw for them. Even powerful heads of successful companies have even more powerful people to answer to.
  - JumpCrisscross 10y ago
    > the Board of Directors has the power to fire CEOs for cause The CEO serves at the Board's pleasure. The Board can fire them because there is too much egg in their Cobb salad.
    - vinceguidry 10y ago
      I've heard it said on another thread that the board can't actually fire Kalanick. I couldn't find anything on Wikipedia that could verify this. Anybody know if it's true?
      - venantius 10y ago
        It is likely that the board has the legal power to fire him, but not the willpower, which would be due to him having control of most of the board's voting seats.
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neom 10y ago
I'm sorry but any good exec coach can point you to Patrick Lencioni or whatever... That man does not need leadership help, he needs how to act like a human help.
quickben 10y ago
It's all PR. The CEO statement, their businesses plan so far, etc. It's all PR until they IPO and stop subsidizing rides. Then, we'll see if they'll really survive as a taxi company.
- vinceguidry 10y ago
  You're not saying much. Half of running a company is PR.
- criddell 10y ago
  I don't understand why they cut prices. I've never used Uber because it's cheaper, I use it because it's better. If the drivers are able to make decent money, I feel even better about using it. Ideally, I wish the price was high enough that drivers didn't ask for tips. However, if tipping becomes the norm, Uber should remove the friction of tipping by adding it into the app.
  - Cyph0n 10y ago
    I definitely wouldn't use it if it was more expensive. Heck, I'd probably become more motivated to save up and buy a car if Uber wasn't so affordable and accessible.
  - AlexandrB 10y ago
    Part of the reason it is better is that the rides are subsidized which pays drivers more than otherwise and attracts more drivers (availability) while making driving a newer car possible (quality). For it to remain "better" prices would have to rise significantly which wouldn't work outside of a niche market. Worse still - if Uber loses riders and starts serving a niche again, availability will get worse as there will not be enough demand to keep that many drivers on the road. Take a look at airlines for what a race to the bottom in transportation looks like. People in aggregate are often unwilling to pay a premium for better service and will choose cheaper tickets over amenities like in-flight meals or "free" checked luggage.
- lukasm 10y ago
  Uber is not a taxi company. They do not compete with Taxis, but with car ownership. EDIT: I knew if I won't make my point explicit it will be misread. I was referring to: > Then, we'll see if they'll really survive as a taxi company. They are building self-driving cars to create a logistic company. They have a limited interest in being a taxi company(in a classical sense), therefore they don't care much.
chillydawg 10y ago
I suspect that was the last Uber he'll ever take. Too scared to face criticism from the drivers.
- criddell 10y ago
  I like that the driver rated him one star. How funny would it be if he was unable to get a ride because of his low rating?
save_ferris 10y ago
This guy has Gavin Belson written all over him: super-polished and charismatic when the Valley is watching him, and coldly detached when they're not.
- Spare_account 10y ago
  What you're describing is one of the traits of a psychopath http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-are-psychopaths-australian-study-finds/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-are-p...
StClaire 10y ago
Maybe he should do a Larry Page thing and hand off a lot of day-to-day stuff for a couple years.
ziszis 10y ago
I wonder why he is even apologizing. I assume he can't be fired because of dual class voting structure. I don't think he actually cares about the driver.
- draw_down 10y ago
  Probably better for business this way, and costs nothing.
- neom 10y ago
  You can be "fired" by virtue of your top people walking out on you, though. Better for him to placate the ones who might have a spine.
  - ziszis 10y ago
    I have talked to numerous Uber people over the past month and there are many that are locked in because they can't trade the stock and can't afford to exercise the options because of the valuation. Very unhappy .
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- otterley 10y ago
  As I've said elsewhere, I wouldn't be surprised if Uber's Board of Directors could still fire him.
Pigo 10y ago
I don't know whether I'm more embarrassed or sad for the company as a whole. There's a lot of people with their entire lives wrapped up in a company run by a guy who's probably going to headline /r/cringe today.
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smdz 10y ago
I watched the video 3 times, and did not find anything wrong with the CEO's behavior. And don't understand why the CEO should be issuing any apology at all for this video. Might be just because of the bad-media coverage. He was explaining the situation very politely. As a CEO, making business decisions amidst uncertainty is hard. Its when the driver started placing his $97K bankruptcy charge on the CEO - the CEO lost his cool, asked him to take responsibility for his actions and walked out.
- djyaz1200 10y ago
  I think your perspective is valid/reasonable for most of us. ...but as a CEO of any company I believe that it's necessary you to hold yourself to a MUCH higher standard. In that role you represent the interests of a lot of other people, you're entrusted with investor's money, your employee's livelihood and the welfare of their families/kids and in this situation your drivers/contractors and their livelihood and families. With so much at stake I think part of what you give up as CEO is the right to just speak your mind and have an argument like a normal person might. Right or wrong I think he needs to make sure if there is news about him or Uber that it's good news... that's a big part of the job of CEO and it's 24/7/365.
- fastball 10y ago
  Yeah, the driver was the one yelling and jabbing his finger at Kalanick. He obviously did not want to have a constructive dialogue, so Kalanick left. Seems reasonable enough to me. I mean, blaming your purchase of an expensive car on Uber? Really? You're bankrupt because you put all your eggs in one basket buddy, not because Kalanick is an asshole. That being said, Kalanick has acted like an asshole in the past, but this is not one of those times.
  - idiot_stick 10y ago
    >I mean, blaming your purchase of an expensive car on Uber? Really? You're bankrupt because you put all your eggs in one basket buddy, not because Kalanick is an asshole. I'm curious how many people here agree with this sentiment, but blame the banks and mortgage brokers for people losing their homes during the last crash.
whatever_dude 10y ago
Someone made an interesting point on a discussion I saw yesterday: Travis has never worked at a company that he hasn't started himself[0]. He had a short stint at Akamai when one of his companies was bought but it was shorter than one year. The take away is that he has never worked at a place with a rigid corporate structure or real HR. While that might be good for a startup that needs to move fast, it's not good if you want to learn on how to cultivate a healthy company culture, or have any empathy for your employees. In other words, he has been running a college frat house for the past 7 years and it shows. He's probably more ignorant than mean-intended. And too many entrepreneurs/co-founders in Silicon Valley are in the same position. [0] https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviskalanick/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviskalanick/
- tonyedgecombe 10y ago
  That's a very generous interpretation of his actions.
- k__ 10y ago
  Can't blame him. I worked at companies with such a structure and found it to be a drag. On the other hand I'm a white, able, CIS male academic, so I never experience the problems that can arise from the lack of such structures.
- hashkb 10y ago
  > He's probably more ignorant than mean-intended. And too many entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are in the same position. This is a common excuse that holds no water with me. "Good intentions" are worth absolutely nothing, in fact I'd prefer a CEO who is an asshole on purpose to one who is just naturally a piece of shit and can't see it until his company gets bad press. It's an issue of maturity and responsibility and ethics with people's livelihoods at stake. There can't be excuses.
  - whatever_dude 10y ago
    I didn't mean it as an excuse, but as a way to explain and understand the problem. I'm not even considering whether he had "good intentions" or not. I have no way of judging that. Understanding is the first step on fixing it and preventing it in the future. Pointing fingers at someone as if they're the root and the single cause of the problem might feel good, but it's too easy an explanation. In your case of an asshole CEO and an ignorant CEO, I wouldn't prefer either. Both are just as bad. But the ignorant CEO just never learned empathy and might be able to become a better human; the purposely asshole CEO is irreparably broken.
lai 10y ago
Uber CEO aside, is it me or is it weird to ask how on earth that Uber driver lost 97k?
- caseyf 10y ago
  I figured he was referring to the cost of buying an Escalade for Uber Black driving
  - lukasm 10y ago
    Yeah, but how you can lose 97k? Did he crash it on the first day? If the black is not doing great I trade it for a Prius and lose 25k?
    - smileysteve 10y ago
      How does one afford 25k (+ interest)?
  - bunderbunder 10y ago
    I bet a lot of Uber Black drivers are really hurting from the fare changes. If the amount of money you get paid as a driver drops below your car payment, and you're upside down on your car loan - seems likely, for a full-time Uber driver - then you're going to be in a pretty tight spot. More generally, I suspect that a big part of Uber getting people to sign on to drive for them full time involved transferring the costs of fleet management to the drivers (at inflated rates, no less, since they have a higher cost of capital, have to pay retail prices for mechanics, etc), without the drivers fully understanding the financial ramifications of that arrangement.
  - matwood 10y ago
    Wow. I had to go look it up, and yes new Escalades start in the 80s now.
- lsadam0 10y ago
  I'm not sure where the argument took place, but in NYC services like Uber have caused Taxi Medallion prices to drop severely: http://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-yellow-cab-medallion-prices-falling-further-2016-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-yellow-cab-medallion-pric... Some operators are losing much more than 97k.
alphonsegaston 10y ago
Only in the world of American business can a 40 year-old billionaire with a history of threats, intimidation, and blatant disregard for the law, come out and say "I need to grow up" and have people nod along approvingly. I used to think the idea that Americans see themselves as "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" was a grotesque caricature. But then I saw people watch a video where a wealthy guy, known for his history of exploiting the poor, scream "personal responsibility" at a bankrupted immigrant. And they overwhelmingly identify with Kalanick. It's really pathological at this point.
- _jal 10y ago
  Yep. The only sin in the U.S. is being poor. The rest you can buy your way out of.
- gingerbread-man 10y ago
  Put another way, only in the US do businesspeople have to publically apologise for not-being-nice. Towards the end of the video, Kalanick was brusque and even demeaning, but I don't think his position as CEO grants me the right to get high-and-mighty on my keyboard and demand he "grow up." Nor do I expect much insight into anyone's character can be gleaned from a 30-second argument in the backseat of an Uber. I'm not saying Kalanick is a good (or a bad) CEO. But his job is to build the company, not to serve as its' Mascot-in-Chief.
  - wpietri 10y ago
    This was not a mere failure of niceness, as if he didn't say please and thank you. He was also unkind, arrogant, self-centered, thoughtless, ungrateful, and foolish. As well as failing to demonstrate compassion and moral responsibility. You're also wrong on what CEOs are supposed to do. Companies are made out of people. His primary job is as a leader of people. The way you build a company is mostly through getting a hundred thousand small interactions with people right. He visibly failed as this guy's boss, just as he's been privately failing to build a sane company culture. An important secondary job is being the public face of the company, the human representation of the brand. Even if you are a terrible human being, it's your job to get up there and simulate being the kind of person that people would like to associate with your brand.
andrewclunn 10y ago
I think everyone gets one of these. You clearly screw up, you admit to it, and you say you'll fix it (as long as it's not a clearly vicious screw up with irreversible effects).
- frabbit 10y ago
  Gimme a break. It's a fauxpology designed to wedge people into a "well, at least he admitted he was wrong" mindset so that it all quiets down and people stop talking about the fundamental problem with Uber: it replaces solid jobs providing public transportation financed from public taxation with a private systems in which the individual peons are powerless, poorly paid and racing to the bottom.
- chris_wot 10y ago
  Normally you expect someone in leadership to have gone past a teenager's mindset before they become the CEO of a company with thousands of employees and stakeholders who rely on them to make wise and good decisions on their behalf. If he needs to grow up and he hasn't yet, then he should step down.
Exuma 10y ago
I didn't see he did anything wrong, he was just a cutting through the crap the driver was spewing. The driver was soliciting the CEO when he should be doing his job and driving, and just shut up. As if a Uber driver knows the business so well that he has the right to tell the damn CEO how the innerworkings of Uber pricing work. The driver just (inappropriately) used the opportunity to lambaste the CEO about his problems.
- tptacek 10y ago
  Uber drivers aren't employees. Uber is a vendor for the driver. In fact, Uber's existence depends on that being the case.
  - 16bytes 10y ago
    There is wide disagreement about drivers employment status. There are several localities that have had legal status ruled one way or the other [1][2], but it's not settled enough to be able to claim that uber drivers aren't employees. Uber, on the other hand, certainly would like to classify them as such. [1] https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-uk-court-ruling-drivers-employees-not-contractors/ https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-uk-court-ruling-drivers-emplo... [2] http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/21/11485424/uber-suit-california-Massachusetts-drivers-employee-contractor http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/21/11485424/uber-suit-califor...
- blisterpeanuts 10y ago
  It seems to me the Uber driver should find a different job if he's not able to make a go of it. What possible benefit to arguing about pricing with the passenger, regardless whether he's the CEO? I admit, I'd be intrigued if I knew my passenger was the Uber CEO -- I might ask some polite questions about the direction of the company and so forth but probably not directly argue with the man regardless of the CEO's people skills or lack thereof :)
  - matt4077 10y ago
    > What possible benefit to arguing about pricing with the passenger, regardless whether he's the CEO? How about "getting that CEO so far into a corner, you can rate him one star, shame him publicly, and still get an apology"? That driver, even though he didn't make the best possible argument for his position, has been tremendously influential. And the position of "don't complain, you're free to leave" didn't even make sense in the 19th century when it was used against people complaining about child labor or fire safety.
jps359 10y ago
"Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit, they blame everything in their life on somebody else." The ungratefulness of this guy... saying this to one of your drivers, one of the people who is directly responsible for the success of your business. Without him and the thousands like him, Travis would be nothing.
- codr4life 10y ago
  Travis is nothing, he never was anything. People got momentarily confused by his alpha ego and the big pile of money, but they're catching up fast.
pwthornton 10y ago
You are 40 years old and run a startup valued well into the billions. You are probably far beyond the growing up stage. This is who you are Travis. For context, many people said Steve Jobs needed to grow up during his first stint at Apple (and no one ever accused him of running a company that has major issues with sexual harassment). Jobs was 29 when the Mac came out, and this was after the big success with the Apple II. By the time Steve Jobs came back to Apple in the 1990s and performed an amazing turnaround of Apple, he was in his early 40s.
- pm90 10y ago
  Like you mentioned there are fundamental differences b/w a CEO who creates a culture where sexual harassment is OK to where a CEO will bully employees occasionally, steal their ideas as their own and park in the handicapped parking lot. I mean, both sound terrible, but the first one is definitely on a different level of nastiness.
  - pwthornton 10y ago
    One of the key differences is that Jobs may have personally been hard to work with at times and done childish things, but the companies that he ran (Apple and Pixar) were very professionally run and progressive companies. Uber's culture is fomenting harassment throughout the entire organization. Uber is now big enough that most employees will never meet executives, so they won't be personally harassed by them, but if middle managers feel empowered to harass employees, that's a huge issue.
  - smileysteve 10y ago
    FYI "Are you a virgin? You look like a virgin." during an interview may have been sexual harassment.
    - pwthornton 10y ago
      Well, it's only sexual harassment if its true and not just some line from a Hollywood movie: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/04/17/ken-segall-steve-jobs-virgin/ http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/04/17/ken-segall-steve-job...
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matt4077 10y ago
Kalanick is 40 years old. Demographically, he must have been surrounded by "grown-ups" for more than half of that time, i. e. people who don't consider sexual harassment a fun hobby for his brand of overachievers. If he didn't get it before, I doubt he will now. But, if he's seen the light, great. It's obviously tainted by being motivated solely by his effort to safe Uber. If he's sincere, his newfound believes would be best served by resigning, or switching to a role at Uber where he's no longer responsible for managing people. Not that it matters – Uber isn't much more than a bro-themed ponzi scheme anyway. Their investors are subsidizing each ride on the order of 100% of the fare, there's no economies of scale to grow to, nor are there barriers to entry. Maybe consumers will continue to use the service. But investors, employees, and drivers won't. It's anybody's guess as to how long they can survive without fresh cash, but I bet this apology stems from Kalanick's ability to see the end of the runway.
- frabbit 10y ago
  Quote of the day: " Uber isn't much more than a bro-themed ponzi scheme"
- adamnemecek 10y ago
  Their self driving cars is the end game.
  - matt4077 10y ago
    "End game" indeed. Self-driving cars shed the only competitive advantage they have: efficiently organizing thousands of drivers. Surely self-driving cars will also be available to consumers. It's just a software update from there to a mode that lets your car earn some money when you don't need it. The manufacturers will be the first to offer the remaining booking/billing/insurance service, but there'll be plenty of competitors. Uber, meanwhile, will start with >100 billion already burned in a 5-year mission to obsolesce.
    - pm90 10y ago
      If they're smart (and for all their dipshit culture they do have a good product) they will use all the data they have gathered on rideshares to possibly improve that experience. Or pivot into something else.
abhv 10y ago
I am a user of Lyft and (very rarely) Uber. As a passenger in these services, I had an expectation of privacy---I would not expect that the driver could record me. I've certainly had conversations on the phone that I would expect to be private. Travis may have had the same expectation. On the other hand, a CEO of a billion dollar company should have been coached about how to politely react to criticism.
- frabbit 10y ago
  I would have expected some privacy also. If there is no policy on this in Uber then this may be a greater blow to the their brand than anything else in this affair. Personally I do not see what Kalanick did wrong here. He did not seek personal interaction with the driver. He was not abusive and IMO responded at the same level at which the driver engaged him. That is all separate from my opinions about the (from my perspective) problem with replacing a publicly funded transport service with a for-profit effective monopoly. There should be city-wide public transport running 24/7 driven by trained, unionized workers. Not a race-to-the-bottom, gig-economy semi-monopoly.
- tessierashpool 10y ago
  > a CEO of a billion dollar company should have been coached about how to politely react to criticism. yeah, he should have been coached on it by his parents when he was five years old.
  - Cyph0n 10y ago
    Relying on upbringing as a CEO for public image purposes is very naive. He should have been professionally coached on how to react in certain situations, regardless of what his parents taught him.
- bb611 10y ago
  > As a passenger in these services, I had an expectation of privacy---I would not expect that the driver could record me. I've certainly had conversations on the phone that I would expect to be private. My understanding is that California law likely protects Travis in this situation because it was just him and the driver and he could thus expect privacy. However, it's unlikely that you can prevent someone from publishing your private conversation in a Lyft or Uber, and given that most of these drivers are not high earners you're not likely to get a major payout from them, so while you might legally have the protections of privacy it still probably means very little in practice.
brickmort 10y ago
It looks like I'm in the minority here, but I honestly don't see what's so bad with how Kalanick reacted. The guy was giving him a hard time and he reacted accordingly, I even think he held back alot more than he could have. Kalanick's right, 'Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own s‑‑‑.' There's alot of truth there. If a company changes their policy, and it affects your income, it's not the company's responsibility to fix that for you. either you find a competing company that can make you more money, or you have to find another way to get your income. In either case, it's your problem to handle. It reminds me of Amazon's recent changes to their affiliate program. There will be people that will maneuver around the policy changes and pull through, then there will be people that will remain stagnant, lose money and blame everyone but themselves. Kalanick should have doubled down. "Yeah, I was mean, but the guy was a d*ck." Then again, I'm just an armchair analyst. I don't have a multi-billion dollar company to handle.
- frabbit 10y ago
  I agree. From my perspective the driver attacked him verbally and didn't like a robust defence. All that said, I hope Uber and similar gig-economy services die a fiery death in the near future.
  - magic_beans 10y ago
    But then who do you expect to pick up the slack? Taxis? The government??
    - frabbit 10y ago
      I expect an extensive light-rail and bus service in any city in which I consider living. So, yes, the gubmint.
      - magic_beans 10y ago
        You must not live in the US :/
- 10y ago
a3n 10y ago
> I must fundamentally change and grow up ... ... if I am to keep my lucrative boob magnet.
ptrptr 10y ago
It's just too easy to jump on Uber hate bandwagon but I seriously hope their bubble will just burst in 2017, then the whole "economy of sharing" will take a hit and similiar services will start show some maturity. Contract of employment would be a good start.
ziszis 10y ago
There is an interesting theory [1] that Uber's value prop to consumers is dependent on subsidizing 59% of the cost of each ride. Over time they have to remove this subsidy to stem the Billion $ annual losses. The relationship with drivers will undoubtedly be more strained over the coming years, whether it happens as a financial necessity or due to Uber's push into self-driving. Managing the nuance of this transition will be one of the greatest challenges for Uber and require strong skills in empathy, communication and strategic thinking. [1] http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/11/can-uber-ever-deliver-part-one-understanding-ubers-bleak-operating-economics.html http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/11/can-uber-ever-deliver...
dsschnau 10y ago
He can apologize by resigning and going back to the frat that he came from.
XaspR8d 10y ago
Seeing this apology (that I didn't think was necessary) just made me more angry about their failure to acknowledge anything is wrong with their culture of harassment. Obviously they can't actually acknowledge the harassment issues because it would put them in a terrible place legally, but it's funny how that omission makes this such a negative PR move in my mind. Better to say nothing at all and just keep pretending they can unicorn-horn themselves through the rough patches?
merricksb 10y ago
Active discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13760405 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13760405
throwaway_374 10y ago
Sorry but the words "I must fundamentally change and grow up" are unbecoming and not befitting of a CEO. As genuine and sincere as it may have been intended - if at all - it just comes across pathetic, weak and a failure. No one wants apologies. You're the fucking CEO, we want ACTIONS.
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lordnacho 10y ago
The problem is now that Uber has this reputation for being cynical, people might well discount the apology.

111 points by leetrout 10y ago

pdovy 10y ago

I'll be very interested to see what happens if Uber does decide to go public. Prior to recent events I'd have thought if they did go public they'd almost certainly follow the recent trend of setting up a class structure that gives little to no voting control to most common shareholders. Will they be able to get away with that if it means Travis retains control?

dandare 10y ago

Maybe those hashtags are cutting deeper than I expected? :D

YPCrumble 10y ago

This would be grounds for termination for a mere peasant. When you're the boss at Uber, however, you can just apologize for condoning sexual harassment and move along your merry way. This is a good reason for people who think sexual harassment is wrong to remove Uber from their phones.

_dark_matter_ 10y ago
I wish to hell there was a good alternative where I live. I'd pay more for it.
- coldpie 10y ago
  Are there not taxis where you live? They may be slightly less convenient (or they might not be!) but sometimes that's the price for doing the right thing.
  - hashmal 10y ago
    depending on where you are, taxis can be much, much worse. "no I won't bring you there, it's not on my way" is just one tiny example.
    - Bartweiss 10y ago
      Similarly, "no, those two addresses aren't the territory of the same company, there's no way to get there from here by cab."
  - patrickaljord 10y ago
    Taxis are even worse, they literally corrupt the government and violently threaten (and harass on social media) competition here in France.
  - Broken_Hippo 10y ago
    Some places I lived in the states, you couldn't rely on a taxi to get you to work on time. I specifically asked. You had to call when you needed it and they said you'd wait anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Nothing like being nearly 2 hours early for work when the place isn't even unlocked yet.
  - arethuza 10y ago
    The taxis here in Edinburgh are great - the problem I have is when you travel somewhere else and they are often awful: rude, attempting scams, refusing to take you somewhere.... I guess services like Uber have that advantage of relative ubiquity....
  - lfuller 10y ago
    From what I've seen, Uber is far more convenient than taxis. When I call a taxi I have to wait anywhere from 20 - 40 minutes only to ride in a usually dirty vehicle for inflated prices by an aggressive driver. Never mind the typical "our VISA machine isn't working" bit. I've literally never waited more than 5 minutes for an Uber and it's usually closer to 2 - 3. They're fast, clean, fare splitting is a non-issue, and the drivers are almost always friendly. It really is on a different level than taxis in my experience.
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- blisterpeanuts 10y ago
  You don't have any Lyft drivers where you are?
  - aianus 10y ago
    Lyft is US-only
- rdiddly 10y ago
  Would you pay less for it? Biking places in any weather and with reasonable amounts of cargo is very much a solved problem. Been doing it for years, have never needed an Uber or Lyft. Granted I don't know where you live, but moving to where this is possible, is kind of part of the deal. I moved across the country.
  - differentView 10y ago
    But I enjoy going to Costco.
    - rdiddly 10y ago
      Oh me too - look for me with my 48 rolls of TP in the trailer!
empath75 10y ago
He didn't apologize for the sexual harassment stuff, even.
- smacktoward 10y ago
  Nobody caught that on video.
- athenot 10y ago
  If I had to take a guess, his lawyers probably counseled him not to. That would be an admission and then he would get incriminated pretty quick in court. (To be clear, I still think management there should be held responsible for turning a bling eye on this stuff. It's never excusable and it's the perception of being unaccountable that keeps this stuff happening again and again.)
  - wpietri 10y ago
    Sure, lawyers will always counsel you not to. It's their job to minimize risk. But if you are getting advice from a lawyer, it's your job to decide when to listen to it. In particular, taking responsibility for a problem requires things like admitting it and apologizing. Especially so when it's a big company culture problem. If Kalanick has put short-term Uber cash flow above solving his company's culture problems, then it's a sign they are going to remain the same bro-y toxic cesspit.
rev_null 10y ago
Except, his apology wasn't for the dysfunctional culture and harassment. He was apologizing for his treatment of a driver.
- YPCrumble 10y ago
  My comment is what should happen when people in positions of power condone sexual harassment. When they issue an apology for something that is also wrong, the fact that they have also systematically condoned sexual harassment is absolutely relevant. This should be brought up until either they resign or they get fired. Then, it should be brought up about the members of the board of directors who condone his actions until they resign or are fired. Until people decide that people like this shouldn't be in positions of power, we're going to live in a society where behavior like we've seen at Uber is commonplace.
redm 10y ago
Given Travis's experience with Redswoosh [1], and to a lesser extent Scour, I doubt he put himself in a situation to be ousted from his startup by investors. I suspect it's a situation akin to Mark Zuckerburg. [2] It would probably take Garrett Camp [3] push him out. [1]: http://allthingsd.com/20111108/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-on-how-he-failed-and-lived-to-tell-the-tale/ http://allthingsd.com/20111108/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-on-h... [2]: http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/01/zuck-power-play/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/01/zuck-power-play/ [3]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettcamp/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettcamp/
otterley 10y ago
I'm not so sure. I don't know about Uber's specific corporate structure and bylaws, but in many corporations, the Board of Directors has the power to fire CEOs for cause. If that's the case there, Kalanick might have been on the other end of a very painful phone call with Uber's board. Yesterday's news might have been the last straw for them. Even powerful heads of successful companies have even more powerful people to answer to.
- JumpCrisscross 10y ago
  > the Board of Directors has the power to fire CEOs for cause The CEO serves at the Board's pleasure. The Board can fire them because there is too much egg in their Cobb salad.
  - vinceguidry 10y ago
    I've heard it said on another thread that the board can't actually fire Kalanick. I couldn't find anything on Wikipedia that could verify this. Anybody know if it's true?
    - venantius 10y ago
      It is likely that the board has the legal power to fire him, but not the willpower, which would be due to him having control of most of the board's voting seats.
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neom 10y ago

I'm sorry but any good exec coach can point you to Patrick Lencioni or whatever... That man does not need leadership help, he needs how to act like a human help.

quickben 10y ago

It's all PR. The CEO statement, their businesses plan so far, etc. It's all PR until they IPO and stop subsidizing rides. Then, we'll see if they'll really survive as a taxi company.

vinceguidry 10y ago
You're not saying much. Half of running a company is PR.
criddell 10y ago
I don't understand why they cut prices. I've never used Uber because it's cheaper, I use it because it's better. If the drivers are able to make decent money, I feel even better about using it. Ideally, I wish the price was high enough that drivers didn't ask for tips. However, if tipping becomes the norm, Uber should remove the friction of tipping by adding it into the app.
- Cyph0n 10y ago
  I definitely wouldn't use it if it was more expensive. Heck, I'd probably become more motivated to save up and buy a car if Uber wasn't so affordable and accessible.
- AlexandrB 10y ago
  Part of the reason it is better is that the rides are subsidized which pays drivers more than otherwise and attracts more drivers (availability) while making driving a newer car possible (quality). For it to remain "better" prices would have to rise significantly which wouldn't work outside of a niche market. Worse still - if Uber loses riders and starts serving a niche again, availability will get worse as there will not be enough demand to keep that many drivers on the road. Take a look at airlines for what a race to the bottom in transportation looks like. People in aggregate are often unwilling to pay a premium for better service and will choose cheaper tickets over amenities like in-flight meals or "free" checked luggage.
lukasm 10y ago
Uber is not a taxi company. They do not compete with Taxis, but with car ownership. EDIT: I knew if I won't make my point explicit it will be misread. I was referring to: > Then, we'll see if they'll really survive as a taxi company. They are building self-driving cars to create a logistic company. They have a limited interest in being a taxi company(in a classical sense), therefore they don't care much.

chillydawg 10y ago

I suspect that was the last Uber he'll ever take. Too scared to face criticism from the drivers.

criddell 10y ago
I like that the driver rated him one star. How funny would it be if he was unable to get a ride because of his low rating?

save_ferris 10y ago

This guy has Gavin Belson written all over him: super-polished and charismatic when the Valley is watching him, and coldly detached when they're not.

Spare_account 10y ago
What you're describing is one of the traits of a psychopath http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-are-psychopaths-australian-study-finds/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-are-p...

StClaire 10y ago

Maybe he should do a Larry Page thing and hand off a lot of day-to-day stuff for a couple years.

ziszis 10y ago

I wonder why he is even apologizing. I assume he can't be fired because of dual class voting structure. I don't think he actually cares about the driver.

draw_down 10y ago
Probably better for business this way, and costs nothing.
neom 10y ago
You can be "fired" by virtue of your top people walking out on you, though. Better for him to placate the ones who might have a spine.
- ziszis 10y ago
  I have talked to numerous Uber people over the past month and there are many that are locked in because they can't trade the stock and can't afford to exercise the options because of the valuation. Very unhappy .
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otterley 10y ago
As I've said elsewhere, I wouldn't be surprised if Uber's Board of Directors could still fire him.

Pigo 10y ago

I don't know whether I'm more embarrassed or sad for the company as a whole. There's a lot of people with their entire lives wrapped up in a company run by a guy who's probably going to headline /r/cringe today.

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smdz 10y ago

I watched the video 3 times, and did not find anything wrong with the CEO's behavior. And don't understand why the CEO should be issuing any apology at all for this video. Might be just because of the bad-media coverage. He was explaining the situation very politely. As a CEO, making business decisions amidst uncertainty is hard. Its when the driver started placing his $97K bankruptcy charge on the CEO - the CEO lost his cool, asked him to take responsibility for his actions and walked out.

djyaz1200 10y ago
I think your perspective is valid/reasonable for most of us. ...but as a CEO of any company I believe that it's necessary you to hold yourself to a MUCH higher standard. In that role you represent the interests of a lot of other people, you're entrusted with investor's money, your employee's livelihood and the welfare of their families/kids and in this situation your drivers/contractors and their livelihood and families. With so much at stake I think part of what you give up as CEO is the right to just speak your mind and have an argument like a normal person might. Right or wrong I think he needs to make sure if there is news about him or Uber that it's good news... that's a big part of the job of CEO and it's 24/7/365.
fastball 10y ago
Yeah, the driver was the one yelling and jabbing his finger at Kalanick. He obviously did not want to have a constructive dialogue, so Kalanick left. Seems reasonable enough to me. I mean, blaming your purchase of an expensive car on Uber? Really? You're bankrupt because you put all your eggs in one basket buddy, not because Kalanick is an asshole. That being said, Kalanick has acted like an asshole in the past, but this is not one of those times.
- idiot_stick 10y ago
  >I mean, blaming your purchase of an expensive car on Uber? Really? You're bankrupt because you put all your eggs in one basket buddy, not because Kalanick is an asshole. I'm curious how many people here agree with this sentiment, but blame the banks and mortgage brokers for people losing their homes during the last crash.

whatever_dude 10y ago

Someone made an interesting point on a discussion I saw yesterday: Travis has never worked at a company that he hasn't started himself[0]. He had a short stint at Akamai when one of his companies was bought but it was shorter than one year. The take away is that he has never worked at a place with a rigid corporate structure or real HR. While that might be good for a startup that needs to move fast, it's not good if you want to learn on how to cultivate a healthy company culture, or have any empathy for your employees. In other words, he has been running a college frat house for the past 7 years and it shows. He's probably more ignorant than mean-intended. And too many entrepreneurs/co-founders in Silicon Valley are in the same position. [0] https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviskalanick/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviskalanick/

tonyedgecombe 10y ago
That's a very generous interpretation of his actions.
k__ 10y ago
Can't blame him. I worked at companies with such a structure and found it to be a drag. On the other hand I'm a white, able, CIS male academic, so I never experience the problems that can arise from the lack of such structures.
hashkb 10y ago
> He's probably more ignorant than mean-intended. And too many entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are in the same position. This is a common excuse that holds no water with me. "Good intentions" are worth absolutely nothing, in fact I'd prefer a CEO who is an asshole on purpose to one who is just naturally a piece of shit and can't see it until his company gets bad press. It's an issue of maturity and responsibility and ethics with people's livelihoods at stake. There can't be excuses.
- whatever_dude 10y ago
  I didn't mean it as an excuse, but as a way to explain and understand the problem. I'm not even considering whether he had "good intentions" or not. I have no way of judging that. Understanding is the first step on fixing it and preventing it in the future. Pointing fingers at someone as if they're the root and the single cause of the problem might feel good, but it's too easy an explanation. In your case of an asshole CEO and an ignorant CEO, I wouldn't prefer either. Both are just as bad. But the ignorant CEO just never learned empathy and might be able to become a better human; the purposely asshole CEO is irreparably broken.

lai 10y ago

Uber CEO aside, is it me or is it weird to ask how on earth that Uber driver lost 97k?

caseyf 10y ago
I figured he was referring to the cost of buying an Escalade for Uber Black driving
- lukasm 10y ago
  Yeah, but how you can lose 97k? Did he crash it on the first day? If the black is not doing great I trade it for a Prius and lose 25k?
  - smileysteve 10y ago
    How does one afford 25k (+ interest)?
- bunderbunder 10y ago
  I bet a lot of Uber Black drivers are really hurting from the fare changes. If the amount of money you get paid as a driver drops below your car payment, and you're upside down on your car loan - seems likely, for a full-time Uber driver - then you're going to be in a pretty tight spot. More generally, I suspect that a big part of Uber getting people to sign on to drive for them full time involved transferring the costs of fleet management to the drivers (at inflated rates, no less, since they have a higher cost of capital, have to pay retail prices for mechanics, etc), without the drivers fully understanding the financial ramifications of that arrangement.
- matwood 10y ago
  Wow. I had to go look it up, and yes new Escalades start in the 80s now.
lsadam0 10y ago
I'm not sure where the argument took place, but in NYC services like Uber have caused Taxi Medallion prices to drop severely: http://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-yellow-cab-medallion-prices-falling-further-2016-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-yellow-cab-medallion-pric... Some operators are losing much more than 97k.

alphonsegaston 10y ago

Only in the world of American business can a 40 year-old billionaire with a history of threats, intimidation, and blatant disregard for the law, come out and say "I need to grow up" and have people nod along approvingly. I used to think the idea that Americans see themselves as "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" was a grotesque caricature. But then I saw people watch a video where a wealthy guy, known for his history of exploiting the poor, scream "personal responsibility" at a bankrupted immigrant. And they overwhelmingly identify with Kalanick. It's really pathological at this point.

_jal 10y ago
Yep. The only sin in the U.S. is being poor. The rest you can buy your way out of.
gingerbread-man 10y ago
Put another way, only in the US do businesspeople have to publically apologise for not-being-nice. Towards the end of the video, Kalanick was brusque and even demeaning, but I don't think his position as CEO grants me the right to get high-and-mighty on my keyboard and demand he "grow up." Nor do I expect much insight into anyone's character can be gleaned from a 30-second argument in the backseat of an Uber. I'm not saying Kalanick is a good (or a bad) CEO. But his job is to build the company, not to serve as its' Mascot-in-Chief.
- wpietri 10y ago
  This was not a mere failure of niceness, as if he didn't say please and thank you. He was also unkind, arrogant, self-centered, thoughtless, ungrateful, and foolish. As well as failing to demonstrate compassion and moral responsibility. You're also wrong on what CEOs are supposed to do. Companies are made out of people. His primary job is as a leader of people. The way you build a company is mostly through getting a hundred thousand small interactions with people right. He visibly failed as this guy's boss, just as he's been privately failing to build a sane company culture. An important secondary job is being the public face of the company, the human representation of the brand. Even if you are a terrible human being, it's your job to get up there and simulate being the kind of person that people would like to associate with your brand.

andrewclunn 10y ago

I think everyone gets one of these. You clearly screw up, you admit to it, and you say you'll fix it (as long as it's not a clearly vicious screw up with irreversible effects).

frabbit 10y ago
Gimme a break. It's a fauxpology designed to wedge people into a "well, at least he admitted he was wrong" mindset so that it all quiets down and people stop talking about the fundamental problem with Uber: it replaces solid jobs providing public transportation financed from public taxation with a private systems in which the individual peons are powerless, poorly paid and racing to the bottom.
chris_wot 10y ago
Normally you expect someone in leadership to have gone past a teenager's mindset before they become the CEO of a company with thousands of employees and stakeholders who rely on them to make wise and good decisions on their behalf. If he needs to grow up and he hasn't yet, then he should step down.

Exuma 10y ago

I didn't see he did anything wrong, he was just a cutting through the crap the driver was spewing. The driver was soliciting the CEO when he should be doing his job and driving, and just shut up. As if a Uber driver knows the business so well that he has the right to tell the damn CEO how the innerworkings of Uber pricing work. The driver just (inappropriately) used the opportunity to lambaste the CEO about his problems.

tptacek 10y ago
Uber drivers aren't employees. Uber is a vendor for the driver. In fact, Uber's existence depends on that being the case.
- 16bytes 10y ago
  There is wide disagreement about drivers employment status. There are several localities that have had legal status ruled one way or the other [1][2], but it's not settled enough to be able to claim that uber drivers aren't employees. Uber, on the other hand, certainly would like to classify them as such. [1] https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-uk-court-ruling-drivers-employees-not-contractors/ https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-uk-court-ruling-drivers-emplo... [2] http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/21/11485424/uber-suit-california-Massachusetts-drivers-employee-contractor http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/21/11485424/uber-suit-califor...
blisterpeanuts 10y ago
It seems to me the Uber driver should find a different job if he's not able to make a go of it. What possible benefit to arguing about pricing with the passenger, regardless whether he's the CEO? I admit, I'd be intrigued if I knew my passenger was the Uber CEO -- I might ask some polite questions about the direction of the company and so forth but probably not directly argue with the man regardless of the CEO's people skills or lack thereof :)
- matt4077 10y ago
  > What possible benefit to arguing about pricing with the passenger, regardless whether he's the CEO? How about "getting that CEO so far into a corner, you can rate him one star, shame him publicly, and still get an apology"? That driver, even though he didn't make the best possible argument for his position, has been tremendously influential. And the position of "don't complain, you're free to leave" didn't even make sense in the 19th century when it was used against people complaining about child labor or fire safety.

jps359 10y ago

"Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit, they blame everything in their life on somebody else." The ungratefulness of this guy... saying this to one of your drivers, one of the people who is directly responsible for the success of your business. Without him and the thousands like him, Travis would be nothing.

codr4life 10y ago
Travis is nothing, he never was anything. People got momentarily confused by his alpha ego and the big pile of money, but they're catching up fast.

pwthornton 10y ago

You are 40 years old and run a startup valued well into the billions. You are probably far beyond the growing up stage. This is who you are Travis. For context, many people said Steve Jobs needed to grow up during his first stint at Apple (and no one ever accused him of running a company that has major issues with sexual harassment). Jobs was 29 when the Mac came out, and this was after the big success with the Apple II. By the time Steve Jobs came back to Apple in the 1990s and performed an amazing turnaround of Apple, he was in his early 40s.

pm90 10y ago
Like you mentioned there are fundamental differences b/w a CEO who creates a culture where sexual harassment is OK to where a CEO will bully employees occasionally, steal their ideas as their own and park in the handicapped parking lot. I mean, both sound terrible, but the first one is definitely on a different level of nastiness.
- pwthornton 10y ago
  One of the key differences is that Jobs may have personally been hard to work with at times and done childish things, but the companies that he ran (Apple and Pixar) were very professionally run and progressive companies. Uber's culture is fomenting harassment throughout the entire organization. Uber is now big enough that most employees will never meet executives, so they won't be personally harassed by them, but if middle managers feel empowered to harass employees, that's a huge issue.
- smileysteve 10y ago
  FYI "Are you a virgin? You look like a virgin." during an interview may have been sexual harassment.
  - pwthornton 10y ago
    Well, it's only sexual harassment if its true and not just some line from a Hollywood movie: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/04/17/ken-segall-steve-jobs-virgin/ http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/04/17/ken-segall-steve-job...

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matt4077 10y ago

Kalanick is 40 years old. Demographically, he must have been surrounded by "grown-ups" for more than half of that time, i. e. people who don't consider sexual harassment a fun hobby for his brand of overachievers. If he didn't get it before, I doubt he will now. But, if he's seen the light, great. It's obviously tainted by being motivated solely by his effort to safe Uber. If he's sincere, his newfound believes would be best served by resigning, or switching to a role at Uber where he's no longer responsible for managing people. Not that it matters – Uber isn't much more than a bro-themed ponzi scheme anyway. Their investors are subsidizing each ride on the order of 100% of the fare, there's no economies of scale to grow to, nor are there barriers to entry. Maybe consumers will continue to use the service. But investors, employees, and drivers won't. It's anybody's guess as to how long they can survive without fresh cash, but I bet this apology stems from Kalanick's ability to see the end of the runway.

frabbit 10y ago
Quote of the day: " Uber isn't much more than a bro-themed ponzi scheme"
adamnemecek 10y ago
Their self driving cars is the end game.
- matt4077 10y ago
  "End game" indeed. Self-driving cars shed the only competitive advantage they have: efficiently organizing thousands of drivers. Surely self-driving cars will also be available to consumers. It's just a software update from there to a mode that lets your car earn some money when you don't need it. The manufacturers will be the first to offer the remaining booking/billing/insurance service, but there'll be plenty of competitors. Uber, meanwhile, will start with >100 billion already burned in a 5-year mission to obsolesce.
  - pm90 10y ago
    If they're smart (and for all their dipshit culture they do have a good product) they will use all the data they have gathered on rideshares to possibly improve that experience. Or pivot into something else.

abhv 10y ago

I am a user of Lyft and (very rarely) Uber. As a passenger in these services, I had an expectation of privacy---I would not expect that the driver could record me. I've certainly had conversations on the phone that I would expect to be private. Travis may have had the same expectation. On the other hand, a CEO of a billion dollar company should have been coached about how to politely react to criticism.

frabbit 10y ago
I would have expected some privacy also. If there is no policy on this in Uber then this may be a greater blow to the their brand than anything else in this affair. Personally I do not see what Kalanick did wrong here. He did not seek personal interaction with the driver. He was not abusive and IMO responded at the same level at which the driver engaged him. That is all separate from my opinions about the (from my perspective) problem with replacing a publicly funded transport service with a for-profit effective monopoly. There should be city-wide public transport running 24/7 driven by trained, unionized workers. Not a race-to-the-bottom, gig-economy semi-monopoly.
tessierashpool 10y ago
> a CEO of a billion dollar company should have been coached about how to politely react to criticism. yeah, he should have been coached on it by his parents when he was five years old.
- Cyph0n 10y ago
  Relying on upbringing as a CEO for public image purposes is very naive. He should have been professionally coached on how to react in certain situations, regardless of what his parents taught him.
bb611 10y ago
> As a passenger in these services, I had an expectation of privacy---I would not expect that the driver could record me. I've certainly had conversations on the phone that I would expect to be private. My understanding is that California law likely protects Travis in this situation because it was just him and the driver and he could thus expect privacy. However, it's unlikely that you can prevent someone from publishing your private conversation in a Lyft or Uber, and given that most of these drivers are not high earners you're not likely to get a major payout from them, so while you might legally have the protections of privacy it still probably means very little in practice.

brickmort 10y ago

It looks like I'm in the minority here, but I honestly don't see what's so bad with how Kalanick reacted. The guy was giving him a hard time and he reacted accordingly, I even think he held back alot more than he could have. Kalanick's right, 'Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own s‑‑‑.' There's alot of truth there. If a company changes their policy, and it affects your income, it's not the company's responsibility to fix that for you. either you find a competing company that can make you more money, or you have to find another way to get your income. In either case, it's your problem to handle. It reminds me of Amazon's recent changes to their affiliate program. There will be people that will maneuver around the policy changes and pull through, then there will be people that will remain stagnant, lose money and blame everyone but themselves. Kalanick should have doubled down. "Yeah, I was mean, but the guy was a d*ck." Then again, I'm just an armchair analyst. I don't have a multi-billion dollar company to handle.

frabbit 10y ago
I agree. From my perspective the driver attacked him verbally and didn't like a robust defence. All that said, I hope Uber and similar gig-economy services die a fiery death in the near future.
- magic_beans 10y ago
  But then who do you expect to pick up the slack? Taxis? The government??
  - frabbit 10y ago
    I expect an extensive light-rail and bus service in any city in which I consider living. So, yes, the gubmint.
    - magic_beans 10y ago
      You must not live in the US :/
10y ago

a3n 10y ago

> I must fundamentally change and grow up ... ... if I am to keep my lucrative boob magnet.

ptrptr 10y ago

It's just too easy to jump on Uber hate bandwagon but I seriously hope their bubble will just burst in 2017, then the whole "economy of sharing" will take a hit and similiar services will start show some maturity. Contract of employment would be a good start.

ziszis 10y ago

There is an interesting theory [1] that Uber's value prop to consumers is dependent on subsidizing 59% of the cost of each ride. Over time they have to remove this subsidy to stem the Billion $ annual losses. The relationship with drivers will undoubtedly be more strained over the coming years, whether it happens as a financial necessity or due to Uber's push into self-driving. Managing the nuance of this transition will be one of the greatest challenges for Uber and require strong skills in empathy, communication and strategic thinking. [1] http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/11/can-uber-ever-deliver-part-one-understanding-ubers-bleak-operating-economics.html http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/11/can-uber-ever-deliver...

dsschnau 10y ago

He can apologize by resigning and going back to the frat that he came from.

XaspR8d 10y ago

Seeing this apology (that I didn't think was necessary) just made me more angry about their failure to acknowledge anything is wrong with their culture of harassment. Obviously they can't actually acknowledge the harassment issues because it would put them in a terrible place legally, but it's funny how that omission makes this such a negative PR move in my mind. Better to say nothing at all and just keep pretending they can unicorn-horn themselves through the rough patches?

merricksb 10y ago

Active discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13760405 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13760405

throwaway_374 10y ago

Sorry but the words "I must fundamentally change and grow up" are unbecoming and not befitting of a CEO. As genuine and sincere as it may have been intended - if at all - it just comes across pathetic, weak and a failure. No one wants apologies. You're the fucking CEO, we want ACTIONS.

deleted 10y ago

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lordnacho 10y ago

The problem is now that Uber has this reputation for being cynical, people might well discount the apology.