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Uber’s vice president of product and growth Ed Baker has resigned
- godzillabrennus 10y agoAny clues on if it's related to the investigations?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- oculusthrift 10y agoIt's rather unfortunate (or maybe deliberate) for him that one can't tell if he's leaving because of the bad press or because he was one of those "high performers" mentioned in the medium posts.
- snug 10y agoI think it's pretty obvious > For example, one person anonymously tipped off board member Arianna Huffington — who is one of the people conducting a wider-ranging investigation into sexism and sexual harassment at the company — via an email that Baker had engaged in a sexual encounter with another employee.
- theoracle101 10y agoHow the fuck is this obvious. Consensual relationships between two adults if nothing to be ashamed this. Now office relationships are illegal too? This is ridiculous
- sfeng 10y agoIt's very common for relationships between superiors-subordinates to be banned or to have very specific steps which must be taken. Of course, for a superior to be 'making out' with someone at an event is potentially a whole different thing.
- theoracle101 10y agoAnd there's proof he didn't follow such protocol is where? This is turning into a witch hunt
- sib 10y agoAnd nowhere did it say that she was his subordinate...
- chickenfries 10y agoChances are... she is. It's Uber.
- theoracle101 10y agoEasy with your pitchfork jabroni, you might hurt yourself
- chickenfries 10y agoDid I say something incorrect? He's a VP of product. Statistically, most women at Uber are his subordinate.
- theoracle101 10y agoWow you don't even have the balls to stick by you're snarky comment you coward Subordinate != someone lower in org chart that does not report to you, so no, its not statistically likely.
- chickenfries 10y ago> Wow you don't even have the balls to stick by you're snarky comment you coward I'm not sure what you mean. Which part of my comment did I back down from? "Chances are" means the same thing as "the odds are good"... > Subordinate != someone lower in org chart that does not report to you, so no, its not statistically likely. You'll have to forgive me if there is some specific business definition of subordinate I'm missing... my understanding of subordinate is more in line with this one (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subordinate https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subordinate) > placed in or occupying a lower class, rank, or position Just because someone doesn't directly report to you, doesn't mean that the woman's boss can't report to him. A company can have a problem with relationships that aren't between direct reports.
- matwood 10y agoA consensual sexual relationship is very different than what has been presented in those posts.
- oculusthrift 10y agothe other poster got a little too heated but I think he has a point. two adults should be able have a consensual relationship (assuming one isn't the supervisor of the other).
- fullshark 10y agoMy first thought when I read that wasn't that he sexually harassed someone, but that the toxic workplace spelled out in that NY times article now involves jockeying to get internal competition fired.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- pdog 10y ago> Baker was seen "making out" at an internal Uber event held in Miami three years ago, which was seen by some employees. There was no suggestion of any sexual harassment on his part and the encounter was apparently consensual. Is that it? I was expecting something a little more scandalous.
- jacquesm 10y agoWhether it is a problem or not depends on what the relationship was between the two people in the org chart.
- e40 10y agoI cannot imagine being a VP and engaging in this behavior, even if the person was under another VP. It's extremely unprofessional.
- obstinate 10y agoOn so many levels. I don't think making out with someone at a company event is OK, period. Even less if they also work at the company. Even less if they're your report. Even less if you're powerful within the company (i.e. a tone-setter). To be clear, the reason it's not OK is that a professional context should not also be a sexual context. It's not about protecting the person you're making out with. It's about everyone else. This is the same reason that excessive PDA in the workplace can be sexual harassment of other employees, even if both parties to the PDA are consenting.
- jacquesm 10y agoThere's a line between 'unprofessional' and 'illegal'. The org chart will tell you the difference.
- exolymph 10y agoIt's not illegal for a boss to kiss or even sleep with an underling, as long as the encounter is consensual. It's fucked up, but not illegal.
- Spooky23 10y agoWanting to spend time getting a government gig certainly is a departure from the standard "focus on spending more time with my family".
- johnsmith21006 10y agoI can not imagine Kalanick surviving.
- Gargoyle 10y agoIt does seem like it's adding up that way. Heck, it may be the best move for him financially. He has roughly 10% of Uber shares , and if his resignation make the route to an IPO easier and removes some downward pressure on the resulting price...
- CodeWriter23 10y ago> Kalanick quickly apologized for his words and admitted, for the first time, that he needs to “grow up.” I see the board using that statement against him.
- apapli 10y agoI expect the board are the ones that said exactly that phrase to him. Seemingly he remembered.
- CodeWriter23 10y agoMaybe. I'm just thinking the board cannot support a CEO of a $70B firm whose personal assessment of himself is he needs to grow up. It also provides the perfect excuse to remove him, the major obstacle to Uber's IPO.
- michaelkeenan 10y agoPut your prediction on PredictionBook? It's a great way to keep track of your predictions, and learn to be calibrated (e.g. to have about 80% of your predictions-of-80%-likelihood be correct, which doesn't come naturally to people). http://predictionbook.com/ http://predictionbook.com/
- genericpseudo 10y agoAt this point, it doesn't matter whether he's leaving because of accusations or if he's leaving because of everyone else's accusations – let's assume the latter because that's more charitable. This is what a PR tailspin looks like. All your good people will leave, all your bad people will have to be fired, and consumer demand and driver supply will be affected. Perception is reality, and that means Uber are in real trouble here and it's gonna cost them a lot – maybe most of the exec suite – to get out of it. The key question is: who benefits? This is corporate politics by insurgent means, so I wonder who is emptying their opposition research briefing against Uber and why. Could even be an investor who wants to force leadership out, possibly as a prelude to driving Uber to an exit. Those tactics don't work unless the dirt exists, so this really, really doesn't excuse anything which Uber may (and, on the balance of probabilities, there's more than likely fire to go with this smoke) have done. And I don't think it's likely the individuals alleging harassment in particular are part of this at all, so anyone coming trying to impugn their motivations can go pound sand; but, as a byproduct of their legit and serious grievances, they created the environment where this kind of power-play can be made. So who benefits?
- spadeisaspade 10y ago10000% leaving bc of accusations AGAINST him. I know first hand. This guy doesn't deserve an ounce of benefit of the doubt. Lucky he was able to "resign" but I think people are smart enough to put two and two together.
- bcherny 10y agoI'd bet on Thiel. Not only has he pulled these sort of PR moves in the past, but Founders invested in 3 Lyft rounds (including leading its B round).
- horsetranqs 10y agoUber is clearly circling the bowl. I think it's questionable whether the company will exist in a year. If they do, I think it will be at a significantly reduced headcount. That brings up the question of what they will do with the new office in Oakland designed for 3000 employees that they won't need. Will they consolidate in Oakland and sublease their expensive real estate in SF? Or will they try to unload the expansion property and stay where they are?
- nodesocket 10y agoThis is not going to be a popular oppipion here, but when does this start being a witch hunt? Disgruntled employees sending anonymous tips to Arianna Huffington over seeing employees make out at a party. There was no evidence of misconduct, yet they printed the story and included the "incident".
- jrockway 10y agoI'm not sure what you think "evidence" is, but eyewitness accounts are traditionally considered evidence.
- xbeta 10y agoyou left out a word "credible" for eyewitness
- nodesocket 10y agoSo kissing at a party which was most likely consensual is now evidence? Give me a break. You do realize that inter-company relationships and hookups happen all the time right? How is two consenting adults sexual harassment? This is still innocent until proven guilty right? Maybe not.
- CodeWriter23 10y agoOn what basis do you establish "most likely consensual"? If the makeout partner was a subordinate, they may very well have been coerced, EVEN in a setting such as that. Risk takers thrive on risk taking behavior.
- uniformlyrandom 10y ago> On what basis do you establish "most likely consensual" It says so in the article.
- CodeWriter23 10y ago
- friedman23 10y agoNever apologize folks, it doesn't actually engender any sympathy, especially when you are a billionaire.
- logicallee 10y agoIf you're referring to his blog post entitled "profound apology" where he makes no mention of this very public sexual harrassment thing and on the whole apologizes for a video where he did nothing wrong: yeah, don't do that.
- abpavel 10y ago'''Specifically, said sources, Baker was seen “making out” at an internal Uber event held in Miami three years ago which was seen by some employees. There was no suggestion of any sexual harassment on his part and the encounter was apparently consensual''' How is consentual making out at a party in Miami can in any way be considered a bad thing? That what those events are made for. I can't believe this is the real motive.
- idiot_stick 10y ago>How is consentual making out at a party in Miami can in any way be considered a bad thing? I agree with this in principle, but if it's an official Uber event, HR rules of "appropriateness" would still apply. It probably wouldn't be as big a deal if Uber's HR department wasn't on fire.
- spadeisaspade 10y agoHe sexually harassed employees, which is not consensual. The make out was seen by many people which is why it's in print. It doesn't mean he didn't do other inappropriate things. This article doesn't even scratch the surface of what this guy did. Lucky for him he was able to exist at the company for as long as he did.
- gravyboat 10y agoOh no! Which company will this poor billionaire playboy try to ruin next? I hope he isn't saddened by this! /s
- meerita 10y agoAll my friends deleted their Uber accounts. Most of the in the last 3 weeks. I think UBER now has a cancer and everyone noticed this.
- XJOKOLAT 10y agoCouldn't stomach continuing to work for such an ethically derisory company.
- sgustard 10y ago"Before joining the company, Ed Baker -- VP of growth -- founded two dating sites, one of which was acquired by Facebook in 2011" http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/14/technology/uber-corporate-culture/ http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/14/technology/uber-corporate-cu...