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Yes it is possible Caldbeck is a cunning predator who knew exactly what he could get away with and used his clout as a VC to grope and harass many women, but it

Yes it is possible Caldbeck is a cunning predator who knew exactly what he could get away with and used his clout as a VC to grope and harass many women, but it's far more likely that he is not. I'm curious, why is that "far more likely"? At this point I don't think anyone who isn't involved in these events knows enough to say one way or another. Yet you seem pretty certain. My first guess would be confirmation bias, given you purport to actually know Teo.

grandalf 9y ago
> I'm curious, why is that "far more likely"? Simply because most people fall within a fairly narrow band of behavioral and psychological norms. Religion creates the fictitious idea that there are "good" people and "bad" people. In reality most people are simply mediocre in the moral sense. Chances are Caldbeck is very much within the normal range, which, like it or not, the vast majority of people fall into. There are some people who are sociopaths and truly predatory, but such people are exceedingly rare.
- zzalpha 9y ago
  Caldbeck is already part of a rather exclusive sub-population: executives working at VCs. Based on my observations of the behaviours of people in C-suite positions, I don't think I'd be so willing to use general population statistics as a justification for a priori exonerating the man. As an aside, you've also posed a false dichotomy, here: Caldbeck is a calculating sociopath, or a bumbling idiot who stumbled into harrassment. The truth more likely lies somewhere in the middle.
  - grandalf 9y ago
    > exonerating My comment is not meant to exonerate Caldbeck. He went over the line and wound up having people speaking out about his inappropriate behavior. He's likely going to feel the embarrassment from his actions on an ongoing basis for years. My point was that many people, if put in a position of power such as Caldbeck was, might very well have found themselves misconstruing the level of enthusiasm that founders had for hanging out with him, etc.
    - zzalpha 9y ago
      My point was that many people, if put in a position of power such as Caldbeck was, might very well have found themselves misconstruing the level of enthusiasm that founders had for hanging out with him and potentially for his apparently aggressive advances. This comment is literally an attempt to exonerate the man: You are providing an alternative motive (or, less charitably, an excuse) that would lead one to conclude what he did was not, in fact, sexual harrassment, but simply a misunderstanding. If you can't see that that's what you're doing, you're not being honest with yourself.
      - grandalf 9y ago
        > you can't see that that's what you're doing My point is not that Caldbeck ought to be exonerated. I think the embarrassment he's facing and reputation costs are likely well deserved. The issue is that by painting Caldbeck as a psychological outlier and predator it prevents reflection on what could be done to make situations like this get resolved/rectified more quickly and more effectively.
        greglindahl 9y ago
        I've seen a lot of reflection on what could be done in the future, for example an industry code of conduct for founders and investors.
        grandalf 9y ago
        I think that's exactly the right solution. Even if the lines that are drawn are not exactly right, having them clearly drawn will help all parties evaluate their own behavior (and that of others) more accurately.
    - chipotle_coyote 9y ago
      My comment is not meant to exonerate Caldbeck. He went over the line and wound up having people speaking out about his inappropriate behavior. At risk of pulling a "fixed it for you," a former partner is suing Binary Capital because -- according to her lawsuit -- after she told them she was going to resign due to Caldbeck's treatment of her and other women, Caldbeck told her she would never get work again and, after she resigned, started contacting members of her LinkedIn network and falsely telling them she had been fired, while continually sending weird, harassing and vaguely threatening texts (my words, but seriously, they're all in the affidavit). Perhaps the way Caldbeck treated women could be described as "inappropriate behavior," but "we're going to try to destroy your career through back channel means because you're not promising to stay quiet" is way beyond that.
- strangeloops85 9y ago
  Most studies suggest that between 1-4% of the general population are sociopaths. That is not exceedingly rare, but rather people we will encounter on a daily basis. In certain professions, it's likely much higher. The overall scope of accusations against Caldbeck (including the rather detailed court filing of former employee Ann Lai, which includes disturbing documentary evidence in the form of text messages) is, at this point, substantial. Your choice to interpret and minimize this as mere 'poor judgment' and 'signals got mixed up' is questionable given the preponderance of evidence, and certainly does seem to minimize the scope of harassment reported by the victims. I mean, for heaven's sake, he had to leave Lightspeed because of his harassment of one of their founders! They took a big financial hit with StitchFix. This was clearly widely understood and swept under the rug.
  - grandalf 9y ago
    My intent is not to minimize it. I think that assuming that the problem is one person being a major psychological outlier is actually an unhelpful shortcut to solving the problem in a more thorough and lasting way. The problem is not one bad apple, the core problem is deeper and more cultural and has to do with status dynamics and boundaries.
- x0x0 9y ago
  You appear to be ignoring the evidence that we already have of a years long pattern of behavior in Caldbeck. Even if he were a naif that just accidentally harassed women, having Stitch Fix's ceo ask for him to be removed from the board should have been enough to make him modify his behavior [1]. Instead, he continued. That makes me update my prior that he's a serial harasser to about 99.99, though I'm willing to go higher. [1] https://www.recode.net/2017/6/27/15880434/stitch-fix-ceo-justin-caldbeck-complaint-katrina-lake-sexual-harassment https://www.recode.net/2017/6/27/15880434/stitch-fix-ceo-jus...
  - grandalf 9y ago
    True, however that is one incident and conceivably Teo thought it had served as a sufficient warning and that problematic behavior had been rectified. I certainly think it would have obviously been in Teo's best interest to behave that way.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

grandalf 9y ago

> I'm curious, why is that "far more likely"? Simply because most people fall within a fairly narrow band of behavioral and psychological norms. Religion creates the fictitious idea that there are "good" people and "bad" people. In reality most people are simply mediocre in the moral sense. Chances are Caldbeck is very much within the normal range, which, like it or not, the vast majority of people fall into. There are some people who are sociopaths and truly predatory, but such people are exceedingly rare.

zzalpha 9y ago
Caldbeck is already part of a rather exclusive sub-population: executives working at VCs. Based on my observations of the behaviours of people in C-suite positions, I don't think I'd be so willing to use general population statistics as a justification for a priori exonerating the man. As an aside, you've also posed a false dichotomy, here: Caldbeck is a calculating sociopath, or a bumbling idiot who stumbled into harrassment. The truth more likely lies somewhere in the middle.
- grandalf 9y ago
  > exonerating My comment is not meant to exonerate Caldbeck. He went over the line and wound up having people speaking out about his inappropriate behavior. He's likely going to feel the embarrassment from his actions on an ongoing basis for years. My point was that many people, if put in a position of power such as Caldbeck was, might very well have found themselves misconstruing the level of enthusiasm that founders had for hanging out with him, etc.
  - zzalpha 9y ago
    My point was that many people, if put in a position of power such as Caldbeck was, might very well have found themselves misconstruing the level of enthusiasm that founders had for hanging out with him and potentially for his apparently aggressive advances. This comment is literally an attempt to exonerate the man: You are providing an alternative motive (or, less charitably, an excuse) that would lead one to conclude what he did was not, in fact, sexual harrassment, but simply a misunderstanding. If you can't see that that's what you're doing, you're not being honest with yourself.
    - grandalf 9y ago
      > you can't see that that's what you're doing My point is not that Caldbeck ought to be exonerated. I think the embarrassment he's facing and reputation costs are likely well deserved. The issue is that by painting Caldbeck as a psychological outlier and predator it prevents reflection on what could be done to make situations like this get resolved/rectified more quickly and more effectively.
      - greglindahl 9y ago
        I've seen a lot of reflection on what could be done in the future, for example an industry code of conduct for founders and investors.
        grandalf 9y ago
        I think that's exactly the right solution. Even if the lines that are drawn are not exactly right, having them clearly drawn will help all parties evaluate their own behavior (and that of others) more accurately.
  - chipotle_coyote 9y ago
    My comment is not meant to exonerate Caldbeck. He went over the line and wound up having people speaking out about his inappropriate behavior. At risk of pulling a "fixed it for you," a former partner is suing Binary Capital because -- according to her lawsuit -- after she told them she was going to resign due to Caldbeck's treatment of her and other women, Caldbeck told her she would never get work again and, after she resigned, started contacting members of her LinkedIn network and falsely telling them she had been fired, while continually sending weird, harassing and vaguely threatening texts (my words, but seriously, they're all in the affidavit). Perhaps the way Caldbeck treated women could be described as "inappropriate behavior," but "we're going to try to destroy your career through back channel means because you're not promising to stay quiet" is way beyond that.
strangeloops85 9y ago
Most studies suggest that between 1-4% of the general population are sociopaths. That is not exceedingly rare, but rather people we will encounter on a daily basis. In certain professions, it's likely much higher. The overall scope of accusations against Caldbeck (including the rather detailed court filing of former employee Ann Lai, which includes disturbing documentary evidence in the form of text messages) is, at this point, substantial. Your choice to interpret and minimize this as mere 'poor judgment' and 'signals got mixed up' is questionable given the preponderance of evidence, and certainly does seem to minimize the scope of harassment reported by the victims. I mean, for heaven's sake, he had to leave Lightspeed because of his harassment of one of their founders! They took a big financial hit with StitchFix. This was clearly widely understood and swept under the rug.
- grandalf 9y ago
  My intent is not to minimize it. I think that assuming that the problem is one person being a major psychological outlier is actually an unhelpful shortcut to solving the problem in a more thorough and lasting way. The problem is not one bad apple, the core problem is deeper and more cultural and has to do with status dynamics and boundaries.
x0x0 9y ago
You appear to be ignoring the evidence that we already have of a years long pattern of behavior in Caldbeck. Even if he were a naif that just accidentally harassed women, having Stitch Fix's ceo ask for him to be removed from the board should have been enough to make him modify his behavior [1]. Instead, he continued. That makes me update my prior that he's a serial harasser to about 99.99, though I'm willing to go higher. [1] https://www.recode.net/2017/6/27/15880434/stitch-fix-ceo-justin-caldbeck-complaint-katrina-lake-sexual-harassment https://www.recode.net/2017/6/27/15880434/stitch-fix-ceo-jus...
- grandalf 9y ago
  True, however that is one incident and conceivably Teo thought it had served as a sufficient warning and that problematic behavior had been rectified. I certainly think it would have obviously been in Teo's best interest to behave that way.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]