中文导读
在研发无人驾驶的路上，Uber 先把自己变成了一家无人驾驶的公司——没有COO、CTO、CFO，就连创始人兼CEO的Travis Kalanick也被休假了！Kalanick和Uber最近被丑闻缠身：赚难民的钱、歧视女性、道歉风波、划船事故、和谷歌打官司…… 追根到底，这和Kalanick的“痞子”个性脱不了干系。似乎创业初期的管理模式和文化氛围并不适用于一个成熟巨大的企业。
The ride-hailing giant must fix its reputation. To do so properly, its boss must go.
IT HAS been a wild ride. Seven years ago Uber launched itself as an app connecting well-heeled users with nearby limousines. It has since become the most prominent tech startup in the world, with a valuation of $70bn. The company’s hard-charging culture—embodied in Travis Kalanick, Uber’s co-founder and boss—was celebrated, not questioned.
No longer. The firm is fending off accusations of stealing autonomous-car technology. It is being investigated for allegedly designing software to identify and evade transport regulators. Most toxic are charges of rampant sexism. Mr Kalanick and his band of brothers created a workplace more reminiscent of a bar than a business. For months a law firm has investigated what are believed to be more than 200 claims of misconduct, including sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying.
Uber is belatedly making efforts to fix things. As a result of the inquiry into sexual harassment, more than 20 employees and executives have been dismissed. Uber is going to strengthen its board, which has been under the thumb of Mr Kalanick and two others, who together control a majority of the voting rights; an independent chairman is planned. The firm will do other things differently, too: more performance reviews, less booze and no sex between a manager and an underling.
So far, so bleeding obvious. The big question is over Mr Kalanick himself. He said this week that he will take an indefinite leave of absence, in part to grieve for his mother, who was killed in a recent accident, and in part to “work on himself”. Uber is searching for a chief operating officer to help him to run the firm when he returns. It hopes all this will be enough to reboot its culture and its reputation. In truth, that is possible only with Mr Kalanick’s permanent departure.
At any normal company, he would have been fired by now. He is culpable for its failings; its culture was created in his image. But Mr Kalanick will not go unless he and his two co-majority shareholders so decide. He can marshal arguments that Uber continues to thrive: it reported record revenues in the first quarter of this year. Yet if he cares for Uber’s, and his own, long-term financial health, a clean break makes more sense.
The firm’s problems have started to take a toll. In the past five months Uber’s market share in America, its most important market, has declined by 7%; even investors in the firm admit to feeling embarrassed getting into an Uber vehicle. Uber is having to work harder to recruit the best engineers.
The spectre of the past will continue to loom large, thanks to litigation and government probes. Dirty laundry keeps coming out. Another executive, who had obtained the confidential health records of a woman who had been raped by an Uber driver in India, was fired this month after media questioning. At the very board meeting called to draw a line under Uber’s sexist culture, a director resigned after joking that women talk too much. Yet more scandals almost certainly lurk. Each one will reinforce the idea that Uber cannot change so long as Mr Kalanick remains in charge.
Frat’s your lot
Uber’s culture is not unique; it has lessons for the rest of Silicon Valley, too. One is that a tolerance of casual sexism can inflict real commercial damage. Another is to be wary of the power handed to founders. The right person to lead a young company may not be the best one to oversee it when it has grown up. A third lesson concerns the benefits of going public. Uber’s missteps would have become clear much sooner with better governance and a visible share price. Mr Kalanick has said he needs to grow up. Leaving the firm he created, and letting it go public as soon as possible, would show genuine maturity.
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June 16th 2017 | Leaders | 658 words
