I was arguing against you contending that Kalanick’s response was some "wild, unsubstantiated accusation of “blaming others for our circumstances.” And that Kalanick behaved “egregiously.”
Oh, then we definitely disagree about that. He took criticism and complaint from a driver (justified or not, irrelevant to my interpretation) and launched into a pop-philosophical screed about people in general not taking responsibility for their actions, and his shouting and emotional lack of control are “egregious” (and have been deemed so by the public and media, and now, even Kalanick himself in his apology, although not in that exact word, of course).
LOL What? His response consisted of 22 words:
Honestly, I feel like we are watching a different video. Really, go back and watch it - the disagreement starts at 5:48. Kalanick was speaking in a normal voice when he tells the driver he is not taking personal responsibility. It is the driver who is shouting as Kalanick exits the car.
what he should have said to the driver is, it is a pleasure to meet you. however I am currently a customer, not the boss of uber. and I respectfully ask you refrain from engaging a passenger it such a manner.
What he should have said is “Now is not the time to discuss this in a way where I can give your concerns my full consideration. Here’s my email address. Shoot me an email and I’ll respond.”
Much easier to address unemotionally in writing should the driver send the email.
doschicos true, but he does not owe a random driver an explanation. the driver can choose to work for uber or not. he can also follow the chain of command and email the company. but kalanick does not need to answer him. kalnick maybe a pompous jerk , he maybe in over his head but he does not need to personally deal with a random drivers issues.
Of course he doesn’t, but a good CEO would want to hear what the concerns of drivers are and wouldn’t shut out an employee. The employee might not agree with his official emailed response but a well-thought out emailed reply is better than an off the cuff DB response. If the guy was ticked off enough to make the comments, what harm is there in an email from the guy? Let him say his piece in an email. Who know, maybe Kalanick would learn something even if it is that changes at Uber aren’t being disseminated to the driver’s in the best fashion. Heck, he could delegate the email to an underling. No biggie.
yeah, kalnick can not start emailing the 10x thousands of drivers or 1x thousands of actual employees. the email should be delegated, that delegation should be the guy emailing straight to the department that handles those issues. not ever touch kalnick’s in box. that is a slippery slope for a ceo.
Who’s talking 10x thousands? We’re talking about the driver that is upset about something. Don’t extrapolate my comment about handling a driver with a gripe into something I’m not saying. He handled it poorly and, instead, he could have managed and deflected the driver’s concerns and avoided a PR debacle.
Any CEO who thinks he/she is too important to talk to people down the food chain once in awhile probably is out of touch with his company.
You think just one driver or employee has a grip and he needs to listen to him because he used uber as a customer?
I would never be a ceo…I could not handle it or want to…but any ceo who starts listening to every employee,share holder etc…will be buried in grievances and complaints.
He should have not cursed or even engaged him.
Let’s agree that we disagree.
“He has now made an apology to his employees in an email”:
Given his well-known abrasive management style combined with the recent PR hits he and his company have taken, does anyone believe his apology is sincere? I don’t. I think it’s just a damage control ploy.
http://jalopnik.com/uber-is-doomed-1792634203
Things are far, far worse than I thought over at Uber. Lots of damaging info all in one place, but this one was news to me:
And I recall this question earlier in the thread:
Well, asked and answered. I turns out Uber was grossly misrepresenting driver earnings and just lost a $20 million lawsuit for having done so. If workers are misled, manipulated, and undercompensated, then blaming the workers is misguided (at best).
So is Uber just a pyramid scheme of sorts?
Do not really agree. Someone taking on an established protected industry (pre-Uber(-and-Lyft), San Francisco taxis had a poor reputation, and there were not enough of them, protected by the limited number of medallions that traded for hundreds of thousands of dollars) needed to be aggressive in that area. But that does not necessarily mean that he had to be that way to everyone (e.g. employees, contractors, etc.). However, out of all of those aggressive enough to challenge an established protected industry, there are those who are that way to everyone. Acting that way to everyone does not necessarily ensure that one will lose, either.
You mean deep in debt, hemorrhaging around $2 billion/year, with horrible PR, a barrage of lawsuits in courts all over the world, gruesome HR violations in the press, an increasingly disgruntled workforce (er, “independent contractor” force), angry investors, a loose cannon CEO who can’t seem to stay out of the media, and no foreseeable way to turn a profit unless self-driving cars come into widespread use in the next couple of years? Because I’d be pretty bummed if the company I run were in that position.
You are still referring to Uber? Because it does not exactly sound like complaints unique to Uber…
Nobody ever said they were unique, but yeah: Uber’s not a very healthy company right now (and arguably never ha been). Subsidizing hundreds of thousands of rides with VC money isn’t a recipe for success.
Has Uber implemented test cities where rides are priced at or above the break even point to see if people will continue to use the service?
I don’t know, @whenhen , good question.
marvin100, uber may be a big money loser , his concept was to build a taxi fleet that does not really exist. do i think the company is worth zillions? noway. what I think is that he aggressively grew an idea into a new concept for car/taxi travel. he is not somebody I would imagine I would want to be "friends"with .
but when I said “he and his company would not be where they are .” that is very accurate…it of course includes the good,the bad and the ugly.