When does he start at TalkTalk?
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned, says report
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned, according to The New York Times. The Grey Lady reports that Uber's biggest shareholders sent Kalanick a letter titled “Moving Uber Forward” in which they demanded change in leadership, not just the leave of absence the now-former CEO announced last week. Kalanick consulted with Uber …
COMMENTS
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 06:24 GMT bazza
Don't. Just. Don't. Mention. That. Possibility.
On a more serious note, there's now an infamous ex CEO on the loose, and the passage of time will diminish that to merely "heard of him, must be good". He will end up being someone's boss somewhere at some time in the medium term. So now we're all kind of playing CEO roulette...
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 09:11 GMT Trilkhai
"We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company."
Or the various cell & landline phone companies. I think that Lily Tomlin's brilliant monopoly-era skit summed it up best: "we don't care; we don't have to, we're the phone company."
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 08:03 GMT A Non e-mouse
Re: "de-toxing its culture"
I was on a management course a while back, and the instructor quoted various management gurus who all said that changing a corporation's culture is not a five minute job, but a multi-year process. I think he mentioned one example where a new CEO estimated it would take five years to make significant change to culture.
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 09:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: "de-toxing its culture"
"take the org chart, draw a line under the first three levels and fire everyone above that line."
"a new CEO estimated it would take five years to make significant change to culture"
"I was on a management course" ... no need for that - the two statements above are almost exactly the the two recommended options from Machiavelli on how to rule a city you have just conquored - either kill everyone who was in charge and put you own people in, or let the existing people continue (but "reporting" to you) and accept you'll never really be in control - with the added comment that nothing in between these options will work.
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 11:47 GMT PickledAardvark
Re: "de-toxing its culture"
Isn't that how de-nazification of post-WWII German government was conducted in the west? Take a look at the documentary "The Nazis: A Warning from History" and watch the interviews with well padded West Germans non-apologising for their roles and actions. Cultural change requires more than a symbolic beheading.
Travis Kalanick is going now because the reputation management team at Uber think that all of their embarrassments have been disclosed. A new CEO -- from outside Uber -- can be appointed in relative safety.
Godwin's Law, I suck, blah, blah -- before anyone chips in.
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 19:46 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: "de-toxing its culture"
Their name has obvious resonances of ubermensch, so it's been like a sneering from mini-Nazis for the past several years. Absolutely no one at the company or the company's investors can pretend that this resonance sailed over their heads. It just so happens that they are resonant of ubermensch, while disrupting underwritten paratransit and showing contempt for the disabled people who rely on it. You are exempt from Godwin's Law on the merits of the situation.
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 08:18 GMT Anonymous Coward
It's the precarity, stupid!
(Just an expression, Reg., I would not call you stupid lest I become the truly stupid!) It's the precarity. It's the contingent work! It's the 1099! It's always been the 1099! It was illegitimate, cheating nonsense in 2011 and it's illegitimate, cheating nonsense now. This is an interesting development, and Uber touches upon the entire rainbow of kinds of outrages, but most of those outrages trace back to the 1099! Uber, Lyft, Taskrabbit, Sidecar, Homejoy, Handy, Spoonrocket, Postmates, Luxe, crud like Gigwalk, Deliveroo (I don't know the UK as well), and the rest of the menagerie of animal names are equally assholish even if they are branded as the "nice" startups who love labrador retrievers, empathize with you neoliberally and feel your pain, and not the "mean" ones who are known for kicking your shins and causing the pain in the first place. So I hope that not too much will be wrapped up with one personality. Kalanick sets a low bar - two cheers for the other 99% of misclassification practitioners who don't love Ayn Rand but are still trying to exploit unemployed people and cram entrepreneurship down their throats to make a phony arm's-length relationship.
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 13:12 GMT Antron Argaiv
HR
HR is not your friend.
HR's purpose is to keep the company from getting sued, cover its ass and keep the "resources" in line. That's it. If it comes down to your interest or the company's, they will go for the company every single time.
They are not on your side, and they are not there to help you. Anything you tell them will be shared with your management. They WILL lie to you. They will screw you over, if it helps the company. They do not care about you. That's just the way it is.
// lifetime of experience speaking.
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 17:43 GMT Phukov Andigh
you can't fix
what is broken by its very business model.
It's like thinking you can improve Street Prostitution by firing a couple pimps. When the whole thing is based on unlicensed "contractors" trying to undercut licensed industry and passing ALL the expense onto the "contractor" after "the app" takes a cut, you've got nothing left if you "fix" it.
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Wednesday 21st June 2017 20:24 GMT Anonymous Coward
The real problem with Uber ...
The real problem with Uber is that it is their investor funding which allows them to run continually at a loss, thereby allowing them to 'disrupt' the sector.
They are not doing a better job and forcing an old industry to face it's inefficiencies, they are dumping below cost to gain market share before turning the screws.
In other industries this is often blatantly illegal. It's certainly immoral in any case.