counsel that sought to reallocate the responsibilities of Kalanick, the
board initially didn’t fire Kalanick; instead he announced he was
taking an unlimited leave of absence. The leave of absence narrative
showed poor judgment on the part of the board, letting a bad situation
get worse. Under pressure from investors, Kalanick resigned the
following week. He is clearly a gifted visionary who’s built something
world changing. But as the firm enters a new stage, it needs a CEO
with a new focus and crisis-proof management skills. Uber is now
worth more than Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi, and thousands of
families and investors are reliant on the firm and its leadership. This is
no longer about Travis, and the firm shouldn’t have to see if his frat-
rock rehab takes effect or he relapses.
Will this controversy hurt Uber? Yes, but there will be a lag, and
not where you think. Consumers talk a big game about social
responsibility and then buy phones and little black dresses
manufactured in factories where people kill themselves and pour
mercury into the water. Uber has an outstanding product, and revenue
growth will continue to accelerate. Where it hurts is in the distraction
among management, costing them the ability to attract and retain the
best talent—where the war is won or lost in a digital age.
Beyond the PR and management crises, Uber’s likability risk
comes from a more fundamental place than management’s bro
behavior. Uber is undoubtedly a disruptor in the great tradition of
Silicon Valley disruptors. Unfortunately for Uber, the market it’s
disrupting is a heavily regulated one, and Uber benefits greatly by its
attitude that it is not subject to the same regulations as traditional
taxis. It believes, and the market has rewarded this belief, that it can
hire whomever it wants to drive, and it can charge whatever it wants.
Meanwhile, its taxi competition has no such freedom in most markets.
Nor does Uber necessarily play fair with its ride-sharing competitors,
such as Lyft. There have been several reported incidents of Uber
employees engaged in organized efforts to sabotage the competition by
ordering and canceling rides from those competitors repeatedly—
something like a real-world denial-of-service attack.^31
At an even broader level, Uber’s business model has been attacked
for undermining employment relationships and creating unstable,
low-wage work that can dry up without recourse. The company