Commentary: In a video obtained by Bloomberg, Travis Kalanick gets into an argument with an Uber Black driver. He doesn’t come out of it well. Is it time for him to go?
And the conversation gets heated.
Some people’s reputations are different from their actual personas.
Can this be said of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick?
On Tuesday, Bloomberg released a video of him taking a trip with two companions in an Uber Black car on Super Bowl weekend in San Francisco.
All seemed serene, save for Kalanick’s attempts at moving not like Jagger to Maroon 5 during the ride. Then he got into a conversation with the driver, Fawzi Kamel.
At first, it was all perfectly polite. How easy it was, though, for Kalanick to assert his righteousness and lose his temper.
You’re the CEO of a company that’s already been vilified for its bro-culture. In previous times, your company been accused of threatening journalists , as well as spying on their Uber rides.
Not that this alleged spying was limited to journalists. There are accusations that politicians and celebrities were stalked too.
Only last week, a former Uber engineer, Susan F0wler, told her story of being constantly sexually harassed by her managers and the apparent refusal of human resources to do much about it. More female engineers came forward with similar accusations. Kalanick promised to investigate.
In leaked audio of a meeting Kalanick had with them, the Uber CEO made promises that the culture would change. There was even a sense that he was tearing up.
Could it be because he feared his career was being torn up? By the culture that he appeared to espouse, that is.
