
GE’s Jeffrey Immelt Is on Uber's CEO Shortlist - coloneltcb
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-27/ge-s-jeffrey-immelt-is-said-to-be-on-uber-ceo-shortlist
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zbruhnke
I personally feel like David Cush (Former Virgin America CEO) should be the
guy at the top of their list - he was previously on the shortlist in the COO
search and if there is one person who understands building a transportation
brand that people love its him.

Customers raved about Virgin America (and still do) even though they were
largely a no frills airline - it shares a lot of similarities with Uber

~~~
Terretta
Strongly agree.

I once lost a quarter billion in company value by bringing in a big brand name
corporate CEO to satisfy VCs instead of continuing to make do with nothing but
still-emerging domain experience and a passion for learning and evolving the
customer experience.

In this kind of business, if the CEO isn’t relentlessly and ruthlessly
proxying the customer needs, it will probably have a bad time.

~~~
phreeza
Only on HN can a mere mortal like me read an offhand comment by a fellow
commenter, claiming to have lost a quarter billion dollars (and believe it to
be true).

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slice_of_life
I would rather have Uber crash and burn under the stewardship of Kalanick
(unlikely scenario) than have the same happen under a clueless board and a
replacement CEO (likely scenario).

I said it before and you can mark my word. This decision to hire Immelt as
Travis' replacement only goes further to solidify my claim. Bad decision. Very
bad decision.

~~~
wastedhours
How much do we think the CEO position will be genuine, or more of an honorary
position to make the company seem stable?

~~~
slice_of_life
I hadn't seen it that way but like @dna_polymerase pointed out above, it may
very well be. I still maintain it's myopic and undeserving of a company I'd
like to think of as the next facebook/amazon/google/microsoft

These are outfits that have provided tremendous value to the entire planet. My
view was that Uber could have followed the same trajectory. Now, not so much
anymore.

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surfmike
I always thought Robin Chase (zipcar founder) would be a great pick. She's
been a pioneer in transportation for a long time.

~~~
elmar
WHAT UBER'S NEXT CEO NEEDS TO SAY by Robin Chase

[https://www.wired.com/story/what-ubers-next-ceo-needs-to-
say...](https://www.wired.com/story/what-ubers-next-ceo-needs-to-say/)

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jpm_sd
It'll be Mayer/Yahoo all over again!

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Overtonwindow
I'm not sure this is a good idea. Immelt feels too much like a manufacturing
guy. Marissa Mayer sounds like a good choice, but again I don't think she's
the right fit. They need someone who understands both software, and
transportation. I think they should choose David Abney, CEO of UPS, or Gary
Kelly of Southwest.

~~~
brandonmenc
> Immelt feels too much like a manufacturing guy.

Less than half of GE's revenue comes from manufacturing.

~~~
kayoone
Doesn't mean he is a good fit for Uber.

~~~
1457389
Non sequitur. It means the reasons given by GP for him being a bad fit are
flawed.

~~~
kayoone
not a native speaker, i misread that and thought he said GE revenue is mainly
manufacturing which would strengthen ops point. Thanks for the downvote!

~~~
1457389
I didn't downvote you. Here's a vote for consensus.

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19890903
I don't think Uber will last too long. The founder instilled a very bad
culture from the very beginning. Travis is everything wrong with the valley
right now.

~~~
emodendroket
They've also never made a profit and don't seem to have a clear path to
profitability.

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arthurcolle
This kills the patient

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cft
Why not Marissa Mayer?

~~~
vlad
She'll stop remote work and require all Uber drivers to come to office?

~~~
rl3
If only so she can read children's stories to them in condescending fashion:

[http://www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayer-childrens-
book-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayer-childrens-book-bobbie-
had-a-nickel-2015-1)

~~~
rl3
-2 for stating facts backed up by a fairly concise source. Bravo.

What I referenced actually happened. Mayer gathered most of Yahoo in a
confidential meeting and read them a cryptic excerpt from a children's book
that nobody understood. If wasting everyone's time in that manner isn't
condescending, then I don't know what is.

Here's an excerpt:

 _Mayer held the book up to show its last illustration. It was a drawing of a
little red-haired boy riding a merry-go-round pony.

Hardly anyone could see the page.

No one understood what Mayer was trying to say.

Later on in the excerpt and in "Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!"
readers learn that Mayer was trying to say that, like Bobbie who finds joy
riding a merry-go-round, Mayer values experiences over possessions — and that
for her, Yahoo had been a great experience so far._

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redorb
I don't want to be ageist but I believe there is a correlation between your
age and ability to understand a paradigm shift. I think Jeffrey Immelt and
I've also heard speculation about Meg Whitman are a bit 'old school' for this
role. Not solely based on age but it's a factor. The sharing economy and the
idea eventually autonomous cars are the play - is in fact in my opinion a
radical shift in the way thing have been, the world Jeff and Meg led.

~~~
jeffjose
Unfortunately, that's the definition of ageist.

If you cant see what's wrong, try finishing this sentence in your head "I
don't want to be sexist, but women .."

~~~
redorb
Age is a factor though in how people think and perceive the world yeah? I do
apologize thankfully I'm not in a position where my bias hurts anyone but
myself and I'll work on my thinking.

~~~
emodendroket
That is an argument that ageism is right, not an argument that your post isn't
ageist.

~~~
redorb
I guess my question is ..

Is it true age has a correlation with perception?

If so - is that truth itself ageist?

~~~
emodendroket
Let's work from a definition here; I think this is the kind of "ageism" we're
talking about (sourced from dictionary.com):

> a tendency to regard older persons as debilitated, unworthy of attention, or
> unsuitable for employment.

I think this clarifies things, doesn't it? Even if you somehow objectively
prove that older workers are unsuitable, or less suitable, for employment,
that doesn't make a philosophy against hiring older workers not-ageist. It
just means that ageism is correct (to be clear: hypothetically. I am not
endorsing that view).

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slice_of_life
What are these folks thinking? Bring Travis back.

It's too early to have 1) a non-technical CEO 2) a CEO without domain
experience & passion

There's nothing to demonstrate this guy even cares about what Uber is doing in
logistics and technology.

~~~
orcdork

       What are these folks thinking? Bring Travis back.
    

And people accuse me of being over-dramatic when i tell them the tech sector
is morally bankrupt.

~~~
slice_of_life
Mistakes are made all the time. I swear to you, there's an exaggerated amount
of hate towards Travis. You'd think he's the devil. What has he done that's so
bad? He simply founded a company that was super successful within a short
time, with an idea that seems so easy that everyone thinks they could've done
it and along the way some missteps were made.

Are you sure you would've done better? Would you like it if the plurality of
stakeholders in your ecosystem vilified you in a similar way? I'm sure you
wouldn't. Cut Travis some slack!

~~~
delazeur
> Would you like it if the plurality of stakeholders in your ecosystem
> vilified you in a similar way?

If I was having background investigations done on rape victims in order to
discredit them for my own benefit, I would deserve it.

~~~
obvthrowaway
Honest question looking for an honest answer.

"Trust, but verify" is well-regarded modus operandi. Why is it acceptable in
other circumstances but not this one?

If "trust, but verify" can be a legitimate threat mitigation strategy, how
does one conduct the verification in good faith and avoid such verification
being labeled as being an "attempt to discredit"?

I honestly don't see how rape differs from any other accusation of wrongdoing
with respect to due process. Is it not the right of the accused to question
the accounts of their accuser and conduct their own investigation?

~~~
delazeur
Verifying and discrediting are notably different activities.

